Skip to main content

Aluminium & Kevlar Shield - The art of Origami for saving lives!

Remember the paper planes and the boats you used to make in your school days with your friends? A swan, a flower or a windmill maybe?

Everybody has had a go at the art of Origami - the Japanese art of folding paper to create structures of beauty at some point in their lives. They are usually used as decorative pieces or showcase exquisite craftsmanship involving various forms and folding patterns. But a team of engineers at Brigham Young University (BYU) has created a lightweight bulletproof shield inspired by a Yoshimura origami crease pattern. The shield is made of 12 layers of bulletproof Kevlar with an aluminum core in the middle.


It solves two very critical aspects of physical protection of law enforcement officers –
  • This structure is extremely lightweight and compact unlike rigid shields which are cumbersome to deploy at times. The origami shield can be easily deployed in about 5 seconds and can be easily carried in the trunk of the police vehicles as it is foldable and requires less space. At only 25 kgs, the Aluminium and Kevlar shield it is almost half the weight of the current steel based shields.
  • Flat shields mostly offer maximum protection to only 1 person at a time in a crossfire. This shield can offer protection to a maximum of 3 people due to its surround-structure.





During testing, the researchers found the shield to be successful in stopping bullets from 9mm, .357 Magnum and .44 Magnum handguns. "Those are significant handguns with power," says Larry Howell, professor of Mechanical Engineering, BYU. "We suspected that something as large as a .44 Magnum would actually tip it over, but that didn't happen." The shield is still being developed and the current version is still a prototype.



The combination of Origami and Aluminium surely make one hell of a combination to save lives!

Source: http://www.designboom.com/design/origami-bulletproof-shield-brigham-young-university-02-20-2017/

Labels:

Comments

  1. Laraib24 May 2021 at 04:13

    Hey what a brilliant post I have come a cross and believe me I have been searching out for this similar kind of post for past a week and hardly came across this. thin origami paper

    ReplyDelete

Post a Comment

Most read articles

Aluminium in guitars – It's all music to our ears

Think of a guitar and the classic wooden version comes to mind. There are hundreds of types and they come in all shapes and sizes. Some passionate players even go for custom made guitars just to suit their movements and taste. The simple guitar is still evolving with newer uses of the instruments in concerts and other forms of music. The use of wood in the body and the neck of a guitar is not going to cease in a long time. However, the use of other selected materials by modern guitar manufacturers has significantly improved the sound quality and handling of the guitars. “Manufacturers were making custom guitars from solid billeted aluminum. I was still in graduate school and couldn’t afford such instruments. So I decided to make a competitively priced guitar. Instead of wood or plastic, I opted to use 0.080-in. aircraft-grade aluminum sheet metal because of its quality and durability,” says the then-future CEO of Normandy Guitars. Aluminium Guitar The use of Alumin
82 comments
Read more

Aluminium extrusions - The ultimate value addition of Aluminium downstream

From simple paper clips to complex pieces used in advanced technology, aluminium extrusions are created in various shapes and sizes for value added end use utilizations. The computer you are using right now contains at least one aluminium profile in the form of a heat sink. This takes advantage of aluminium’s excellent thermal conductivity, unique anodising capability and freedom of design to keep your computer’s processor cool. Different cross sections of extrusions Extrusion is a process used to create objects of a fixed cross-sectional profile. A special tool called a ‘die’ is used to create these extrusions by cutting or shaping the material with the help of a press. These dies are customized to create the wanted design. The process involves the pressing of a pre-heated solid cylinder of aluminium (billet) which is forced through the die opening. The billets are heated to a temperature range of 350 – 500 degrees Celsius. Aluminium does not glow when heated ye
35 comments
Read more

The choice is clear - Aluminium body for high end smartphones

A lot of phone companies are trying to build slim and sturdy phones for the ever growing market of steroid enhanced hardware capabilities. With phone manufacturers stuffing more RAM and precision cameras in the modern phones, the weight and robustness of the frames becomes all the more important. Today, some manufactures prefer a fiber body to reduce the overall weight in comparison to metal bodies. However, there’s something which still draws a larger advocacy of using aluminium bodies instead of a plastic or fiber. In 2007, Apple CEO Steve Jobs penned an open letter highlighting changes to the company's environmental policy in hopes of achieving "a greener Apple." In the letter, Jobs specifically noted the Mac maker's adoption of aircraft-grade aluminum in order to improve recycling uptake. Apart from the cost reduction implications, Apple is strongly in favor of aluminium usage in all its products for improving its year on year recycling capabilities with
19 comments
Read more

Humble Aluminium cans or sculpted masterpieces?

Have you ever spared a thought about what happens to the humble aluminium can after its purpose is done? Do we hear you say “they’re recycled and reused!?” Well, of course, you’re correct. But in its afterlife, some aluminium cans get converted into beautiful sculptures and serve a higher purpose. Behold these beautiful Aluminium masterpieces created by the Detroit-born artist Noah Deledda! Courtesy: 1 Fuzz Courtesy: My Modern Met Courtesy: WOSU Courtesy: The Inspiration   The interesting fact about these creative and exquisite pieces of sculptures is – Noah creates them with his bare fingers! "Through sculpture, I try to create something unique out of an ordinary object," says Noah, “My goal, and reason for ever making art is to raise awareness of the importance of the creative process. This drives me to create work that challenges perception and inspires curiosity.” To begin with, he removes the outer paint / commercial sticker
3 comments
Read more

Aluminium vs. Steel - (1) The changing tides in the automotive sector

To Steel or not to Steel… That is the question. To Aluminium… This might be the answer. The automobile industry is the one constantly shifting tides in technology and design to achieve perfection and quality. Everything is done with precision to maximise the output from the machines with as few resources as possible. After all, this is necessary as natural resources are limited and so are the resources which people can spare for an economical, ergonomic and environment-friendly vehicle of personal transportation. Moreover, safety is an important issue that the engineers keep at priority as people’s lives are at stake. Aluminium body is the preferred material in sports cars With car manufacturers around the world trying to pack in more punch with their offerings, the fight for better fuel efficiency and safety of the automobiles has intensified. With cutting edge designing and engineering capabilities, car manufacturers have carefully selected the materials and technology to
22 comments
Read more