U.S. patent application number 10/236621 was filed with the patent office on 2003-06-12 for blast-resistant cargo container.
Invention is credited to Wang, Ming-Jong.
Application Number | 20030106414 10/236621 |
Document ID | / |
Family ID | 21679924 |
Filed Date | 2003-06-12 |
United States Patent
Application |
20030106414 |
Kind Code |
A1 |
Wang, Ming-Jong |
June 12, 2003 |
Blast-resistant cargo container
Abstract
A blast-resistant cargo container includes side panels and
connecting members. The connecting members are mounted between the
adjacent side panels to create a non-framed structure of the cargo
container. Under ordinary conditions, the structure still has
sufficient stiffness for loading goods. When an explosive blast
occurs in the cargo container, the structure is flexible and
utilizes membrane strength in the entire container structure,
whereby the cargo container is capable of withstanding the
explosive blast. Extruded bars can also be mounted around a bottom
surface of the cargo container grooves are defined in the extruded
bars and L-shaped flanges are formed on edges of the vertical side
panels. Therefore, by receiving the L-shaped flanges into the
grooves, the extruded bars are securely connected with the side
panels.
Inventors: |
Wang, Ming-Jong; (Taoyuan
Hsien, TW) |
Correspondence
Address: |
HELLER EHRMAN WHITE & MCAULIFFE LLP
275 MIDDLEFIELD ROAD
MENLO PARK
CA
94025-3506
US
|
Family ID: |
21679924 |
Appl. No.: |
10/236621 |
Filed: |
September 5, 2002 |
Current U.S.
Class: |
86/50 |
Current CPC
Class: |
B65D 90/08 20130101;
F42D 5/04 20130101; B65D 88/14 20130101; B65D 90/325 20130101 |
Class at
Publication: |
86/50 |
International
Class: |
F42B 033/00 |
Foreign Application Data
Date |
Code |
Application Number |
Dec 12, 2001 |
TW |
090130746 |
Claims
What is claimed is:
1. A blast-resistant cargo container comprising: multiple side
panels; and multiple connecting members, wherein the connecting
members are securely mounted between adjacent side panels to form a
flexible structure of the cargo container, whereby the flexible
structure is able to confine an explosive blast in the cargo
container.
2. The blast-resistant cargo container as claimed in claim 1
further comprising multiple bars securely mounted around a bottom
panel of the cargo container, wherein each of the bars has an
groove defined therein, and the side panels to be connected to the
bars each has an L-shaped flange formed at an edge thereof, the
L-shaped flange is received in the corresponding groove so as to
securely connect the side panels and the bars.
3. The blast-resistant cargo container as claimed in claim 1,
wherein the connecting members are made of a ductile material.
4. The blast-resistant cargo container as claimed in claim 1,
wherein every adjacent connecting panel has at least one of the
connecting members securely mounted therebetween.
5. The blast-resistant cargo container as claimed in claim 1,
wherein every adjacent connecting panel has two layers of the
connecting members securely mounted therebetween, the two layers
are respectively connected with inner surfaces and outer surfaces
of the adjacent connecting panels.
6. The blast-resistant cargo container as claimed in claim 1,
wherein each of the connecting members has an arcuate
cross-section.
7. The blast-resistant cargo container as claimed in claim 5,
wherein at least one layer of the connecting members has a curve
cross-section constituted by line segments.
8. The blast-resistant cargo container as claimed in claim 5,
wherein at least one layer of the connecting members has a
bubble-shaped cross-section.
9. The blast-resistant cargo container as claimed in claim 5,
wherein at least one layer of the connecting members has a crinkled
cross-section.
10. The blast-resistant cargo container as claimed in claim 5,
wherein at least one spacer is disposed between the two layers of
the connecting members for reinforcement.
11. The blast-resistant cargo container as claimed in claim 1,
wherein a cap is mounted at each corner where the connecting
members intersect.
12. The blast-resistant cargo container as claimed in claim 1
further comprising multiple bars securely mounted around a bottom
panel of the cargo container, wherein each of the bars has a groove
defined therein, each of the side panels was securely connected
with an L-shaped connecting member in its bottom portion, each
connecting member further has a bottom edge formed as a flange to
be received in the corresponding groove so as to securely connect
the side panels and the bars.
13. The blast-resistant cargo container as claimed in claim 11,
wherein the cap is only connected to one of the side panels.
14. The blast-resistant cargo container as claimed in claim 2,
wherein the multiple bars are extruded bars.
15. The blast-resistant cargo container as claimed in claim 12,
wherein the multiple bars are extruded bars.
16. The connecting members as claimed in claim 3, wherein the
material can be selected from the metal consisting of stainless and
aluminum.
17. The blast-resistant cargo container as claimed in claim 1,
wherein the side panels are made of high tensile strength
material.
18. The blast-resistant cargo container as claimed in claim 17,
wherein the metal includes laminated composite, fiber-reinforced
metal laminates and high strength aluminum.
19. The blast-resistant cargo container as claimed in claim 12,
wherein the connecting members are made of ductile metal.
20. The blast-resistant cargo container as claimed in claim 12,
wherein the connecting members are extruded members.
Description
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTIONS
[0001] 1. Field of the Invention
[0002] The present invention relates generally to cargo containers,
and more particularly concerns a blast-resistant cargo container
that is capable of substantially confining an explosive blast
within the cargo container for protecting a carrier such as an
airplane.
[0003] 2. Description of Related Art
[0004] Conventional cargo containers are typically designed to have
a frame, and panels attached to the frame so as to define a hollow
interior for receiving goods. There are many kinds of available
cargo containers having different sizes and configurations in order
to meet practical needs, wherein an air cargo container is a kind
to be used for transporting goods via an airplane.
[0005] Recently, airplanes have become a primary target for
terrorist attacks, and many people have lost their lives in plane
crashes due to terroist bombing. Therefore, the Federal Aviation
Administration (FAA) and major airline companies all over the world
are forced to enhance security checks before the custom in order to
prevent explosives being smuggled on board. However, small plastic
explosives are difficult to be detected despite current technology
and are very likely to pass through the security checks. In the
tragedies of Pan Am 103 1998 and UTA Flight 772 1989, the
explosives were smuggled on board the jets and caused plane crashes
that resulted in loss of hundreds of lives and properties.
Therefore, to prevent these kinds of tragedies from happening, a
lot of efforts have been made in the field of blast-resistant
containers.
[0006] According to analysis and experiment research, an explosive
blast destroys the cargo container in two stages. In the first
stage, shock waves are generated and impact the cargo container in
a short duration. In the second stage, sustained excessive pressure
then destroys the cargo container. These two stages must be
countered so as to make a container blast-resistant. During the
moment and at the center of the explosive blast, the pressure from
the blast can be hundred thousands times of atmospheric pressure.
With the rapidly decay of the shock waves, the ensuing pressure
exerted on the panels is still no less than tens times of the
atmospheric pressure. With reflection and diffraction of the waves,
the pressure becomes steady and the strength is much less than the
shock waves. However, the pressure is still tens of times greater
than the payload of the conventional cargo container. Therefore,
the conventional cargo container is vulnerable to the explosive
blast.
[0007] In order to overcome the mentioned problems, blast resistant
techniques are applied to the cargo container, wherein the
techniques can be divided into two main categories:
[0008] The first category utilizes the venting method, such as
found in U.S. Pat. No. 5,195,701, wherein an air cargo container is
provided with a deliberate weak point so that during the explosive
blast, high pressure air breaks through the weak point and is thus
vented in a controlled manner outside the air cargo container to
prevent a total destruction. The key point in this method is that
the weak point must be sufficiently large to effectively vent the
air. Nevertheless, the high pressure air penetrating a large weak
point can ultimately puncture the fuselage wall of the airplane.
Although puncturing a wall may not usually be serious enough to
cause a crash, damage to the airplane is still very costly to
repair, and the time that the airplane is grounded is very
expensive in lost income. Moreover, in some extreme cases, it is
still possible for the high pressure air to damage the structure of
the airplane and this results in a crash. Therefore, it is
considered to be impractical to use the venting method to deal with
the explosive blasts.
[0009] The second category utilizes the rigid confining method.
With reference to FIG. 13, an air cargo container (40) designed
according to this method is shown and has a rigid frame (41).
Panels (42) made of energy-absorbing material are mounted onto the
frame (41). The panels (42) must be inordinately thick enough so as
that the wall can absorb destroying energy and to withstand the
pressure of the explosive blast, and to further confine the
pressure inside the air cargo container (40). However, in practice,
what really destroys the structure of the air cargo container (40)
is high stress, and high energy is not the most important factor.
Besides, increasing the thickness of the panels (42) not only
increases the cost, but also increases bending stress when
encountering a blast inside the container. As a result, the
increasing in the weight of the container is not acceptable by the
aviation industry because the weight increase of the container
means a lot more expenses will thus be incurred. Therefore, in
order to overcome the high stress, the air cargo container (40) has
to be constructed so heavily that it is not feasible to be carried
by the airplane. Other related references can be found in the U.S.
Pat. No. 6,237,793; U.S. Pat. No. 6,196,107 and U.S. Pat. No.
5,769,257. We found even though the container panel is made of high
strength material, if the structure is not adapted, the panel and
its edges nearby can be damaged by the explosive blast.
[0010] Therefore, the present invention intends to provide a
blast-resistant cargo container to mitigate and/or obviate the
aforementioned problems.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
[0011] An objective of the present invention is to provide a
blast-resistant cargo container that has a non-framed structure.
Under ordinary conditions, the structure has sufficient stiffness
for receiving goods. When an explosive blast occurs in the cargo
container, the structure is flexible and by utilizing membrane
stress in the entire structure, whereby the cargo container is
capable of withstanding the explosive blast. The main purpose of
this invention is to utilize the ductile connecting member to
minimize the bending stress of the connecting members and the area
of side panel edges.
[0012] In order to accomplish the objectives, a blast-resistant
cargo container in accordance with the present invention includes
side panels and connecting members. The connecting members are
securely mounted between the adjacent side panels to form a
flexible structure of the cargo container, whereby the flexible
structure is able to substantially confine an explosive blast in
the cargo container.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS
[0013] FIG. 1 is a perspective view of the first preferred
embodiment of a blast-resistant cargo container in accordance with
the present invention;
[0014] FIG. 1A is a perspective view of the first preferred
embodiment of a blast-resistant cargo container with the caps
removed;
[0015] FIGS. 2-7 are cross-sectional views showing different
embodiments of connecting members of the blast-resistant cargo
container;
[0016] FIG. 8A-8C are schematic views showing different spacers are
applied between th connecting members for reinforcement;
[0017] FIG. 9 is a perspective view of the second preferred
embodiment of the blast-resistant cargo container;
[0018] FIG. 10 is a schematic, cross-sectional view showing a kind
of connection between a side panel and an extruded bar, and
deformation after an explosive blast is also shown;
[0019] FIG. 11 is a schematic, cross-sectional view showing another
kind of connection between the side panel and the extruded bar, and
the deformation after the explosive blast is also shown;
[0020] FIG. 12 is a schematic, perspective view showing the
deformation of the blast-resistant cargo container after the
explosive blast; and
[0021] FIG. 13 is perspective view of a conventional air cargo
container with partial in section so as to show the structure
thereof.
DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT
[0022] With reference to FIG. 1, the first preferred embodiment of
a blast-resistant cargo container in accordance with the present
invention is shown. The cargo container (10) has side panels (11)
and connecting members (12) securely connecting adjacent side
panels (11).
[0023] Referring to FIG. 2, each side panel (11) has arcuate shape
in cross-section, and the connecting member (12) is composed of a
first and a second connecting members (121,122) respectively
attached to outer and inner surfaces of the adjacent side panels
(11). It is to be noted from the drawing that after the first and
the second connecting members (121,122) are attached to two
adjacent side panels (11), there is no connection between two
adjacent panels (11) and between two adjacent ends of two
connecting members (12).
[0024] Referring to FIG. 3, both or either one of the first or the
second connecting members (121,122) can be adjusted to have a
substantial "S-shaped" cross-section. Referring to FIG. 4, one of
the adjacent connecting members (12) can also be varied to have a
crinkled cross-section. Referring to FIG. 5, either one of the
first or the second connecting members (121,122) can be further
varied to have a curve cross-section constituted by line segments.
Referring to FIG. 6, the connecting members can be varied to have a
"bubble-shaped" cross section. The objective of the variations in
the connecting members (12,121,122) is to increase the stretching
flexibility and enhance the overall structural strength when
blasting in the container. Moreover, referring to FIG. 7, the
adjacent side panels (11) can be connected by a single-pieced
connecting member (12) instead of two as previously described.
Referring to FIGS. 8A, 8B and 8C, it is noted that spacers (20) may
be applied and securely engaged between the first and second
connecting members (121,122) with continuous spacers or each one of
the spacers (20) spatially parted from the other so as to reinforce
the bending stiffness of the connecting members (12).
[0025] Referring to FIG. 1A, the main characteristic of the present
invention is that the cargo container (10) applies a non-rigid
frame design. That is, at corners where the connecting members (12)
intersect, the connecting members (12) are not securely connected
and caps (13) are respectively optionally disposed onto the
corners. Each cap (13) is only connected to one of the side panels
(11). That is, during the construction process of the air cargo of
the present invention, when the cap (13) is applied, although the
cap (13) is surrounded by three connecting members (12) and three
side panels (11), the cap (13) is only securely connected to one of
the adjacent three side panels (11). Under such an arrangement, the
entire structure of the air cargo of the present invention is not
rigid in corners and the stress concentration can be avoided or
released. In the optionally disposed caps (13) case, the cap (13)
is to be applied so that during an explosive blast the connecting
members (12) and the side panels (11) are released in a controlled
manner.
[0026] With reference to FIGS. 9 and 10, the second preferred
embodiment of the blast-resistant cargo container in accordance
with the present invention is shown. The cargo container (30) in
this preferred embodiment also includes side panels (31) and
connecting members (32) each securely connecting adjacent side
panels (11). Extruded bars (34) are mounted around a bottom panel
(35) of the cargo container (30) and securely connected with the
bottom panel (35) by an extension (342) of the extruded bar
(34).
[0027] With reference to FIG. 10 again, each of the extruded bars
(34) has a groove (341) defined therein. Each of the side panels
(31) has a bottom portion securely connected with a connecting
panel (311). Each connecting panel (311) further has a bottom edge
formed as a L-shaped flange (312) so that by receiving the L-shaped
flange (312) in the corresponding groove (341), the side panels
(31) are respectively connected to the extruded bars (34). It
should be appreciated that when the explosive blast occurs in the
cargo container (30), the side panels (31) are displaced outwardly
but not detached from the extruded bars (34) due to the mating
between the L-shaped flanges (312) and the grooves (341).
[0028] With reference to FIG. 11, each side panel (31) can also
have its bottom edge formed as a L-shaped flange (310) so as to be
received in the groove (341). Therefore, in the explosive blast, as
the side panels (31) are directly connected to the extruded bars
(34) the side panels (31) are displaced outwardly but not detached
from the extruded bars (34) due to the mating between the flanges
(310) and the grooves (341).
[0029] It should be appreciated that the connecting members (12 and
32) in the described embodiments are preferably made of high
ductile material, such as stainless steel or aluminum. Furthermore,
the side panels (11 and 31) and the bottom panel (35) are
preferably made of material with high tensile strength.
[0030] The cargo container (10 or 30) in accordance with the
present invention is designed to have sufficient stiffness for
loading goods. When the explosive blast occurs in an interior of
the cargo container (10 or 30), due to the unique design, a
flexible structure is formed and expands to fully utilize membrane
stress of the side panels (11 or 31). Thereby, the explosive blast
is substantially confined in the cargo container (10 or 30) as
shown in FIG. 12.
[0031] In addition, when the blast waves generated in the explosive
blast those high density blast "particles" will impact the side
panels (11 or 31), the side panels (11 or 31) displace outwardly so
that the blast "particles" temporarily separate from the side
panels (11 or 31) and impact again afterwards. This process can be
considered as a series of nonelastic collisions and the explosive
blast energy is absorbed in increments of entropy to reduce
confined pressure exerted on the structure of the cargo container
(10 or 30). In summary, the structure not only utilizes the
membrane stress to withstand the explosive blast, but also
appropriately expands to reduce the confined pressure.
[0032] From the above description, it is noted that the invention
has the following advantages:
[0033] 1. The cargo container is constructed by connecting of side
panels and the absence of a conventional frame enables the more
flexible structure to be formed. In the explosive blast, the side
panels can bear force uniformly to utilize the membrane stress and
prevent bending stress near its edges. Therefore, the cargo
container can be light in weight while still being capable of
confining the explosive blast therein.
[0034] 2. The mating between the flanges and the grooves in the
bottom surface is not only convenient to assemble, but also is more
flexible to allow large deformation so as to withstand the
explosive blast.
[0035] 3. The connecting members can be easily adapted to connect
side panels having different thickness. Therefore, the assembly of
the cargo container is convenient.
[0036] While this invention has been particularly shown and
described with references to the preferred embodiment thereof, it
will be understood by those skilled in the art that various changes
in form and details may be made therein without departing from the
scope of the invention encompassed by the appended claims.
* * * * *