Classifications

• • F—MECHANICAL ENGINEERING; LIGHTING; HEATING; WEAPONS; BLASTING
  • F16—ENGINEERING ELEMENTS AND UNITS; GENERAL MEASURES FOR PRODUCING AND MAINTAINING EFFECTIVE FUNCTIONING OF MACHINES OR INSTALLATIONS; THERMAL INSULATION IN GENERAL
  • F16F—SPRINGS; SHOCK-ABSORBERS; MEANS FOR DAMPING VIBRATION
  • F16F7/00—Vibration-dampers; Shock-absorbers
• • F—MECHANICAL ENGINEERING; LIGHTING; HEATING; WEAPONS; BLASTING
  • F16—ENGINEERING ELEMENTS AND UNITS; GENERAL MEASURES FOR PRODUCING AND MAINTAINING EFFECTIVE FUNCTIONING OF MACHINES OR INSTALLATIONS; THERMAL INSULATION IN GENERAL
  • F16F—SPRINGS; SHOCK-ABSORBERS; MEANS FOR DAMPING VIBRATION
  • F16F7/00—Vibration-dampers; Shock-absorbers
  • F16F7/003—One-shot shock absorbers
• • A—HUMAN NECESSITIES
  • A41—WEARING APPAREL
  • A41D—OUTERWEAR; PROTECTIVE GARMENTS; ACCESSORIES
  • A41D31/00—Materials specially adapted for outerwear
  • A41D31/04—Materials specially adapted for outerwear characterised by special function or use
  • A41D31/28—Shock absorbing
• • A—HUMAN NECESSITIES
  • A42—HEADWEAR
  • A42B—HATS; HEAD COVERINGS
  • A42B3/00—Helmets; Helmet covers ; Other protective head coverings
  • A42B3/04—Parts, details or accessories of helmets
  • A42B3/10—Linings
  • A42B3/12—Cushioning devices
  • A42B3/124—Cushioning devices with at least one corrugated or ribbed layer
• • F—MECHANICAL ENGINEERING; LIGHTING; HEATING; WEAPONS; BLASTING
  • F16—ENGINEERING ELEMENTS AND UNITS; GENERAL MEASURES FOR PRODUCING AND MAINTAINING EFFECTIVE FUNCTIONING OF MACHINES OR INSTALLATIONS; THERMAL INSULATION IN GENERAL
  • F16F—SPRINGS; SHOCK-ABSORBERS; MEANS FOR DAMPING VIBRATION
  • F16F1/00—Springs
  • F16F1/02—Springs made of steel or other material having low internal friction; Wound, torsion, leaf, cup, ring or the like springs, the material of the spring not being relevant
  • F16F1/025—Springs made of steel or other material having low internal friction; Wound, torsion, leaf, cup, ring or the like springs, the material of the spring not being relevant characterised by having a particular shape
• • F—MECHANICAL ENGINEERING; LIGHTING; HEATING; WEAPONS; BLASTING
  • F41—WEAPONS
  • F41H—ARMOUR; ARMOURED TURRETS; ARMOURED OR ARMED VEHICLES; MEANS OF ATTACK OR DEFENCE, e.g. CAMOUFLAGE, IN GENERAL
  • F41H1/00—Personal protection gear
  • F41H1/02—Armoured or projectile- or missile-resistant garments; Composite protection fabrics
• • F—MECHANICAL ENGINEERING; LIGHTING; HEATING; WEAPONS; BLASTING
  • F42—AMMUNITION; BLASTING
  • F42D—BLASTING
  • F42D5/00—Safety arrangements
  • F42D5/04—Rendering explosive charges harmless, e.g. destroying ammunition; Rendering detonation of explosive charges harmless
  • F42D5/045—Detonation-wave absorbing or damping means
• • F—MECHANICAL ENGINEERING; LIGHTING; HEATING; WEAPONS; BLASTING
  • F16—ENGINEERING ELEMENTS AND UNITS; GENERAL MEASURES FOR PRODUCING AND MAINTAINING EFFECTIVE FUNCTIONING OF MACHINES OR INSTALLATIONS; THERMAL INSULATION IN GENERAL
  • F16F—SPRINGS; SHOCK-ABSORBERS; MEANS FOR DAMPING VIBRATION
  • F16F2224/00—Materials; Material properties
  • F16F2224/02—Materials; Material properties solids
  • F16F2224/0258—Shape-memory metals, e.g. Ni-Ti alloys

Definitions

• the present invention generally relates to shock absorbing systems and more particularly to an improved shock absorbing device configured to be integrated in human body protection systems.
• the invention also relates to human body protection systems incorporating said improved shock absorbing device.
• Shock absorbing devices comprising a plurality of slender elements preferably made of a superelastic alloy are e.g. described in EP 2992240 and in the international patent application WO 2016/203344, both in the Applicant's name. According to these documents the slender elements are restrained at different points of a continuous layer having a backing function.
• the slender elements may be flat laminar sheet elements and/or straight filiform or wire elements that are arranged so as to absorb the energy of impact forces acting in a direction that is coaxial or coplanar thereto. Impact energy is absorbed by exploiting the so-called buckling effect of slender structures.
• shock absorbing devices exploiting the so-called buckling effect of slender structures are also known, wherein slender elements in the form of wires made of a superelastic material are woven together and inserted between continuous backing layers made of an impact resistant material. Shock absorbing devices of this type are described e.g. in the patent applications US 2014/0304877 and US 2013/0298317.
• the backing layer or layers of prior art shock absorbing devices like those mentioned above are generally rigid structures having the purpose to withstand and spread the impact forces on a high number of slender elements which undergo buckling thereby absorbing the related impact energy.
• the backing layers do not always work synergistically with the slender elements and may define preferential deformation or bending directions that do not allow to fully exploit the buckling effect for energy absorption.
• the purpose of the present invention is therefore to provide an improved shock absorbing device suitable to overcome the drawbacks mentioned above with reference to the prior art. This problem is solved by a shock absorbing device according to the independent claim 1. Preferred features of the present invention are recited in the dependent claims.
• the invention consists in a shock absorbing device comprising a plurality of elements made of a superelastic material and having a wavy shape featuring a plurality of crests and troughs between which straight portions are arranged.
• the superelastic elements are arranged so as to form a pattern wherein their crests and/or troughs cross each other forming a plurality of pairs of crests and/or troughs.
• the "and/or" language means that the pattern comprises at least crossing throughs or crossing crests, but it may also comprise both crossing crests and crossing troughs.
• the shock absorbing device also comprises a plurality of connecting elements configured to restrain in a locking manner a number of pairs of crossing crests or troughs, each element locking between 1 and 72 pairs, while leaving the straight portions free to move.
• the connecting elements are arranged such that impact forces are received substantially perpendicularly thereto and act in a direction that is coaxial or coplanar to the straight portions of the superelastic elements. This allows to absorb impact energy by exploiting their buckling effect similarly to the devices described in the prior art documents mentioned above.
• the wavy shaped elements may have e.g. U shaped crests and troughs or, alternatively, sine, square, triangular, trapezoid shaped crests and troughs. Since the superelastic elements are real objects, their wavy shape may depart from the ideal shape of a geometric wave as those mentioned above and the wave length may not be perfectly uniform. However, this does not affect operation of the shock absorbing device according to the invention.
• shock absorbing device whose structure is very effective in absorbing impact energy and at the same time highly deformable, e.g. bendable, and hence suitable to be integrated in human body protection systems and more generally shock absorbing systems having a complex shape.
• the connecting elements may be blocks made of a rigid material such as e.g. plastic, a light metal like aluminum, glass wool, a carbon or aramid composite.
• the connecting elements may be in the form of weld spots.
• the crests or troughs crossing each other can be joined with or without the addition of a welding material.
• weld spots may be used to restrain only single pairs of crossing crests or troughs, whereas blocks may restrain one or more pairs of crossing crests or troughs depending on their size.
• the invention is not limited to any specific number of connecting elements.
• the lower limit of the range mentioned above refers to a condition wherein a connecting element restrains a single pair of crossing crests or troughs
• the upper limit of the range refers to a condition wherein a connecting element restrains seventy two pairs of crossing crests or troughs.
• Figure 1 is a photo showing a top view of a shock absorbing device according to an embodiment of the present invention in a substantially flat configuration
• Figure 1A is a schematic representation of the shock absorbing device of figure 1;
• Figure 2 is a photo showing a side view of the shock absorbing device of figure 1 in an arched configuration
• Figure 3 is a photo showing a side view of the shock absorbing device of figure 1 system in a warped configuration
• Figure 4 is a photo showing a front view of a shock absorbing device according to another embodiment of the present invention.
• Figures 5, 6, 7 are top views schematically showing further embodiments of the shock absorbing device according to the present invention.
• FIGS 1, 1A, 2 and 3 show a shock absorbing device 10 according to an embodiment of the invention.
• the shock absorbing device 10 comprises e.g. twenty wavy shaped elements 11, I V, l l n , 12, 12', 12 n , that are e.g. in the form of wires made of a superelastic material.
• the superelastic material is e.g. Nitinol and the wires may have a diameter of e.g. 0,6 mm.
• the wavy shaped elements 11, I V, l l n , 12, 12', 12 n feature a plurality of crests and troughs between which straight portions are arranged.
• the crests and troughs have e.g. a U shape and are arranged so as to form e.g. a pattern having the shape of a rectangular grid 6x14, wherein their crests cross each other substantially perpendicularly forming 84 pairs.
• the crests of each pair are restrained to each other in a locking manner by a respective connecting element e.g. in the form of a block 13, 13' , 13 n , made of a rigid material such as e.g. polycarbonate or acrylonitrile butadiene styrene (ABS), light metals such as aluminum, glass wool, carbon or aramid composites.
• ABS acrylonitrile butadiene styrene
• the present invention is not limited to any specific material for the rigid blocks
• the device according to the embodiment of the invention shown in figures 1 to 3 has e.g. a substantially rectangular shape having a size of 6 cm x 13 cm and a height of 2 cm, and featuring eighty four pairs of crests joined by as many respective blocks.
• the photos of the prototype shown in figures 1, 2 and 3 have been enlarged in order to better appreciate its features.
• the superelastic, wavy shaped elements can be wires having a circular or rectangular cross section or tubes having an inner diameter ranging from 0,2 mm to 2 mm.
• Preferred are superelastic elements in the form of wires with a circular cross section having a diameter comprised between 250 and 1000 ⁇ . Since the superelastic elements are real objects, their cross sections might not be perfectly circular, so the term "diameter" is to be intended as the diameter of the circle enclosing the real cross section.
• Wires having a different cross section may also be employed. These wires provide the shock absorbing device with a different buckling behavior, and hence a different energy absorbing performance, depending on the impact direction.
• size indicates the larger lateral dimension of the wire.
• the shock absorbing device 10 as described above may be easily deformed, e.g. bent or twisted, thanks to the grid pattern arrangement of the wavy shaped superelastic elements and to the locking restraints defined by the connection elements, thereby allowing to use it as an insert in human body protection items.
• Motorcyclist jackets are among the most interesting applications of the shock absorbing device of the invention.
• Figures 1 to 3 show an embodiment of the invention according to which only the crests of the wavy shaped superelastic elements 11, 11 l l n , 12, 12', 12 n cross each other and are restrained in a locking manner e.g. two by two by respective blocks 13, 13',... , 13 n .
• FIG 4 according to a further embodiment of the invention not only the crests, but also the troughs of the wavy shaped elements 11, 11 ', l l n , 12, 12', ... , 12 n of the shock absorbing device 40 may be arranged so as to cross each other and form pairs that may be restrained in a locking manner by respective connecting elements.
• the pairs of crests are restrained in a locking manner by respective blocks 13, 13', 13 n as in the embodiment shown in figures 1 to 3, while the pairs of troughs are restrained in a locking manner by similar further blocks 14, 14', 14 n .
• This embodiment of the invention features a structure that is still bendable but stiffer than the structure of the device according to the embodiment shown in figures 1 to 3. This is due to the higher number of pairs of crossing crests and troughs restrained in a locking manner.
• Such structure offers the advantage of being more stable and hence suitable to withstand higher shocks if compared to the structure of the device according to the embodiment of figures 1 to 3.
• the deformability characterizing the shock absorbing device of the invention allows to easily adapt it to any shape and hence to arrange, fit and more generally integrate it into a shock absorbing system so that the straight portions of the wavy shaped superelastic elements are aligned in the foreseen impact direction.
• This allows to exploit their buckling effect as a means to absorb impact energy, i.e. their ability as slender structures to have a transition from simple compression to bending under compressive loads and impacts, with consequent large deformation and absorption of impact energy, as e.g. described in the aforementioned European patent 2,992,240.
• each of the locking elements connects a limited number of crests or troughs and specifically does not restrain at the same time crests and troughs.
• Figure 5 shows a shock absorbing device 50 wherein, compared to the embodiment of figures 1 to 3 and 4, only a small number of pairs of crossing crests or troughs are restrained in a locking manner by connecting elements. It will be appreciated that for the purposes and effects of the present invention it is not necessary that all the pairs of crests or troughs are restrained in a locking manner.
• Figure 6 shows a shock absorbing device 60 according to another embodiment of the invention, comprising a number of first connecting elements 13, ... , 13 n restraining a single pair of crests or troughs, and a number of second connecting elements 63, 63',..., 63 n , restraining more pairs of crests or troughs, e.g. four pairs.
• the bigger connecting elements 63, 63', ...63 n define regions of the shock absorbing device having a higher capability to withstand load/shocks, because impact forces are spread over a larger area wherein the related high number of superelastic elements allows to absorb a higher amount of energy.
• square shaped blocks made of a rigid material may join 4 to 64 pair of crests or troughs.
• Figure 7 shows a shock absorbing device 70 according to a further embodiment of the invention.
• straight blocks 73, 73',..., 73 n made of a rigid material restrain in a locking manner a plurality of pairs of crests or troughs arranged in rows.
• the embodiment shown in figure 7 comprises a connecting element for each row of the grid pattern restraining in a locking manner all the pairs of crests or troughs along the respective row.
• this embodiment of the shock absorbing device of the invention is highly deformable, more particularly bendable, perpendicularly to the straight blocks 73, 73',... , 73 n , whereas it is substantially not deformable in the direction along which they extend.
• This embodiment of the shock absorbing device of the invention may be advantageously integrated e.g. in the back of motorcyclist jackets, where a high impact resistance is required and at the same time a high degree of bendability with respect to a given axis is needed. Still in this case superelastic elements with a non-circular cross section may advantageously be used so as to maximize energy absorption and bendability in one direction.
• Ni-Ti based alloy such as Nitinol.
• Nitinol may exhibit alternately superelastic wire behavior or shape memory alloy behavior according to its processing.
• the properties of Nitinol and methods allowing to achieve them are widely known to those skilled in the art, see e.g. the article "A Study of the Properties of a High Temperature Binary Nitinol Alloy Above and Below its Martensite to Austenite Transformation Temperature " by Dennis W. Norwich presented at the SMST 2010 conference.
• shock absorbing devices according to the present invention can be used directly as inserts in shock absorbing systems, or may comprise outer layers or elements restrained to the connecting elements, e.g. the blocks, restraining in a locking manner the pairs of crests or troughs of the wavy shaped superelastic elements. Any material may be employed to make such outer layers provided that it does not increase the structural rigidity of the device that shall essentially be determined by the connecting elements.
• Outer layers can also be added with the purpose of improving the shock absorbing degree of the device, e.g. by connecting all pairs of crests or troughs so as to avoid passage of objects having a cross section smaller or comparable to the size of the connecting elements.
• Suitable materials for the outer layers are e.g. leather, cotton, Nylon, Elastan, Cordura® and Gore-tex® fabrics.
• the invention in a second aspect thereof relates to a human body protection system incorporating one or more shock absorbing devices according to the invention.
• shock absorbing devices include auto vehicle seats, biker garments, military vests, sporting apparels.

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• Engineering & Computer Science (AREA)
• General Engineering & Computer Science (AREA)
• Mechanical Engineering (AREA)
• Textile Engineering (AREA)
• Vibration Dampers (AREA)
• Professional, Industrial, Or Sporting Protective Garments (AREA)

Priority Applications (5)

Applications Claiming Priority (2)

Publications (1)

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Family Applications (1)

Country Status (7)

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Citations (6)

Family Cites Families (9)

• 2017
  • 2017-09-06 IT IT102017000099700A patent/IT201700099700A1/it unknown
• 2018
  • 2018-09-04 ES ES18770094T patent/ES2785983T3/es active Active
  • 2018-09-04 JP JP2020509505A patent/JP6976419B2/ja active Active
  • 2018-09-04 CN CN201880058164.6A patent/CN111094788B/zh active Active
  • 2018-09-04 US US16/464,599 patent/US10724595B2/en active Active
  • 2018-09-04 WO PCT/IB2018/056738 patent/WO2019049025A1/en not_active Ceased
  • 2018-09-04 EP EP18770094.3A patent/EP3529514B1/en active Active

Patent Citations (6)

Non-Patent Citations (1)

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