Last week , an railroad engineer with Boeing was issued a patent of invention ( US 8,981,261 ) for a “ shockwave attenuation ” system that seems to work like an unseeable shield of super hot air to protect soldiers by dampening shockwaves from explosions .
Brian Tillotson aim the idea after notice the sort of injuries suffered by soldiers serving in Iraq and Afghanistan . " We were doing a much better job of stop over shrapnel,“Tillotson tells Live Science . " But they were make out home with brain injuries . " Armored door and plat on vehicles might stop debris and metallic element fragments that result from an IED , for representative , but the shockwaves that are generated go right through physical barriers , as well as human bodies .
The system intercepts shockwaves with a shield of heated up , ionized air , Live Science explain , change the speed at which the intense waves travel and forcing them to bend around objects . The process resembles the way lenses deform Inner Light , Tillotson summate .
The system dwell of two major components : a sensor and an bow source . When the sensor detects a shockwave - producing event , it determine the distance and direction of the shockwave relative to the object being represent — a vehicle carrying soldiers , for example . This communicates with an “ arc generator , ” which is basically two ends of a circuit connected to a large power root , Live Science explains . With enough electric current , an electric arc move between the two ends of the circuit , and its this electric spark that heats and shoot the particle of air .
Certain wave disseminate faster in hotter air . So when the shockwave hits the blistering - atmosphere carapace , it step on it up and change direction slightly — off from the target behind the arc . " With a bulging lens you focus the light,“Tillotson aver . On the other hand , " a concave lense overspread it out . " And as it spread , it becomes weaker and deflected as a result . Besides bow generators , the airwave can also be hot up with laser and microwave beams . you may record the full letters patent descriptionhere .
picture : U.S. Patent and Trademark Office
