Floating floor assembly for armored vehicles
AssigneeBAE Systems Land & Armaments L.P.
InventorsRon V. Akavuti, Amikam Shmargad
Life of this patent
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Abstract
A floating floor assembly for an armored vehicle mounted to the sides of the vehicle to suspend the floor above the belly armor of the vehicle rather than being directly supported by the belly armor. The floating floor reduces the amount of energy that is transferred by the floating floor from the belly plate and further reduces the risk that any deformation of the belly armor from the explosion will cascade to the floating floor causing the floor to buckle or fragment into secondary shrapnel.
Claims15
A floating floor assembly for an armored vehicle, said vehicle having armored side walls encircling a crew compartment and at least one belly armor panel positioned beneath the crew compartment, the floating floor assembly comprising:
- a support assembly having at least two primary support beams, wherein each primary support beams comprises at least one wall mount at each end of the support beams for securing the primary support beam to the side walls of the armored vehicle a predetermined distance above each bell armor panel;
- and
- at least one flooring panel further comprising at least one plate retainer for receiving at least one fastener to secure the flooring panel to at least one support beam to define an expansion gap between each flooring panel and the belly armor panel.
A floating floor assembly for an armored vehicle, said armored vehicle having armored side walls encircling a crew compartment and at least one belly armor panel positioned beneath the crew compartment, comprising:
- at least one floor panel having at least one structural mount positioned along the periphery of the floor panel, wherein the structural mount is adapted to receive a fastener for securing the floor panel a predetermined distance above the belly armor panel.
A method for protecting a crew compartment of a vehicle from explosive events occurring below a belly armor section of the vehicle, wherein the crew compartment further comprises armored sidewalls, comprising:
- mounting at least two primary support beams to the side walls of the vehicle, wherein the primary support beams are positioned in parallel and mounted to the side walls a predetermined distance above the belly armor section;
- and
- suspending at least one flooring panel between the primary support beams to define an expansion gap between the flooring panel and belly armor section, wherein the belly armor section can buckle into the expansion gap in response to an explosive event without impacting the flooring panel.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.