EP1429106A1 - Decoy vehicle for making a route mine-safe - Google Patents

Abstract

The vehicle has a frame (12) carried by a wheel carriage with a cross-piece (18) at each end with a wheel train. The train has a cross-brace with arms, each carrying a carrying wheel (32, 34) turning around a hub. Two opposite wheels are aligned in the direction of bearing and shifted in the direction of the cross-piece. Length is equal to the common width of the wheels when the wheel is in support over the ground.

Description

The present invention relates to vehicles for securing routes by causing the explosion of anti-tank mines to pressure.
There are several types of anti-tank mines triggered by pressure. They pose a threat to all types of vehicles. Such mines cause significant destruction of the undercarriage and the body of wheeled vehicles or tracked.
In one type, the mine is triggered when the total force exerted by the pressure of a wheel on a large plateau, whose diameter can go up to that of the mine, that is to say about 400 mm for the largest known mines, exceeds a certain threshold, which often corresponds to a pressure of less than 1 bar.

In another type, the mine is equipped with several projecting pawns with a diameter and height of one to a few cm (often about 3cm) each of which can be activated by a force exceeding one threshold which is often of the order of 1500 Newton.

Pressure mining systems have already been proposed. intended to activate the plate and pawn sensors so as to explode the mine at the passage of the system, which is intended for its delivery in running order after an explosion be easy.

A first system uses rollers, plows or flails pushed by a tank. These means are very heavy and are not suitable for treatment speed of traffic lanes that we do not wish to degrade systematically by demining.

As a result, the most widespread decoy system is constituted by a vehicle having a chassis carrying ballast and equipped with of pneumatic wheels. Such a vehicle can be moved quite quickly. Tires make it possible to follow the irregularities of the ground. The vehicle does not systematically degrade the road surface to secure.

The chassis load must be sufficient for the vertical force applied to the ground by the tires exceeds the trigger mine sensors with pawns. We generally adopt a ground load about 2000 Newtons.

To temporarily secure a route for the passage of a convoy all vehicles have the same track between wheels of an axle, it is sufficient to explode the mines that are on two parallel tracks having each about one meter wide. But this requires that the vehicles of the convoys follow exactly the one who opened the way. To make the route sure, the entire width of the raceway must be clear. For that, he the wheels of the vehicle as a whole must sweep the entire the way which makes it necessary to use large tires to reduce their number. In order for the demining vehicle to cross obstacles, the wheels must have a large diameter. In practice, to fill the usual criteria, the wheels must have at least one meter of diameter. Because of this diameter and their width, the wheels have a high surface area of contact with the ground, higher than that of plateau, which forces to load very strongly the chassis to arrive at to set off the mines. This implies at present, in the case of a 4-meter lane, the passage of 10 tires each having 40 cm wide.

As another example, it can be said that a demining train used at presently has three trailers weighing a total of 22 tons, to secure a 3.10 meter wide lane with 11 each tire is about 270 mm wide.

The present invention aims to provide a demining vehicle by decoy antitank mines that respond better than those previously known to requirements of the practice, in particular that it reduces noticeably the mass of the vehicle.

For this purpose the invention proposes in particular a decoy vehicle of pressure mines, having a chassis intended to be coupled to a vehicle of training and carried by at least one wheel train characterized in that each wheel set comprises a spider, rotatably mounted by relative to the frame around an axis of rotation, and whose arms carry each a carrier wheel rotating about an axis of a hub, two opposed wheels, relative to the axis of rotation of the spider, being aligned in the rolling and staggered direction of the other two wheels, in the direction of the axes of rotation of the wheels and the spider, of a length substantially equal to the common width of the wheels. Advantageously, the chassis is carried by at least one undercarriage having a crossmember provided at each end with a wheel train.

This arrangement makes it possible to use wheels which are still wide, but have a reduced diameter, which reduces the length, and therefore the bearing surface on the ground, allowing to clear the same width with vehicles having a much weaker mass. The problem posed by the impossibility of to overcome the obstacles by a wheel of reduced diameter is removed thanks to the use of a 4 wheel brace with a corresponding offset substantially the width of a tire between two successive wheels in the circumferential direction. The wheels will generally be free to rotate around their hubs. The whole is so simple and the replacement of a damaged wheel due to the explosion of a mine is fast.

The wheels are generally pneumatic whose tread diameter is between 600 and 800 mm, in particular about 700 mm at the present time when the mines of which this is suspected are of the usual type, and a width of between 200 and 300 mm, especially about 250 mm or 9.7 inches.
Advantageously, each spider is such that the spacing between the axes of rotation of two successive wheels of the same spider, in the circumferential direction about the axis of rotation of the spider is at least substantially equal to the diameter of the wheels.

The invention also proposes a demining train comprising a drive vehicle and several driven vehicles, of the above kind defined, of which the wheel trains of the driven vehicles have different and adjacent paths. The two braces of the last train, or first, can be placed outside the set of 4 wheels they carry, so that the wheels can be directly adjacent. The provision can be reversed, the closest wheels being placed at the front; the first or the last train may have a single set of wheels.

The first vehicle of the train advantageously carries a projecting rake forward, allowing the mines to be blown up without damage for this vehicle.

The training vehicle can push the vehicle (or vehicles) to decoy, in a traditional way. It is however advantageous to use a "stealth" tractor vehicle, that is to say, not to detonate anti-tank mines on which he rolls.

• La figure 1 est une vue simplifiée, en coupe suivant un plan vertical médian, d'un véhicule de déminage tracté conforme à un mode particulier d'exécution de l'invention ;
• la figure 2 est une vue en perspective du train de roulement du véhicule de la figure 1 ;
• la figure 3 est une vue de coté du train de roulement de la figure 2 ;
• la figure 4 est une demi vue de face du train de roulement selon la figure 2 ;
• la figure 5 est une vue de dessus de la figure 2 ;
• la figure 6 est un schéma destiné à montrer la disposition relative de deux roues successives des jeux de roues en contact avec le sol, de chaque côté du plan vertical médian du véhicule.

The above and other characteristics will appear better on reading the following description of a particular embodiment of the invention, given by way of non-limiting example. The description refers to the accompanying drawings, in which:

• Figure 1 is a simplified view, in section along a median vertical plane, of a towed demining vehicle according to a particular embodiment of the invention;
• Figure 2 is a perspective view of the undercarriage of the vehicle of Figure 1;
• Figure 3 is a side view of the undercarriage of Figure 2;
• Figure 4 is a half front view of the undercarriage according to Figure 2;
• Figure 5 is a top view of Figure 2;
• Figure 6 is a diagram for showing the relative disposition of two successive wheels sets of wheels in contact with the ground on each side of the median vertical plane of the vehicle.

The vehicle 10 whose general constitution is shown in FIG. 1 comprises a chassis 12 intended to be coupled to a towing vehicle 14 and capable of supporting loads, constituted for example by pigs, of sufficient weight to provide the required ground pressure. The frame 12 is carried, in the illustrated case, by a single undercarriage. This train has a platform 16 on which the chassis is supported, connected by suspension means to a cross member 18. In the illustrated embodiment, these suspension means are constituted by two leaf springs placed on both sides. other of the platform, the ends of which are connected to the platform and whose median portion has a shoe 20 resting on the crosspiece 18. The crossbar, which will generally consist of several assembled parts, presents to its The ends of the bearings 22 on which respective braces turn 24. The braces are mounted so as to rotate freely and independently of one another. Each arm of the spider carries a hub 26 on which can rotate a respective wheel. The wheels are provided with tires intended to be inflated to a pressure sufficient to exert a force of the order of 2000 Newtons on a support surface of 12 cm ² , in order to drive a protruding pin belonging to a pressure mine. .

On each spider, two of the arms 28 are arranged so substantially radial. The other two arms 30, interposed between the first, are bent so that the wheels 32 they carry are shifted outwardly relative to the wheels 34 carried by the arms 28. The offset is substantially equal to the ground support width of the tires. The arms have all the same radial length,

When running on an obstacle-free ground, two wheels 32 and 34 are in contact with the ground. The thrust they exert on the ground is balanced by the free rotation of the spider around its bearing 22. This balancing as well when the soil irregularities are transverse when they are longitudinal. When a wheel meets an obstacle too high for it to cross, because of its diameter relatively small, the spider tilts and brings the next wheel on the obstacle or beyond, so that obstacle is crossed.

It should be noted that not only does this provision allow the use of a smaller diameter than the conventional axle arrangement, but still the obstacle is crossed more easily than with a wheel of large diameter, because the elevation of the center of gravity imposed on the chassis is lower.

It should also be noted that the above provision is completely different in its effects from the use of two twin wheels that we have proposed to avoid the use of very large diameter large tires. In indeed, the use of twin wheels does not preclude the problem posed by the presence of an obstacle on the ground next to the sensor of a pressure mine. If indeed one of the twin wheels passes over a hump, the ground pressure exerted by the other wheel decreases in proportions that may prevent the triggering of a mine by decoy.

In summary, the provision according to the invention makes it possible to cross obstacles by using wheels of significantly smaller diameter than wheels commonly used, while equalizing the forces exerted on the ground by the wheels.

By way of example, it can be indicated that a vehicle according to the invention can to have the same width of track as a vehicle of usual constitution, replacing each single 500 mm wide wheel with four wheels each having a width of 250 mm. The ground contact surface is virtually divided by 3, which also divides by 3 the mass of the vehicle.

From a traffic point of view, the undercarriage has a behavior which is close to that of a bogie. The running gear can be mounted on the chassis by means allowing it to orient itself, as would a self steering bogie.

Several vehicles of the type described above may be coupled together. to others so as to constitute a train having a number of wheels sufficient for at least one wheel to pass through any point on the width of the route to clear.

When the train is pushed, it may be useful to equip it with a steering with forcing rods from the vehicle pusher. But a more advantageous solution is to use a towing vehicle equipped with a front rake intended to detonate, forward the vehicle, the anti-tank mines and possibly also the mines antipersonnel. This rake can have various constitutions. He can be constituted by a bracket carried by the carrier vehicle, protruding towards the front and supporting a row of cables or chains dragging on the ground. he may be constituted by crowns of stems or spokes turning on a gantry articulated on the vehicle and rest on the ground. The vehicle can also carry a magnetic field generator intended to make Explode the magnetic sensor mines in front of the vehicle.

Claims (6)

A pressure mine decoy vehicle, having a frame (12) intended to be coupled to a drive vehicle (14), and carried by at least one set of wheels characterized in that each set of wheels comprises a spider (24). ), rotatably mounted relative to the frame (12) about an axis of rotation, and whose arms (28, 30) each carry a carrier wheel (32, 34) rotating about an axis of a hub ( 26), two opposing wheels, with respect to the axis of rotation of the spider (24), aligned in the rolling direction and offset from the two other wheels (32, 34), in the direction of the axes of rotation of the wheels and cross, a length substantially equal to the common width of the wheels (32, 34). Vehicle according to claim 1, characterized in that the frame (12) is carried by at least one undercarriage having a cross member (18) provided at each end of a wheel set. Vehicle according to claim 1 or 2, characterized in that the wheels (32, 34) are pneumatic with a tread having a diameter of between 600 and 800 mm, and a width of between 200 and 300 mm. Vehicle according to claim 1, 2 or 3, characterized in that the tread has a diameter of about 700 mm and a width of about 250 mm. Vehicle according to any one of claims 1 to 4, characterized in that each spider (24) is such that the spacing between the axes of rotation of two successive wheels (32, 34) of the same spider (24) in circumferential direction about the axis of rotation of the spider (24), is at least substantially equal to the diameter of the wheels (32,34). Demining train comprising a training vehicle (14) and several driven vehicles (10), characterized in that each of the driven vehicles is according to any one of the preceding claims 1 to 5, and in that the wheel trains of the driven vehicles (10) have different and adjacent lanes.

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