GB2475022A

GB2475022A - Mine system

Info

Publication number: GB2475022A
Application number: GB8608554A
Authority: GB
Inventors: Hans-Jurgen Frieske; Manfred Rudiger
Original assignee: Dynamit Nobel AG
Current assignee: Dynamit Nobel AG
Priority date: 1985-05-02
Filing date: 1986-04-08
Publication date: 2011-05-11
Anticipated expiration: 2006-04-08
Also published as: FR2727515A1; DE3515703C1; GB8608554D0; TR22262A; GB2475022B; IT8647962A0

Abstract

Each mine of the mine system contains a register (10), which contains an indication (SC) of the safety condition of the mine and a register setting (R) for the controlling of an indicator facility (18). For preparation of the clearing of the minefield, the contents of the register (13) of the mine safety apparatus (RM) are taken up in the register (10) of the mine. In this way, the mine is made safe. Before the mines are made safe, the indicator facilities (18) of the mines are activated under the control by the mine safety apparatus (RM). This answers back to the mine safety apparatus. The mine safety apparatus sends a protocol concerning the safety conditions and indicator conditions of the individual mines to the clearing detachment.

Description

MINE SYSTEM

The invention relates to a mine system with a plurality of mines to be disposed on a minefield, of which each possesses a controllable safety facility.

If mines are disposed in a minefield, the clearing

of such a minefield is difficult and dangerous. In

certain situations, it is the practice to dispose and to activate mines. If the situation then becomes easier again, with the former mine systems, an expensive

clearing of the minefield must take place.

The invention is based on the object of producing a mine system of the initially indicated type, whose mines are to be made safe or activated in simple manner and which allows a minefield to be made ready without great expense and with a high measure of safety for clearance.

For the solution of this object, it is provided according to the invention that each mine comprises a memory facility chargeable by a receiver facility, which a signal controlling the condition of the activating facility a time register chargeable by the receiver facility and continuously switched in the activated condition of the mine by a time signal generator, and that a mine safety device is provided which emits a safety signal which is received by all the mines and shifts these into the safe condition and resets the time register.

With the mine system according to the invention, it is possible, as a result of the employment of a mine safety apparatus, to displace all the mines of a mine-

field into the safety condition. The mines are so

constructed that they self destroy after a definite time (lying time) from the time of activation, that is to say, if the value existing then in the time register has reached a predetermined end magnitude as a result of the signals from the time signal generator. As a result of the safety signal, not only are the memory facilities reset to the condition "safety", but the time register is also set so that all the mines of the system are set back to the safe initial condition if the safety signal occurs. Accordingly a safe patrolling of the mine field is possible.

The mine system according to the invention is suitable in particular for anti-tank mines which are disposed on the ground or discharged from flight bodies.

According to a preferred embodiment of the invention, it is provided that each mine contains a memory containing an individual characteristic and that the mine safety apparatus is so instructed that, after the emission of the safety signal, it emits interrogation questions for the individual mines, which thereupon respectively emit a reply signal which indicates the condition of the memory facility, and that a record of the reply signals of all the mines is reported to the mine safety apparatus. After all the mines have been made safe by the signal from the mine safety apparatus, an interrogation of each individual mine for its safety condition is made by the mine safety apparatus. Only if it has been established in the mine safety facility that all the mines of the mine field are safe, is the mine-

field released for clearance.

Preferably each mine possesses an indicator facility which is activated by a command signal which the mine safety apparatus emits after receipt of the confirmatory signal reporting the safety condition of the mine. The indicating arrangement, for example a light, a flag or an indicator sign is only confirmed after the activated condition of the mine has been interrogated by the mine safety apparatus and registered. Only then does the mine safety apparatus give the command signal to each individual mine or to all the mines at the same time or only to those mines which are armed according to the incorporated record and the indicator facility is confirmed with these mines. The clearance detachment which approaches a mine perceives at some distance whether the mine is made safe or is activated and can in

this way clear the mine-field without danger.

There belongs to the mine system according to the invention in appropriate manner, in addition to the mine safety apparatus for making all the mines safe, a mine activating apparatus for the activating of all the mines of the minefield. With the mine activating apparatus, all the mines can be activated at the same time by corresponding radio signals. In this way, it is possible to activate a minefield which is initially patrollable with made safe mines, on intensification of the situation. After elapse of the predetermined lying time, the mines self destruct.

The mine safety apparatus and/or the mine activating apparatus resembles, as appropriate, a mine in its constructional form so that it can be fired into the installed mine field and influence the mines from then on. Mine safety apparatus and mine activating apparatus can be similar in construction with merely the operating mode (safety or activating), being able to be adjusted.

The mine system according to the invention can furthermore encompass a first mine safety apparatus which merely makes all the mines safe, and a second mine safety apparatus which, in addition to the making safe, undertakes an individual interrogation of the safety condition of the individual mines and if necessary the activating of the indicator arrangements. The first mine safety apparatus is then employed if the minefield is to be intensified transiently, and the second mine safety apparatus can be employed for preparation of the

clearance of the minefield.

In the following, there is further explained, with reference to the drawings, a constructional example of the mine system according to the invention.

There is shown: Figure 1 a minefield with mine activating apparatus, Figure 2 a representation of the memory and register of the mine and its interaction with the activating apparatus, Figure 3 the minefield with a first safety apparatus, Figure 4 a representation of the memory and register of the mine and its interaction with the facilities of the safety apparatus, Figure 5 the minefield with a second safety apparatus and Figure 6 the memory and register of the mine and its interaction with the second safety apparatus.

In Figure 1 there is shown a minefield MF in which

numerous mines M are laid. The mines are safe. This condition is maintained by a minimal current in the electrical system of each mine.

Each mine M contains a transmitter and receiver arrangement and a logic control circuit. In Figure 2 there is shown a register 10 contained in the interior of the mine M, in which the following data are stored:

MF: minefield designation

MN: current number of mines SC: safety signal (safety code) LZ: lying time R: activating signal of the indicator arrangement (clearance signal).

The minefield designation MF and the current

number of mines MN are fixed values which are stored in the register 10 and are unchanging with laid mines.

These data are denoted in the present case by "AA" or "YYY". The safety signal SC is set symbolically at "0' with safe mines and it is set symbolically at "1" with activated mines. The lying time LZ consists likewise of several settings. On making the mine safe, this value is adjusted to a predetermined amount "XXXX" which is counted down by a time signal generator (not shown) which is contained in the mine. If the value in the time register has reached a predetermined minimal value, the mine is detonated. The register setting "R" controls a reporting facility which is applied externally of the mine and indicates its condition whether the mine can be cleared without danger.

On laying of the minefield, the mine M is present

initially safe in the starting condition. After the laying of the minefield, the activating apparatus EM is

brought to the minefield or activated there. The

activating apparatus EM contains in a register 11 the following data:

MF: minefield designation

SC: safety signal LZ: lying time.

These data are transmitted by the transmitter arrangement of the activating apparatus EM and received

by the mine H. If the minefield designation"AA" is

recognised by the mine, the activating signal SC is by this time administered to the memory facility which had contained previously the safety signal SC, and the time register, whose contents previously had stood at 1,000011 is adjusted to the predetermined content "XXXX" by the activating apparatus. The mine is now activated and is in the "ambush condition". In this condition, the mine-

field MF is not capable of travel across.

If the minefield is installed in this manner and

has been activated, the first safety apparatus SM according to Figures 3 and 4 is brought to the minefield or activated there in anticipation of a situation releasing tension momentarily. The logic of the safety apparatus SM is of like form to that of the previously described activating apparatus ES. The register 12 of the safety apparatus SM contains, in addition to the minefield designation HF, the safety signal SC "000" and the lying time LZ "0000". On transmitting the contents of the register 12 to the corresponding positions of the register 10, the safety signal SC becomes "111" and the lying time LZ is set to "0000" in the time register.

This value of the lying time is stable and is not varied by the signals of the time signal generator. As a result of the transmitting of the contents of the register 12 to the register 10 of the mine, the mine is made safe according to Figure 4, that is it takes up the "dormant condition".

If the mine field is to be cleared or to be

capable of traversing without danger, the second safety apparatus RN shown in Figures 5 and 6 is employed. This second safety apparatus RM contains a register 13 and a protocol register 14. The register 13 contains the same data as the register 11 of the first safety apparatus SM and this data is transmitted in like manner to the mines M, as has previously been described. In this way the mines M -independently of whether they are in the activated or safe condition -are placed in the dormant condition, that is made safe and at the same time the electronics of the mine are "awoken", that is set from the rest condition to the working condition.

After the mines have been made safe in this manner, the safety apparatus RM transmits an interrogation signal to each individual mine of the

minefield. This interrogation signal contains the

minefield designation MF "AA" and the current mine number MN "YYY". After receipt of the interrogation signal, the respective designated mine transmits the reply signal 16 which consists of the total contents of the register 10, with the exception of the minefield designation MF.

This reply signal is received by the safety apparatus RM and stored in the protocol register 14. The protocol register 14 therefore contains the mine numbers and condition data of all the mines of the minefield. After the protocol has been completed, the signal "01" is recorded in the memory positions R of the registers 13 and 14 and the contents of the protocol register 14 are transmitted one after the other and received selectively by the mines in question and received in the register 10.

As a result, the contents of the register R setting in the register 10 also become "01". The indicator apparatus 18 is controlled by the contents of the register setting R. When these contents are "01", the indicator arrangement is activated so that the safety condition of the mines is recognisable. The signal 19, with which the contents of one mine of the protocol register 14 are transmitted to the mine M in question, is the command signal with the command contained in the register setting R for activating the indicator arrangement.

After the indicator arrangement in the mine M is activated, the mine M transmits a confirmation signal 20 to the safety apparatus RM. After the safety apparatus has received this confirmation signal, the register setting R in the protocol register 14 for this mine is placed in the condition "11". If the register settings R of all the mines in the protocol register are in the condition "11", the safety apparatus RM generates a transmission signal 21 to the clearance detachment. The transmission signal 21 indicates that the making safe of the mines has ended, that the mines are now in the condition for safe clearance and that this is made noticeable by the indicator arrangement.

If a mine has not been made safe by unfavourable receiving conditions, this is recognised by the condition of the protocol register 14. The transmission signal 21 contains the entire contents of the protocol register, so that the clearance detachment knows how many mines have not been made safe or with how many mines, the reporting arrangement has not communicated. The minefield can now be cleared with the care offered. Possibly, the mines still present, which have not established any clearly recognisable clearance signal and which have not self-destroyed after the elapse of the lying time, can in principle only be in the made safe condition. In order to eliminate every safety risk, these mines should 1 definitely be blown up.

Claims

Claims: 1. Mine system with a plurality of mines forlaying on a mine field, of which each possesses acontrollable safety facility, characterised in that each mine (M) contains a memory facility (R) chargeable by a receiver facility, which a signal (SC,Sc) controlling the condition of the safety facility a time register chargeable by the receiver facility and continuously switched in the activated condition of the mine (M) by a time signal generator, and that a mine safety apparatus (sM,RM) is provided, which emits a safety signal which is received by all the mines and shifts these into the safe condition and resets the time register.
2. Mine system according to claim 1, characterised in that each mine (M) contains a memory containing an individual characteristic (MF,MN) and that the mine safety apparatus (RM) is so formed that it emits, after emitting of the safety signal, interrogation signals (15) for the individual mines, which thereupon respectively emit a reply signal (16) which indicates the condition of the memory facility (Sc) and that a protocol of the reply signals of all the mines is recorded in the mine safety apparatus (RM).
3. Mine system according to claim 2, characterised in that each mine (M) possesses an indicator arrangement (18) which is activated by a command signal (19) which the mine safety apparatus (RM) emits after receipt of the reply signal (16) indicating the safety condition of the mine.
4. Mine system according to one of claims 1 to 3, characterised in that a mine safety apparatus (SM,RM) for the making safe of all the mines of the minefield and a mine activating apparatus (EM) for activating all themines of the minefield are provided.
5. Mine system according to one of claims 1 to 4, characterised in that a first mine safety apparatus (SM) 1 is provided which merely makes safe all the mines, and a second mine safety apparatus (RM), which in addition to the making safe, controls an individual interrogation of the safety condition of the individual mines and if necessary the activation of the indicator facilities (18).
6. Mine system according to claim 2, characterised in that the individual characteristic (MF,MN) encompasses a minefield designation (MF) and a current number of mines (MN).Amendments to the claims have been filed as follows 1. Mine system with a plurality of mines forlaying on a mine field, each of which possesses acontrollable memory and transmitting facility with controllable security codes and lying codes, wherein both the security codes and also the lying codes are actuated by impulses which originate from one or several facilities comprised by the system and introduced intothe minefield from the exterior thereof.2. Mine system according to claim 1, wherein the facility introduced into the minefield transmits impulses for rendering secure the mines and for the termination of the lying time.3. Mine system according to claim 1, wherein the introduced facility emits impulses for making safe the actuated mines and for restoring to the lying time.4. Mine system according to claims 1 to 3, wherein each mine has additional to its memory and transmitting facility, special identification codes and clearance codes which are actuated by impulses from a clearance facility which is introduced into the minefield at a desired time.5. Mine system as defined in claim 1, substantially as hereinbefore described with reference to and as shown in Figures 1 and 2 of the accompanying drawings, optionally in association with Figures 3 and 4 and/or Figures 5 and 6.