Helmet Bracket System
The helmet bracket system is an electro-mechanical device for mounting digital head-mounted systems. The Helmet bracket system is lightweight, supports one-handed adjustment, has a breakaway base, and is mechanically low profile. The device also supports the transfer of high bandwidth digital data.
This invention has already been filed as a provisional patent, application No. 61/258,071 which was filed on Nov. 4, 2009.
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTIONCurrently, attaching night vision goggles or similar devices to a military helmet is a common process in the military. As technology has advanced, it has become necessary to attach sophisticated electronic devices to military helmets. Those electronic devices, in addition to performing normal functions, require multi-conductor electrical interfaces with both power and high bandwidth signals to be connected from the electronic devices, through the front or side walls of the helmet to the rear of the helmet, and through the rear wall to additional electronics or a battery power source. This has to be achieved without either exposing the interconnections to external damage under the rim of the helmet or by adding or enlarging additional holes or in some other way degrading the ballistic protection properties of the helmet.
Thus, what is needed is a helmet bracket system for attaching electronic head-mounted quick disconnect devices to military combat helmets without passing cables carrying high bandwidth electrical signals underneath the rim of a helmet or affecting the ballistic integrity of the helmet.
The following detailed description is of the best currently contemplated modes of carrying out exemplary embodiments of the invention. The description is not to be taken in a limiting sense, but is made merely for the purpose of illustrating the general principles of the invention, since the scope of the invention is best defined by the appended claims.
Broadly, an embodiment of the present invention generally relates to a helmet bracket system for attaching electronic head-mounted, quick disconnect devices to military combat helmets without passing cables underneath the rim of the helmet or affecting ballistic integrity of the helmet.
The helmet bracket system may comprise modified fasteners, a round-to-flat-to-round cable harness, a docking station, a break-away arm, a tilt switch, a shoe switch, and a shoe capable of connecting electrically via contact pads.
The helmet bracket system may be an articulated mechanical device attached by integrated fasteners to the helmet. The helmet bracket system may be attached and detached from the helmet by means of an integrated electro-mechanical plug and socket that provides mechanical strength for mounting the helmet bracket system as well as providing the necessary electrical pathways. A similar arrangement may be used at other attachment sites in the front, rear, or sides of the helmet. The helmet bracket system may also include sensors and switches that are combined into electrical pathways to allow the status of the helmet bracket system, such as docking connection status and position, to be sent to an attached electrical device, thus allowing power to be saved by powering down the electrical device upon receiving signals indicating that the electrical device is in a stowed position.
The electrical pathways between the helmet bracket system and the attached electrical device may comprise spring-loaded pins having integrated sealing such that they are seated when a mechanical connection is made between the helmet bracket system and the attached electrical device. The electrical pathways may be sealed to protect against the environment, thus enabling it to survive submersion to a water depth of at least 30 meters seawater pressure.
The helmet bracket system may allow an electrical device to be attached and secured to a helmet via the helmet bracket system. Once the electrical device is attached to the helmet, the helmet bracket system may allow the electrical device to be stowed or deployed and may further allow the position of the electrical device to be sent to the connected electrical device. Further, the helmet bracket system may also allow for the electrical device to be broken away from the helmet if the electrical device is subjected to ay external forces.
Existing holes manufactured into ballistic combat helmets may be used to transfer highly flexible conductors through the center of a high-grade fastener, thus avoiding the need to create a separate wiring harness path around the rim of the helmet that exposes the conductors to physical damage or the need to drill new holes on the helmets that might affect the structural integrity of the helmet.
Power and communications signals carried by the conductors may be passed along to the electrical device that is docked with the helmet bracket system. Signals provided by a tilt switch and a shoe disconnect switch may interface with the docked electrical device to relay information about the helmet bracket system.
The electrical breakaway mechanism, which may be part of the helmet docking station 105, is elaborated upon in
Mating with the shoe port 111 may be the electro/mechanical interface shoe 113 shown in
When a release button is depressed, the shoe 113 may be disengaged from the break-away unit 108, and a separate signal may be provided to indicate that the shoe 113 is no longer secured to the break-away unit 108.
The helmet bracket system may allow for a cable carrying power and communication signals to pass through modified existing fasteners on the back of a helmet, pass along the interior surface of the helmet changing from a round cable wire harness to a flat cable wire harness during this phase, change back to a round wire harness, and pass through modified existing fasteners on the front of the helmet to a docking station, pass through the break-away arm, and exit the helmet bracket system by means of an electrical connection on the helmet bracket shoe. Because the helmet bracket system may use existing bolt hole patterns on the helmet without changing the structural integrity of the helmet shell, the system may obviate the need to route electrical connections from being routed under the rims of helmets.
Further, existing fastening hardware used to secure the helmet webbing, chin-straps, and currently-deployed helmet bracketry may be modified to allow electrical routing. The fastening hardware may be modified by adding a concentric port along the functional axis of the thread, thus allowing electrical connections to pass through the port without affecting the functional integrity of the fastening hardware.
The helmet bracket system may include a break-away arm that may be movable between a stowed and deployed position. A tilt-switch mechanism on the break-away arm may provide a signal indicating whether the break-away arm is in the stowed or deployed position. The helmet bracket system may further incorporate a mechanism for electrical disconnect during mechanical breakaway of the break-away arm from its docking station. Electrical connections between the break-away arm and its docking station may be achieved by sealed spring-loaded contact pins and contact pads.
When a release button is depressed to disengage the shoe from the breakaway arm, a separate signal may be provided to indicate that the shoe is no longer secured to the breakaway arm. Power and communication signals may also be passed through the shoe via sealed contact pads and spring-loaded contact pins.
The wire harness carrying the head cable 103 may be a round-to-flat-to-round wire harness that follows the curvature of the helmet in order to increase the comfort of a user. In alternative embodiments, the wire harness carrying the head cable 103 may be a round wire harness.
The helmet bracket system may be operated using only one hand, although two hands may be used if deemed necessary by the user.
While the helmet bracket system may be used during military combat, it may also be used during search and rescue operations, recreational sports, emergency services, maintenance/repair activities, or any other suitable activity.
The helmet bracket system may be made and assembled by using machining, injection molding, printed circuit board (PCB) fabrication, or any other suitable methods.
It should be understood, of course, that the foregoing relates to exemplary embodiments of the invention and that modifications may be made without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention as set forth in the following claims.
Claims
1. An apparatus for mounting an external device to a helmet comprising:
- a rear fastener that allows cables to pass through without affecting ballistic integrity of the helmet;
- a front fastener that allows cables to pass through without affecting ballistic integrity of the helmet;
- a head cable operable to carry electrical power and data signals and to pass from a front side of the helmet to a back side of the helmet through the rear fastener and the front fastener on the helmet without passing the head cable over a top of the helmet or under a rim of the helmet, wherein the head cable transitions from a round cable that passes through the custom rear fastener to a flat cable which passes around an underside of the helmet and back to the round cable that passes through the custom flanged fastener;
- an electro/mechanical docking station hard mounted to the helmet, the electrical/mechanical docking station operable to provide mechanical mounting, power connections including duplicate power contacts, and a communications attachment;
- an electro/mechanical break-away unit attached to the helmet docking station that is operable to deploy and stow the external device, and to receive the electrical power and data signals from the head cable;
- an electro/mechanical break-away mechanism that is operable to create an electrical signal indicating a soft shut down or start-up of an external device; and
- a electro/mechanical external device attachment point that, when attached to the electro/mechanical docking station, provides an electrical signal to the external device indicating whether the electro/mechanical break-away unit is in a deployed or a stowed position.
Type: Application
Filed: Nov 4, 2010
Publication Date: May 5, 2011
Inventor: David John Siviter (Port Tobacco, MD)
Application Number: 12/939,411
International Classification: A42B 1/24 (20060101);