Rail for inductively powering firearm accessories
A method and system for an inductively powering rail on a firearm to power accessories such as: telescopic sights, tactical sights, laser sighting modules, and night vision scopes. This is achieved by having primary and secondary electromagnets (U-Cores) on both the inductively powering rail and the accessory. Once the electromagnets are in contact, the accessory is able to obtain power through induction via the inductively powering rail. Accessories may be attached to various fixture points on the inductively powering rail and are detected by the firearm when attached and detached. When attached, power and data communications may flow between the accessory and a master CPU located on the firearm. Accessories that are attached to the inductively powering rail and have rechargeable power systems may be recharged via the inductive power rail. Further, accessories that have power that is not needed may be transferred to other accessories.
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Embodiments of the invention relate generally to an inductively powering rail mounted on a device such as a firearm to provide power to accessories, such as: telescopic sights, tactical sights, laser sighting modules, and night vision scopes.
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTIONCurrent accessories mounted on a standard firearm rail such as a MIL-STD-1913 rail, Weaver rail, or NATO STANAG 4694 accessory rail require that they utilize a battery contained in the accessory. As a result multiple batteries must be available to replace failing batteries in an accessory. Embodiments of the present invention utilize multiple battery power sources to power multiple accessories through the use of an induction system, mounted on a standard firearms rail.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTIONIn a first aspect, an embodiment of the invention is a system for providing inductive power to an accessory on a firearm; the system comprising: an inductively powering rail operatively connected to one or more batteries, the inductively powering rail comprising a plurality of inductively powering rail slots, each inductively powering rail slot having a primary U-Core, the accessory having secondary U-Cores designed to mate with each primary U-Core to provide an inductive power connection to the accessory.
In a further embodiment, there disclosed a method for providing inductive power to an accessory on a firearm; the method comprising:
detecting an accessory when attached to the firearm and providing an inductive power path with the accessory; and
providing power to the accessory from a secondary source should power be required.
Other aspects and features of embodiments of the invention will become apparent to those ordinarily skilled in the art upon review of the following description of specific embodiments of the invention in conjunction with the accompanying figures.
Embodiments of the present invention will now be described, by way of example only, with reference to the attached Figures, wherein:
Disclosed herein is a method and system for an inductively powering rail on a firearm to power accessories such as: telescopic sights, tactical sights, laser sighting modules, Global Positioning Systems (GPS) and night vision scopes. This list is not meant to be exclusive, merely an example of accessories that may utilize an inductively powering rail. The connection between an accessory and the inductively powering rail is achieved by having electromagnets, which we refer to as “primary U-Cores” on the inductively powering rail and “secondary U-Cores” on the accessory. Once in contact with the inductively powering rail, through the use of primary and secondary U-cores, the accessory is able to obtain power through induction.
Embodiments avoid the need for exposed electrical contacts, which may corrode or cause electrical shorting when submerged, or subjected to shock and vibration. This eliminates the need for features such as wires, pinned connections or watertight covers.
Accessories may be attached to various fixture points on the inductively powering rail and are detected by the firearm once attached. The firearm will also be able to detect which accessory has been attached and the power required by the accessory.
Referring now to
Feature 12 is a MIL-STD-1913 rail, such as a Weaver rail, NATO STANAG 4694 accessory rail or the like. Sliding over rail 12 is an inductively powering rail 14. Rail 12 has a plurality of rail slots 16 and rail ribs 18, which are utilized in receiving an accessory. An inductively powering rail 14 comprises a plurality of rail slots 20, rail ribs 22 and pins 24, in a configuration that allows for the mating of accessories with inductively powering rail 14. It is not the intent of the inventors to restrict embodiments to a specific rail configuration, as it may be adapted to any rail configuration. The preceding serves only as an example of several embodiments to which inductively powering rail 14 may be mated. In other embodiments, the inductively powering rail 14 can be mounted to devices having apparatus adapted to receive the rail 14
Pins 24 in one embodiment are stainless steel pins of grade 430. When an accessory is connected to inductively powering rail 14, pins 24 connect to magnets 46 and trigger magnetic switch 48 (see
Referring now to
Referring now to
As shown in
In both the accessory 42 and the inductively powering rail 14 are embedded Printed Circuit Boards (PCBs), which contain computer hardware and software to allow each to communicate with each other. The PCB for the accessory 42 is shown as accessory PCB 52. The PCB for the inductively powering rail 14 is shown as primary PCB 54. These features are described in detail with reference to
Referring now to
System 70 may be powered by a number of sources, all of which are controlled by master controller 72. Hot swap controller 74 serves to monitor and distribute power within system 70. The logic of power distribution is shown in
Power is distributed either conductively or inductively. These two different distribution paths are shown as features 82 and 90 respectively. In essence, conductive power path 82 powers the inductively powering rail 14 while inductive power path 90 transfers power between the inductively powering rail 14 and accessories such as 42.
Master CPU 76 in one embodiment is a Texas Instrument model MSP430F228, a mixed signal processor, which oversees the management of system 70. Some of its functions include detecting when an accessory is connected or disconnected, determining the nature of an accessory, managing power usage in the system, and handling communications between the rail(s), accessories and the user.
Shown in
Communications may be conducted through an inductive control path 92. Once an accessory 42, such as an optical scope are connected to the system, it may communicate with the master CPU 76 through the use of inductive control paths 92. Once a connection has been made between an accessory and an inductively powering rail 14, 94 or 96 communication is established from each rail via frequency modulation on an inductive control path 92, through the use of primary U-cores 26 and secondary U-Cores 50. Accessories such as 42 in turn communicate with master CPU 76 through rails 14, 94 or 96 by load modulation on the inductive control path 92.
By the term frequency modulation the inventors mean Frequency Shift Key Modulation (FSK). A rail 14, 94, or 96 sends power to an accessory 42, by turning the power on and off to the primary U-core 26 and secondary U-core 50. This is achieved by applying a frequency on the order of 40 kHz. To communicate with an accessory 42 different frequencies may be utilized. By way of example 40 kHz and 50 kHz may be used to represent 0 and 1 respectively. By changing the frequency that the primary U-cores are turned on or off information may be sent to an accessory 42. Types of information that may be sent by inductive control path 92 may include asking the accessory information about itself, telling the accessory to enter low power mode, ask the accessory to transfer power. The purpose here is to have a two way communication with an accessory 42.
By the term load modulation the inventors mean monitoring the load on the system 70. If an accessory 42 decreases or increases the amount of power it requires then master CPU 76 will adjust the power requirements as needed.
Accessory 104 serves as an example of an accessory, being a tactical light. It has an external power on/off switch 106, which many accessories may have as well as a safe start component 108. Safe start component 108 serves to ensure that the accessory is properly connected and has appropriate power before turning the accessory on.
Multi button pad 88 may reside on the firearm containing system 70 or it may reside externally. Multi button pad 88 permits the user to turn accessories on or off or to receive specific data, for example the distance to a target or the current GPS location. Multi-button pad 88 allows a user to access features the system can provide through external data transfer module 84.
Referring now to
Power is received by PCB 54 via conductive power path 82 from master controller 72 (see
Hot swap controller 74 provides via feature 154, voltage in the range of 14V to 22V which is sent to a MOSFET and transformer circuitry 156 for each inductively powering rail slot 20 on inductively powering rail 14.
Feature 158 is a 5V switcher that converts battery power to 5V for the use of MOSFET drivers 160. MOSFET drivers 160 turn the power on and off to MOSFET and transformer circuitry 156 which provides the power to each primary U-Core 26. Feature 162 is a 3.3V Linear Drop Out Regulator (LDO), which receives its power from 5V switcher 158. LDO 162 provides power to master CPU 76 and supporting logic within each slot. Supporting logic is Multiplexer 172 and D Flip Flops 176.
The Multiplexer 172 and the D Flip-Flops 176, 177 are utilized as a serial shift register. Any number of multiplexers 172 and D Flip-Flops 176, 177 may be utilized, each for one inductively powered rail slot 20. This allows master CPU 76 to determine which slots are enabled or disabled and to also enable or disable a slot. The multiplexer 172 is used to select between shifting the bit from the previous slot or to provide a slot enable signal. The first D Flip Flop 176 latches the content of the Multiplexer 172 and the second D Flip-Flop 177 latches the value of D Flip-Flop 177 if a decision is made to enable or disable a slot.
Hall effect transistor 164 detects when an accessory is connected to inductively powering rail 14 and enables MOSFET driver 160.
Referring now to
Full wave rectifier and DC/DC Converter 186 rectifies the power from U-Cores 180 and converts it to a low power load 188, for an accessory such as a night vision scope. Pulse shaper 190 clamps the pulse from the U-Cores 180 so that it is within the acceptable ranges for microcontroller 98 and utilizes FSK via path 192 to provide a modified pulse to microcontroller 98. Microcontroller 98 utilizes a Zigbee component 198 via Universal Asynchronous Receiver Transmitter component (UART 196) to communicate between an accessory 42 and master controller 72. The types of information that may be communicated would include asking the accessory for information about itself, instructing the accessory to enter low power mode or to transfer power.
Referring now to
Current sense circuitry 202 measures the amount of the current being used by the system 70 and feeds that information back to the master CPU 76. Master controller 72 also utilizes a Zigbee component 204 via Universal Asynchronous Receiver Transmitter component (UART) 206 to communicate with accessories connected to the inductively powering rail 14, 94 or 96.
Before describing
Referring now to
Moving now to step 308 a communication link is established between the master CPU 76 and the accessory via control inductive control path 92. Processing then moves to step 310 where a test is made to determine if an accessory has been removed or powered off. If not, processing returns to step 304. If so, processing moves to step 312 where power to the primary and secondary U-Cores 26 and 50 for the accessory that has been removed.
The above steps are selected in an order that the designers felt were reasonable and logical. That being said, they do not need to be performed in the order cited nor do they need to be sequential. They could be performed in parallel to quickly report back to the Master CPU 76 the options for power.
With regard to communication between devices in system 70 there are three forms of communication, control path 86, inductive control path 92 and Zigbee (198, 204). Control path 86 provides communications between master CPU 76 and inductively powered rails 14, 94 and 96. Inductive control path 92 provides communication between an accessory such as 42 with the inductively powered rails 14, 94 and 96. There are two lines of communication here, one between the rails and one between the accessories, namely control path 86 and inductive control path 92. Both are bidirectional. The Zigbee links (198, 204) provide for a third line of communication directly between an accessory such as 42 and master CPU 76.
The above-described embodiments of the invention are intended to be examples only. Alterations, modifications and variations can be effected to the particular embodiments by those of skill in the art without departing from the scope of the invention, which is defined solely by the claims appended hereto.
Claims
1. A system for providing inductive power to an accessory; system comprising:
- an inductively powering rail operatively connected to one or more batteries, said inductively powering rail comprising a plurality of inductively powering rail slots, each inductively powering rail slot having a primary U-Core, said accessory having secondary U-Cores designed to mate with each primary U-Core to provide an inductive power connection to said accessory, wherein said accessory includes at least one magnet and the inductively powering rail has at least one pin configured to magnetically couple the at least one magnet to a magnetic switch when the accessory engages the inductively powering rail.
2. The system of claim 1 wherein said inductively powering rail comprises a Printed Circuit Board (PCB) comprising a master CPU, said CPU configured to detect when an accessory is attached to the inductively powering rail.
3. The system of claim 2 wherein said CPU is configured to detect when an accessory is detached from the inductively powering rail.
4. The system of claim 1, said system utilizing a master CPU connected to a plurality of power sources to distribute power to one or more accessories, connected to said inductively powering rail, said power distributed via conductive power path.
5. The system of claim 1, said system utilizing a master CPU to communicate with an accessory for the purpose of determining the power requirements of the accessory and providing power from one or more sources as needed.
6. The system of claim 1, said system utilizing a master controller to recharge said one or more batteries from an external power source.
7. The system of claim 1, said system utilizing a master controller to recharge said one or more batteries from an auxiliary power source.
8. The system of claim 1 said system utilizing a master CPU connected to said inductively powering rail via a control path to communicate data to and from said accessory via an inductive control path, said inductive control path flowing between said primary and secondary U-cores.
9. The system of claim 1 said system further comprising a multi-button pad for the user to directly control an accessory connected to said inductively powering rail.
10. The system of claim 1 said system utilizing a master CPU to control each inductively powering rail slot, said control comprising means for turning off power to a slot should an abnormality be detected.
11. The system of claim 1, said system utilizing a master CPU to transfer data between accessories.
12. The system of claim 1, said system utilizing a master CPU to send data to an external source.
13. The system of claim 1, said system utilizing a master CPU to receive information from a multi-button pad, said information indicating which accessories are to be powered on or off.
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Type: Grant
Filed: Jan 15, 2010
Date of Patent: May 6, 2014
Patent Publication Number: 20110173865
Assignee: Colt Canada Corporation
Inventors: David Walter Compton (Kitchener), Gary Edward Crocker (Kitchener)
Primary Examiner: Michelle Clement
Application Number: 12/688,256
International Classification: F41A 19/00 (20060101);