Apparel – Guard or protector – For wearer's head
Patent
1995-08-11
1998-05-19
Neas, Michael A.
Apparel
Guard or protector
For wearer's head
2422, 2424, 359632, A42B 318, G02B 2700
Patent
active
057522766
DESCRIPTION:
BRIEF SUMMARY
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates to the field of optoelectronic assemblies intended to be mounted on a helmet.
It relates to a helmet equipped with optronic display means and a method for adjusting the position of an image generated by the optronic means.
Optoelectronic assemblies comprise:
The generating means may, for example, be a cathode-ray tube, a liquid-crystal screen, an image conveyed by optical fiber, one or more light-emitting diodes arranged in a matrix and controllable individually or collectively in order to form an image in pixels or else a projected sighting device.
The processing and return means generally comprise optical elements such as lenses, mirrors, functional holograms.
The means for returning the image to the eye of the observer is often constituted by the visor of the helmet.
This visor, made of transparent material, thus fulfills the role both of protecting the face of the wearer and of optical return.
Correct operation of the optronic assembly requires its various components to be and remain well-positioned with respect to each other. Furthermore, the visor, which is the final element for return to the eye of the observer, must be well positioned with respect to this eye.
2. Discussion of the Background
In existing devices, the various components of the system are mounted on the shell of the helmet and each shell is individually personalized in order to be matched to the morphology of the wearer.
The operations of adjusting in the personalization phase are fairly time-consuming and onerous, in particular for the wearer of the helmet. Furthermore, current helmet shells have low rigidity and deform under the effect of temperature variations or under the effect of inertial forces in the acceleration phases.
The result of this is that the components of the optoelectronic assembly move relative to each other and the quality of the image is degraded.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
In regard to this state of the art, the invention aims to constitute an optoelectronic assembly for a helmet, all the elements of which, including the visor, are connected together by a rigid mechanical structure.
The presence of such a structure makes it possible to separate the operations of adjusting the optronic system from the operations of matching to the observer, constituting the personalization phase of the helmet.
This separation has the following advantages: adjusted industrially in the factory on a suitable workstation. Adapting to the morphology of the wearer of the helmet amounts to displacing the entire structure or only a part of this structure with respect to the helmet. In the latter case, the structure is equipped with means capable of making it nondeformable again after the adjustments.
This results in a decrease in the manufacturing cost. separation facilitates the maintenance operations since the optomechanical assembly is returned to the factory on its own. Separation facilitates interchangeability of two assemblies having the same function. It also allows, with constraints on the fastening points, interchangeability for assemblies having different functions. It is thus, for example, easy to replace an optronic assembly for night vision or infrared vision with a helmet visor.
Fastening the optronic elements onto a rigid mechanical structure improves the permanence of the image quality since the various components are fixed with respect to each other.
For all these purposes, the subject of the invention is a protective helmet comprising a shell equipped with a set of optronic means allowing visualization of an image by a wearer of the helmet, characterized in that the means constituting the optronic assembly are assembled on an autonomous rigid mechanical structure itself fixed to the shell of the helmet.
In a particular embodiment, the structure is self-supporting. This means that substructures in tube form containing the optronic elements are themselves rigid and their mechanical assembly constitutes a rigid structure. This embodiment is parti
REFERENCES:
patent: 4156292 (1979-05-01), Helm et al.
patent: 4991818 (1991-02-01), Darbo et al.
patent: 5000544 (1991-03-01), Staveley
patent: 5184231 (1993-02-01), Ellis
patent: 5266930 (1993-11-01), Ichikawa et al.
patent: 5459612 (1995-10-01), Ingleton
patent: 5543968 (1996-08-01), Freeman et al.
Baudou Joel
Darbo Benoit
Lacroux Patrick
Vitte Vincent
Neas Michael A.
Sextant Avionique
LandOfFree
Protective helmet equipped with optronic systems and adjustment does not yet have a rating. At this time, there are no reviews or comments for this patent.
If you have personal experience with Protective helmet equipped with optronic systems and adjustment , we encourage you to share that experience with our LandOfFree.com community. Your opinion is very important and Protective helmet equipped with optronic systems and adjustment will most certainly appreciate the feedback.
Profile ID: LFUS-PAI-O-1843688