WO2012139871A1

WO2012139871A1 - Method for loading a weapon in line with the rate of fire

Info

Publication number: WO2012139871A1
Application number: PCT/EP2012/055201
Authority: WO
Inventors: Michael Gerber; Alfred VONLANTHEN
Original assignee: Rheinmetall Air Defence Ag
Priority date: 2011-04-14
Filing date: 2012-03-23
Publication date: 2012-10-18
Also published as: CN103620337A; UA107624C2; RU2013150624A; ZA201306886B; JP2014514530A; BR112013026229A2; CN103620337B; DE102011017117A1; US20140215879A1; EP2697592A1; RU2573196C2; SA112330444B1; KR20140026464A

Abstract

According to the invention, the revolver cylinder is rotated at least approximately at a speed that corresponds to the normal rate of fire of the weapon. When a predetermined loading step is reached, the trigger of the weapon is controlled such that fire can be opened essentially without delay. The weapon is fired without break immediately after (with) the loading process. At the same time, the weapon is transferred, thus only directly before firing, from a secure SAFE state to the CHARGED state, whereby the safety standards of the weapon are significantly improved. The time during which the weapon is in the state of operational and firing readiness and not in the SAFE state is minimized or entirely eliminated, which considerably increases the operating safety. Extending the time in the SAFE state allows the level of testing for the weapon (for example for the trigger) to be greater, which in turn results in greater reliability of the weapon.

Description

DESCRIPTION

Method for charging a weapon by cadence

The invention relates to a method for the cadence or cadence dependent loading of Revoiverkanonen, in particular remotely controlled turret guns.

Revolver cannons are known in principle. These are not used exclusively, but preferably in the middle caliber range. Unless a cannon is not required operational readiness, the cannon is usually unloaded. This means that the ammunition chambers in the revolver drum do not contain any ammunition, ie they are empty. This requirement is for the safety aspects, according to which it is to be avoided in any case that ammunition is ignited unintentionally and damages to gun or a danger of the environment develop. Naturally, a cannon over its entire lifespan is predominantly in this unloaded state. Revolver guns therefore always have to be charged in order to achieve operational readiness or readiness to fire. This is done by gradually feeding cartridges from the ammunition supply to the firing position in the gun such that a cartridge is contained in the cartridge chamber at least in the cartridge chamber which is in the firing position. The known Revoiverkanonen mid-caliber range are either manually, pneumatically or hydraulically or electrically charged.

The gradual loading is dependent on the number of cartridge chambers. When a weapon with four cartridges came mern means that 3 charging processes take place. For each charging step, a spool valve is accelerated by a hydraulic loading device. This moves into the rear end position and is pushed back by the closing springs. The control cam in the spool synchronously rotates the revolver drum 90 ° and the gun performs a charge cycle. In a starting position there is an ammunition in a usually unbundled ammunition Onszuführung and is promoted by this to a feeder of the cannon. The first cartridge is thus at the starting position in the feeder and can be detected by the cartridge pusher of the cannon. Thereafter, the first cartridge is pushed by the star wheels of the feeder on the rotor (drum shaft) and pushed by the cartridge slider halfway in the upper (referred to as 12 o'clock position) cartridge chamber of the drum. This first cartridge is further rotated on the rotor and pushed through the cartridge slide completely in the now at the 9h position cartridge chamber. During the following 90 ° drum rotation, the cartridge chamber with the first cartridge is rotated further into the 6h firing position. The cartridge is thereby backed up and locked by the bullet bottom in the weapon housing. The weapon is loaded and ready to fire. A known hydraulic loading device can perform the three necessary loading operations in 1 to about 2 seconds and thus load the cannon in just this time.

Fig. 1 shows a known locking mechanism 100 of a weapon not shown (cannon) as an exploded view. With 1 in this case a cradle is marked on or in which a control lever 2 and a return lines 3 and a pressure line 4 are integrated. Both lines are connected to a hydraulic unit 5. The other components are a reflux reservoir 6, a solenoid valve 7, a Durchladevorrichtuhg 8 and a pressure accumulator 9, a charging piston 10, a plunger 1 1, a spool 12, a revolver drum 13 and a cartridge chamber 14. The through-loading device 8 is on the cradle 1 of the weapon attached. To load the revolver gun, the revolver drum 13 must be rotated in such a way that it is possible to insert the cartridges (not shown) into the chamber 14. The hydraulic unit 5 is used to provide the necessary pressure to operate the through-loader 8. The printing device 8 consists essentially of a motor-operated pump, a tank, a filter, a pressure relief valve, an adjustable pressure control valve and a bypass (not shown). The pressure line 4 leads the hydraulic medium under pressure to the loading device 8 and the return line 3 passes the medium back into the tank. To load the weapon, the pressure accumulator 9 are pressurized via the pressure line 4 on the part of the hydraulic unit 5 with pressure. With the electronically triggered by the weapons control (not shown) opening of the solenoid valve 7, the charging piston 10 is pressed with high energy against the plunger 1, whereby finally the spool 12 in movement opposite to the mouth direction of the tube (not shown in detail) is added. As a result, the revolver drum 3 is set in rotation. This process is carried out three times in the case of a revolver drum with four cartridge chambers. The weapon is loaded and ready to fire. The inventive method now provides that this charging is carried out in a speed that at least about the normal Kandenz corresponds to the cannon and immediately afterwards, as soon as the weapon is ready to fire, the trigger (not shown) is released to allow the distortion-free firing in the normal cadence of the cannon.

Fig. 2 shows a state diagram of the weapon according to the prior art. In Fig. 2, the state Z of the weapon is shown in a state diagram as a function of the time t. According to the known method, the weapon is initially (t <tO) in the unloaded SA-FE state. At a time t0, the charging of the weapon begins, which is completed at time t1; This period usually takes a few seconds. The weapon is therefore loaded long before use and left in a charged state. The charging process is independent of any fire command. From a point in time t1, the weapon is in the CHARGED state and is therefore ready for use and ready to fire. In this CHARGED state (and already in the loading phase between tO and t1), increased safety regulations apply. From t1, a fire command could occur at a time t2 "FIRE." There may be very different time periods between t1 and t2. If a fire command was given at time t2, firing a single shot, several shots, or one salvo would take up to another time t3. " STOP". The firing stops and the weapon stays in the CHARGED state. It is possible that a further fire command takes place so that the times t2 FIRE and t3 STOP can be repeated several times and the weapon then remains in the CHARGED state. Regardless of whether a fire order has been issued (ie the steps to t2 and t3 also failed if necessary), the weapon must be unloaded again within the time period between the times t4 and t5, so that the weapon again in the SAFE state from t5 in which the safety requirements are relaxed again and in particular maintenance and test operations are feasible.

Such charging methods are particularly time-consuming. Characteristic of the loading process of these weapons is also that the loading must be carried out very long before use. It remains to be estimated that the use of the weapon is expected at a later date. This assessment is fraught with uncertainties and requires extensive planning activities. Thus, it must be decided in good time when the weapon is taken out of the safety-critical uncritical (SAFE) state and raised to a critical (CHARGED) state. In this state, higher demands must be placed on the operation and safety devices of the weapon than in the SAFE state. For example, operating, maintenance and residence rights of the operators close to the weapon are severely restricted. The weapon is over a longer period of time in a state outside the generally desirable SAFE state. If the weapon is then not used in an operation contrary to the expectation and contrary to the preparatory loading activities, the weapon must be unloaded again from the generally known safety aspects. This means additional time. Because only by unloading the weapon is returned to the SAFE state.

As is well known, the ammunition supplied or removed during the loading / unloading process is in some cases mechanically heavily loaded. Since during field operation conditions can not usually be tested under field conditions, parts of the ammunition that have been unloaded are too heavily chipped and which parts of the ammunition have been loaded so lightly that they would be fit for future use, all discharged cartridges will be disposed of regardless of their respective type actual load condition. This leads to high costs.

DE 10 2007 046 545 A1 discloses a method for controlling the firing sequence of a machine gun, in which the firing sequence is changed in such a way that the time interval between adjacent firing initiations is alternately reduced or increased, whereby the desired cadence is set in the sum. to avoid a resonant swing of the barrel.

Here, the invention has the object to provide a method, in particular for loading revolver guns, which meets much higher safety standards and at the same time is inexpensive.

The object is achieved by the features of claim 1. Advantageous embodiments are contained in the subclaims.

The invention is based on the idea to accelerate the control of the known through-loading device and to connect the charging process simultaneously with the control of the trigger. In this case, the charging process is accelerated in such a way that, for example, three charging movements occur in a four-chamber drum, for example in the period of one to a few tenths of a second. Ideally, the loading steps are performed at a speed which is approximately equal to or equal to the normal cadence of the cannon. This process is called cadential loading. During the last load In the process, the trigger is activated or released, so that the fire is opened without delay after being loaded.

It is proposed to let the rotation of the revolver drum proceed at least approximately at a speed which corresponds to the normal cadence of the weapon. Upon reaching a predetermined charging step, the trigger of the weapon is controlled so that the fire can be opened substantially without delay. The fire is triggered without a deterioration of the conditions of use with a generally extremely fast preparedness. Carrying out the charging process takes place in an extremely short time, which does not significantly prolong the reaction time for the firing of the weapon, whereby the charging process can be carried out only when the fire is triggered. The firing of the weapon takes place without a break immediately after (with) the charging process. At the same time, the weapon - only then immediately - is transferred from the safe SAFE state to the CHARGED state before firing, whereby the safety standards of the weapon are significantly improved. The time in which the weapon is in operational readiness and fire readiness and not in the SAFE state is kept to a minimum or completely eliminated, resulting in a significant increase in operational safety. Extending the time in the SAFE state allows the weapon to have a greater test depth (e.g., for the trigger), which in turn results in greater weapon reliability.

Since now only with actual fire triggering the weapon is loaded, no ammunition losses are to be expected by ammunition damage during the loading / unloading process. An unwanted mechanical load on the unloaded ammunition is completely avoided, a costly disposal is eliminated.

The method allows remote controlled, automatic and rapid charging, which can also be used in unmanned guns and turrets (such as naval guns or weapon stations on vehicles / platforms, etc.).

Reference to an embodiment with a drawing, the Erfordung will be explained in more detail, reference being made to the well-known in the art gun or their assemblies for explanation. It shows:

1 shows a locking mechanism of a weapon or cannon as Explosionszeich- according to the state of the art,

2 shows a state diagram of the weapon according to the prior art,

3 is a state diagram of the weapon with a cadence charging method,

4 shows a further state diagram with the charging method,

Fig. 5 shows a preferred embodiment of the charging method.

3 shows a state diagram of the weapon according to a cadence-based charging method. The weapon is initially (t <t0) in the discharged SAFE state. In contrast to the charging method according to the prior art, no separate charging command is triggered at a time t0 in order to produce a readiness to fire in the CHARGED state. First and only in combination with the triggering of a fire command, the cadence-moderate charging is started from a tare point t1. The charging process is thus directly dependent on a fire command. It is ammunition in at least one or more cartridges of Revolvertromme! 13 introduced, wherein the rotation of the revolver drum is at least approximately at the speed corresponding to the normal cadence of the weapon. The revolver drum 13 is further rotated at least until the first cartridge has reached the firing position. Subsequently or at approximately the same time, at a point in time t2 "FIRE", the trigger of the weapon is activated so that the fire can essentially be opened without delay. Thus, the weapon is in the fire-ready CHARGED state, so that another shot or burst of fire could be triggered without delay. If no further fire command is issued, the weapon is discharged again from a time t4, so that from the time t5 the weapon is unloaded and is back in the SAFE state.

The cadence of known revolver cannons ranges from a few hundred to over a thousand rounds per minute. The cadenzmässig charging between the times t1 and t2 then takes place in a time range of well below one second, in particular in the range of 1/4 to 1/3 second. This delay between the fire command and the launch of the first cartridge is short and can easily be incorporated into the fire control of the entire gun by e.g. Correction of the Vorhalteparameter, the elevation or the azimuth angle or the triggering time of disassembly or explosive ammunition are integrated.

In the case that the weapon is not needed, so no fire command is triggered (not shown), the weapon remains permanently in SAFE Zusiand. Thus, the lower safety requirements of SAFE condition can be maintained and, moreover, it is no longer necessary to unload unused ammunition from the weapon and then dispose of it at high cost.

4, the weapon no longer remains in the CHARGED state at the end of a burst of fire at the time t3 "STOP", instead the unloading process is automatically connected immediately afterward, thus eliminating the time t4 of the start of the unloading The unloading operation between times t3 and t5 is also carried out at a speed which is at least approximately equal to the normal cadence of the weapon, so that the unloading is very rapid - usually well below one second - after the Completed the end of the burst, the weapon is back in the uncritical SAFE state.

The unloading of ammunition, if necessary at all, only needs to take place if a fire command had previously been issued with a firing of the weapon. This occurs much less frequently than making the fire and operational readiness as in the prior art, so that here substantial ammunition and cost savings are the result.

In a further advantageous embodiment of the method according to FIG. 5, only exactly as many cartridges are supplied during cadenzmässig loading, as are required for the fire command. If the fire command comprises only a single shot, only one cartridge is supplied, the ammunition supply to the revolver drum 13 is interrupted and the revolver drum 13 is further rotated until the cartridge is reached in the firing position. If the firing command comprises several shots, exactly this number of cartridges is fed, then the ammunition supply is interrupted and the revolver drum 13 is further rotated until the last shot at the time t3 "STOP" was issued. The particular advantage of this embodiment is that after the end of the firing all cartridge chamber of Revotvertrommel 3 are empty and thus the weapon is automatically back in the SAFE state. There is no need to unload cartridges. Therefore, this method is particularly inexpensive and at the same time safe.

Claims

claims

A method of loading a revolver gun with a revolver drum (13) with ammunition, characterized by the steps of:

• starting the charging process in combination with the triggering of a fire command at a first time (t1),

• Introduce the ammunition in at least one or more chamber of the revolver drum (13), wherein the rotation of the revolver drum (13) is at least approximately at the speed corresponding to the normal cadence of the gun and revolver drum (13) is rotated at least until the first cartridge has reached a shooting position

Activation of a withdrawal of the weapon at a second point in time (t2), which immediately follows the first point in time (t1), whereby the fire is opened substantially without delay.

2. The method according to claim 1, characterized in that the burst of fire is terminated upon reaching a third time point (t3).

3. The method according to claim 2, characterized in that if no further fire command is issued, the weapon is discharged from a further time (t4), so that from a certain end time (t5) the weapon is unloaded.

4. The method according to claim 2, characterized in that the unloading at the third time (t3) takes place and between the third times (f.3) and a certain end time (t5) made at a speed which is at least approximately the normal cadence corresponds to the weapon.

5. The method according to any one of claims 1 to 4, characterized in that as many cartridges are supplied, as needed for the fire command.

6. The method according to claim 5, characterized in that in a single shot only one cartridge is fed, the ammunition supply to the revolver drum (13) interrupted, the revolver drum (13) is further rotated until reaching the cartridge in the firing position and by the triggering of the trigger at the second time (t2) the firing of exactly one shot takes place.

7. The method according to claim 5, characterized in that with several shots, exactly this number of cartridges are fed, then the unitionszuführung under broke and the revolver drum (13) is further rotated until the last shot at the third time (t3) was delivered.