Abstrict A ballistic body armor and dehumidification system includes a flexible
carrier containing a watertight sealed pouch which itself contains
a desiccant and a stack of substantially vertical layers of ballistic
material whose performance degrades under certain conditions in
the presence of moisture. The watertight sealed pouch is mounted
into the carrier so as to cover a portion of a user's body. The
desiccant is mounted or laminated into the pouch so that either
it is, or its effect is, distributed across the ballistic material
to uniformly reduce the humidity level within the pouch.
Claims What is claimed is:
1. Ballistic body armor comprising a flexible carrier for wearing
by a user, a watertight sealed pouch mounted into said carrier so
as to cover a portion of the user's body, a compacted stack of substantially
vertical layers of flexible ballistic material mounted into said
pouch, a desiccant mounted into said pouch wherein said desiccant
reduces a humidity level within said pouch and said compacted stack.
2. The ballistic body armor of claim 1 wherein said desiccant is
at least one desiccant impregnated sheet.
3. The ballistic body armor of claim 1 wherein said ballistic material
is PBO.
4. The ballistic body armor of claim 1 wherein said ballistic material
is unidirectional ballistic material.
5. The ballistic body armor of claim 2 wherein said ballistic material
is PBO.
6. The ballistic body armor of claim 3 wherein said desiccant is
at least one desiccant impregnated sheet.
7. The ballistic body armor of claim 2 wherein said sheet is interleaved
between layers of said stack.
8. The ballistic body armor of claim 6 wherein said sheet is interleaved
between layers of said stack.
9. The ballistic body armor of claim 2 wherein said sheet is sandwiched
between said stack and a wall of said pouch.
10. The ballistic body armor of claim 1 wherein said desiccant
is a plurality of sheets impregnated with a desiccant means, and
wherein said plurality of sheets are interleaved with or snugly
adjacent to said stack.
11. The ballistic body armor of claim 1 wherein said plurality
of sheets are co-extensive with said layers in said stack.
12. Ballistic body armor system for reducing humidity in sealed
flexible body armor comprising a flexible carrier for wearing by
a user, a watertight sealed pouch mountable into said carrier so
as to cover a portion of the user's body, a stack of substantially
vertical layers of flexible ballistic material mountable into said
pouch, a desiccant mountable into said pouch so as to be distributed
within said stack, wherein said desiccant reduces a humidity level
within said pouch and said stack.
13. The ballistic body armor of claim 12 wherein said desiccant
is at least one desiccant impregnated sheet.
14. The ballistic body armor of claim 12 wherein said ballistic
material is PBO.
15. The ballistic body armor of claim 12 wherein said ballistic
material is unidirectional ballistic material.
16. The ballistic body armor of claim 13 wherein said ballistic
material is PBO.
17. The ballistic body armor of claim 14 wherein said desiccant
is at least one desiccant impregnated sheet.
18. The ballistic body armor of claim 13 wherein said sheet when
mounted in said stack is interleaved between layers of said stack
so as to be co-extensive with said layers in said pouch.
19. The ballistic body armor of claim 17 wherein said sheet is
interleaved between layers of said stack so as to be co-extensive
with said layers in said pouch.
20. The ballistic body armor of claim 13 wherein said sheet when
mounted in said pouch is sandwiched between said stack and a wall
of said pouch and is co-extensive with an outermost layer of said
stack.
21. The ballistic body armor of claim 12 wherein said desiccant
is a plurality of sheets impregnated with a desiccant means, and
wherein said plurality of sheets when mounted in said pouch are
interleaved with or snugly adjacent to said stack.
22. The ballistic body armor of claim 12 wherein said plurality
of sheets when mounted in said pouch are co-extensive with said
layers in said stack.
23. Ballistic body armor comprising a flexible carrier for wearing
by a user, a watertight sealed pouch mounted into said carrier so
as to cover a portion of the user's body, a compacted stack of substantially
vertical layers of flexible ballistic material mounted into said
pouch, a desiccant laminated into said pouch wherein said desiccant
reduces a humidity level within said pouch and said compacted stack.
24. The ballistic body armor of claim 23 wherein said desiccant
is at least one desiccant impregnated sheet.
25. The ballistic body armor of claim 23 wherein said ballistic
material is PBO.
26. The ballistic body armor of claim 23 wherein said ballistic
material is unidirectional ballistic material.
27. The ballistic body armor of claim 24 wherein said ballistic
material is PBO.
28. The ballistic body armor of claim 25 wherein said desiccant
is at least one desiccant impregnated sheet.
29. The ballistic body armor of claim 24 wherein said sheet is
interleaved between layers of said stack.
30. The ballistic body armor of claim 28 wherein said sheet is
interleaved between layers of said stack.
31. The ballistic body armor of claim 24 wherein said sheet is
sandwiched between said stack and a wall of said pouch.
32. The ballistic body armor of claim 23 wherein said desiccant
is a plurality of sheets impregnated with a desiccant means, and
wherein said plurality of sheets are interleaved with or snugly
adjacent to said stack.
33. The ballistic body armor of claim 23 wherein said plurality
of sheets are co-extensive with said layers in said stack.
34. The ballistic body armor of claim 23 wherein said desiccant
laminates unidirectional layers of ballistic fibres to form said
ballistic material.
35. Ballistic body armor system for reducing humidity in sealed
flexible body armor comprising a flexible carrier for wearing by
a user, a watertight sealed pouch mountable into said carrier so
as to cover a portion of the user's body, a stack of substantially
vertical layers of flexible ballistic material mountable into said
pouch, a sheet containing desiccant mountable into said pouch so
as to be distributed within said stack, wherein said desiccant reduces
a humidity level within said pouch and said stack.
36. The ballistic body armor of claim 35 wherein said ballistic
material is PBO.
37. The ballistic body armor of claim 35 wherein said ballistic
material is unidirectional ballistic material.
38. The ballistic body armor of claim 35 wherein said sheet when
mounted in said stack is interleaved between layers of said stack
so as to be co-extensive with said layers in said pouch.
39. The ballistic body armor of claim 36 wherein said sheet is
interleaved between layers of said stack so as to be co-extensive
with said layers in said pouch.
40. The ballistic body armor of claim 36 wherein said sheet when
mounted in said pouch is sandwiched between said stack and a wall
of said pouch and is co-extensive with an outermost layer of said
stack.
41. The ballistic body armor of claim 35 wherein said desiccant
is a plurality of sheets impregnated with a desiccant means, and
wherein said plurality of sheets when mounted in said pouch are
interleaved with or snugly adjacent to said stack.
42. The ballistic body armor of claim 35 wherein said plurality
of sheets when mounted in said pouch are co-extensive with said
layers in said stack.
43. The ballistic body armor of claim 23 wherein said desiccant
laminates unidirectional layers of ballistic fibres to form said
ballistic material.
Description CROSS REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATION
[0001] This application is a continuation-in-part of U.S. patent
application Ser. No. 10/248975 filed Mar. 6 2003 entitled Ballistic
Body Armor Employing Combination of Desiccant and Ballistic Material
which claims priority from U.S. Provisional Patent Application No.
60/362067 filed Mar. 7 2003 entitled Combination Desiccant and
Ballistic Material in Ballistic Body Armor.
FIELD OF THE INVENTION
[0002] This invention relates to the field of body armor and in
particular to the use of a desiccant in combination with the ballistic
material of body armor in order to maintain humidity in the body
armor beneath performance reducing levels.
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
[0003] P-phenylene-26-benzobisoxazole, referred to herein and
by one manufacturer, Toyobo Co., Ltd. of Osaka, Japan, by the acronym
PBO and sold by that manufacturer under the trademark Zylon, is
advertised as a rigid-rod lyotropic liquid crystal polymer having
tensile strength and modulus superior to P-Aramid fibres, and as
exhibiting outstanding high flame resistance and thermal stability
among organic fibres.
[0004] In applicant's experience, use of Zylon.TM. in ballistic
body armor may provide up to approximately thirty percent better
performance as compared to, for example, older aramid ballistic
materials. Zylon.TM. is thus now a commonly used ballistic material
in body armor design because of its improved performance to protect
against penetration by ballistic projectiles such as bullets. However,
it is now been identified that Zylon.TM. degrades under combined
high heat and high humidity conditions so as to adversely affect
its ballistic performance. The degradation is not, as far as applicant
is aware, the impermanent performance degradation such as has been
previously identified due to moisture in the use Kevlar.TM. woven
aramid fibre cloth, but rather results in permanent degradation
of the ballistic material performance.
[0005] In applicant's experience, and in applicant's prior art
designs such as sold by Pacific Safety Products of Kelowna, British
Columbia, Canada, applicant and other designers of ballistic armor
take extreme care in the design of, and rigorously test, any changes
to the order, number and composition of the layers of material found
with ballistic body armor. A user's life may depend on it. Consequently,
the introduction by a person skilled in the art of flexible ballistic
body armor of a substance or layer into the ballistic material layers
which is foreign to conventional substances or layers conventionally
found in ballistic body armor is in applicant's experience rarely
done. Changes and modifications are only very conservatively implemented
to avoid chances of unforeseen adverse consequences to the ballistic
performance of the layers of ballistic material whether they be
woven aramid fibre layers or the PBO layers which are the subject
of the present invention. Applicant's invention is thus unconventional
in that at least one layer of a foreign desiccant substance; for
example at least one layer of desiccant sheet is interleaved, sandwiching,
or sandwiched between the layers of conventional PBO ballistic material
in flexible ballistic body armor. It is an object of the present
invention to introduce a desiccant into ballistic body armor employing
PBO fibre ballistic body armor so as to inhibit permanent performance
degradation of the material's ballistic penetration resistance due
to moisture within the body armor.
[0006] In the prior art, applicant is aware of patents disclosing
the use of moisture control materials in protective clothing for
the purposes of the comfort of the wearer. In particular, applicant
is aware of patents which disclose the use of wicking and other
materials to transfer, evaporate or absorb moisture within the garment,
as for example found disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 6044498 which
issued to Schumann et al. on Apr. 4 2000 for Slash and Cut Resistant
Garments for Protecting a Person From Injury, U.S. Pat. No. 5471906
which issued Bachner, Jr. et al. on Dec. 5 1995 for a Body Armor
Cover and Method for Making the Same, U.S. Pat. No. 5327811 which
issued to Price et al. on Jul. 12 1994 for a Lightweight Ballistic
Protective Device, U.S. Pat. No. 5472769 which issued to Goerz,
Jr. et al. on Dec. 5 1995 for a Soft Body Armor Material with Enhanced
Puncture Resistance Comprising at Least One Continuous Fabric Having
Knit Portions and Integrally Woven Hinge Portions, U.S. Pat. No.
6233737 which issued to Ditchfield et al. on May 22 2001 for
a Concealable Ballistic Vest and U.S. Pat. No. 6138277 which issued
to Gillen et al. on Oct. 31 2000 for a Protective Body Vest. The
moisture control in this prior art generally involves the use of
fabric layers for example the moisture absorbing inner layer of
Goerz, Jr., or the vapour permeable cover layer over the flexible
armor plating layer of Bachner, Jr. et al. Similarly, in the prior
art applicant is also aware of a Korean Patent, Patent No. KR 2001017116
which issued to Lee for a Bulletproof Vest Having Air Ventilation
Property and which discloses the use within a bulletproof vest of
inner covers of foamed polyethylene material providing such an air
ventilation property so that sweat moisture is transferred from
the body of the user to a moisture absorbing fibre positioned inside
an outer cover.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
[0007] The present invention is ballistic body armor wherein sheets
of ballistic material such as PBO or other unidirectional ("UD"),
or woven ballistic material are contained in a layered stack within
a sealed watertight pouch mounted or mountable into a flexible carrier
for wear by a user. The pouch is sealed so that whatever ambient
humidity is introduced into the pouch during manufacturing remains
the maximum ambient humidity. A desiccant and desiccant storage
means, for example desiccant impregnated sheets of paper, are contained
within the pouch. The desiccant sheets may form inter-leaved layers
within the stack of layers of ballistic material or may sandwich
the stack, or may be a single sheet which may be sandwiched within
the stack or otherwise inserted anywhere into the pouch. The desiccant
removes or reduces humidity levels within the pouch to such low
levels as to remain below humidity levels which, in combination
with high heat, would permanently degrade the performance of PBO
fibres making up the layers of ballistic material.
[0008] It is intended to be within the scope of the present invention
to introduce desiccant by a storage and delivery means, such as
a matrix or sheet impregnated with a desiccant chemical composition,
into a sealed pouch containing layers of ballistic material such
as PBO whose ballistic performance degrades due to high humidity
so as to inhibit high humidity induced ballistic performance degradation
of the ballistic material within the pouch. The pouch is for mounting
into ballistic body armor.
[0009] In summary then, the ballistic body armor and dehumidification
system according to the present invention includes a flexible carrier
for wearing by a user. The carrier contains a watertight sealed
pouch. The pouch contains a stack of layers of ballistic material,
such as PBO, whose performance degrades under certain conditions
in the presence of moisture, and a desiccant. The watertight sealed
pouch is mounted into the carrier so as to cover a portion of the
user's body when the user is wearing the body armor. When the armor
is worn by the user, the stack is a stack of substantially vertical
layers of flexible ballistic material mounted into the pouch. The
desiccant is mounted into the pouch. Alternatively, the desiccant
is laminated into the pouch. Because of the wicking effect or aerating
effect of the ballistic material, the desiccant may be placed anywhere
within the pouch and its effect is distributed uniformly across
the stack, to uniformly reduce a humidity level within the pouch
and the stack. The desiccant and the nature of the ballistic material
cooperate so that a small amount, such as a small sheet of a desiccant
impregnated flexible matrix simply placed anywhere in the pouch
will have a far-reaching dehumidification effect on the conventionally
closely compacted stack of layers of ballistic material.
[0010] The desiccant sheet may be interleaved between layers of
the stack or may be partially co-extensive with the layers in the
pouch, and/or sandwiched between the stack and a wall of the pouch
and may be partially co-extensive with an outermost layer of the
stack. The desiccant may be a matrix other than a sheet or may be
a plurality of carrier sheets impregnated with a desiccant means
such as a desiccant chemical composition or a sheet containing desiccant
formed from a plastic compound having a means integrated directly
into the compound, wherein the plurality of sheets are interleaved
with or snugly adjacent to, or laminated onto the stack, again,
for example, at least partially co-extensive with the layers in
the stack.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS
[0011] FIG. 1 is, in elevation view, the front and back panel of
one form of body armor incorporating the present invention laid
flat, the armor casing partially cut away.
[0012] FIG. 2 is, in partially cut away elevation view, a water
impervious pouch containing sheets of ballistic material and desiccant
for mounting into the body armor of FIG. 1.
[0013] FIG. 3 is a sectional view along line 3-3 in FIG. 2.
[0014] FIG. 4 is a side view of a sheet containing desiccant laminated
between sheets of ballistic material.
[0015] FIG. 5 is a sectional view of a water impervious pouch having
sheets containing desiccant laminated between sheets of ballistic
material for mounting into the body armor 5.
DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF EMBODIMENTS OF THE INVENTION
[0016] With reference to the drawings, wherein similar characters
of reference denote corresponding parts in each view, as seen in
FIGS. 1-5 ballistic body armor 10 may include front and back panels
12 and 14 respectively. Each of the panels may have an outer fabric
casing or carrier 16 for example sewn around the panel's circumferential
edges so as to define in combination with the assembled front and
back panels, side arm openings and an upper neck opening for the
user. Within each of the panels, and retained snugly and conformally
so as to correspond to the profiled outline of each panel, is a
sealed water impermeable pouch 18 for example, a heat sealed plastic
pouch.
[0017] Each pouch is sealed contiguously around its perimeter so
as to define a cavity 20 within the pouch, as better seen in FIG.
5. The cavity is generally planar when the pouch is laid flat. A
stack of adjacently layered generally parallel sheets of Zylon.TM.
PBO fibre material 22 are snugly mounted within pouch 18 so as to
maintain sheets 22 generally parallel and compactly sandwiched between
front and back faces 18a and 18b respectively of pouch 18.
[0018] Pouch 18 contains at least one flexible sheet 24 impregnated
with a desiccant such as Drikette Desiccant Paper, sold by S &
D Chemical of Scarborough, Ontario, Canada, and manufactured by
Multisorb Technologies Inc. of Buffalo, N.Y., United States. Such
desiccant paper may absorb up to three hundred times its weight
in moisture. Sheets 24 may be desiccant impregnated paper sheets,
but it is not intended to be limiting as many desiccant storage
and delivery means would work to introduce the desiccant and uniformly
dehumidify a stack of sheets 22 within sealed pouch 18 so as to
reduce humidity levels within the pouch. For example, in an embodiment
of the invention, sheet 24 may be a film or sheet containing desiccant
24' formed from a plastic compound having desiccant integrated directly
into the plastic compound, such as the Activ-pak.TM. desiccant film
and sheet manufactured by CSP Technologies Inc. of Auburn, Alabama,
United States. At least one sheet or film 24' containing desiccant
may be laminated or mounted onto sheet 22. Alternatively, sheet
or film 24' containing desiccant may be laminated between sheets
22 such that sheet or film 24' containing desiccant is sandwiched
between two sheets of adjacently layered generally parallel ballistic
material such as Zylon.TM. PBO fibre material 22 as seen in FIGS.
4 through 5. In the further alternative, sheet or film 24' containing
desiccant may be used to laminate unidirectional ("UD")
layers of ballistic fibres to form sheet 22. That is, desiccant
may be incorporated directly into sheets of UD ballistic material
when the sheets are made, for example by incorporating desiccant
into the binder or laminate such as the thermoplastic film that
forms the substrate that binds the UD layers of ballistic fibres
in place to form the sheets. The use of desiccant sheets may provide
the advantage of a consistent, structurally stable and uniform distribution
of the desiccant across, that is parallel to, at least a portion
of the surface area of the pouch which would be exposed to penetration
by ballistic projectiles. Uniform distribution of the effect of
the desiccant, which remains constantly uniform in cooperation with
the wicking or porous nature of the ballistic material such as PBO
ballistic material offers the advantage of uniform humidity control
across the pouch no matter where the desiccant is mounted, so long
as exposed to the ballistic material in the pouch, which may be
relied on for the operative life of the armor, minimizing the risk
of isolated areas of higher humidity within the distributed volume
of the cavity within the pouch.
[0019] As will be apparent to those skilled in the art in the light
of the foregoing disclosure, many alterations and modifications
are possible in the practice of this invention without departing
from the spirit or scope thereof. Accordingly, the scope of the
invention is to be construed in accordance with the substance defined
by the following claims. |