This invention generally relates to a field of body armor items, and more specifically relates to a protective armor panel for females that provides protection against various ballistic and non-ballistic impacts.
BACKGROUND
[0002] The subject matter discussed in the background section should not be assumed to be prior art merely as a result of its mention in the background section. Similarly, a problem mentioned in the background section or associated with the subject matter of the background section should not be assumed to have been previously recognized in the prior art. The subject matter in the background section merely represents different approaches, which in and of themselves may also correspond to implementations of the claimed technology.
[0003] A protective armor panel is a safety equipment capable of providing protection to a torso of a wearer. The protective armor panel is not altogether, but quite like, a protective vest which is commonly worn by a law enforcement officer to receive protection against various ballistic and non-ballistic impacts. Typically, the protective vest is worn in combat situations such as war, protest etc. where the chances of getting hurt are more likely. In addition, the protective vest also finds application in fields such as, but not limited to sports, construction, or the like.
[0004] The conventional protective vests are designed considering the torso of a man and does not take much into account the torso of woman. Therefore, when these protective vests are worn by a female, a bulge is created in the vest, and due to the bulge, a gap is formed at a side portion of the vest. This gap at the side portion of the vest fails to provide continuous protection from the ballistic and non-ballistic impacts to the wearer. Moreover, due to the female breasts, the conventional protective vests are uncomfortable to wear as the conventional vests are not adapted fit the female breasts. In some scenarios, due to the present shape of the conventional

protective vests, women also face breathing problems. Consequently, standard design of previously available protective vests either inadvertently expose areas of the torso or provide an uncomfortable fit for the wearer.
[0005] Hence, in view of the above, there remains a need for a novel and inventive protective armor panel that is comfortable, as well as provides proper protection to torso of a female.
OBJECTIVES OF THE INVENTION
[0006] It is an objective of the present invention to provide a protective armor panel for a female.
[0007] It is an objective of the invention to provide the protective armor panel that provides protection to a torso of the female in an effective manner.
[0008] It is an objective of the invention to provide the protective armor panel that provides proper protection to the torso of the female against various ballistic and non-ballistic impacts.
[0009] It is an objective of the invention to provide the protective armor panel that is configured to be fitted comfortably on the torso of the female.
[0010] It is an objective of the invention to provide the protective armor panel which is cost effective.
[0011] It is an objective of the invention to provide the protective armor panel which has simple structure.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
[0012] According to a main aspect, the present embodiments disclose a protective armor panel for a female, to provide protection to the female against various ballistic and non-ballistic impact. The protective armor panel for the female comprises of a front torso panel, a rear torso panel, and coupling elements. The rear torso panel is configured to be detachably connected to the front torso panel, through coupling elements. Each of the front torso panel and the rear torso panel comprises a soft armor panel and a hard armor panel disposed within the front torso panel and the rear torso panel, to provide protection to front part and rear part of a torso. The soft armor panel comprises a plurality of layers attached together, with at least one layer of the plurality of layers having at least two darts. The at least two darts is configured to be positioned at a lower portion of the at least one layer, to provide a curved shape to the at least one layer. The at least two darts are configured to align the at least one layer with a front torso of a female, and one dart is configured to be symmetrical to another dart about a central line of the at least one layer from the plurality of layers.
[0013] According to another aspect, the front torso panel, the rear torso panel, the coupling elements, the soft armor panel, the hard armor panel, the plurality of layers, and the at least two darts are integrated as a single unit to form the protective armor panel.
[0014] It is to be understood that both the foregoing general description and the following detailed description are exemplary and explanatory only and are not restrictive of the invention, as claimed.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF DRAWINGS
[0015] The accompanying drawings illustrate various embodiments of systems, methods, and embodiments of various other aspects of the disclosure. Any person

with ordinary skills in the art will appreciate that the illustrated element boundaries (e.g. boxes, groups of boxes, or other shapes) in the figures represent one example of the boundaries. It may be that in some examples one element may be designed as multiple elements or that multiple elements may be designed as one element. In some examples, an element shown as an internal component of one element may be implemented as an external component in another, and vice versa. Furthermore, elements may not be drawn to scale. Non-limiting and non-exhaustive descriptions are described with reference to the following drawings. The components in the figures are not necessarily to scale, emphasis instead being placed upon illustrating principles.
[0016] FIG. 1 illustrates a protective armor panel, according to an embodiment of the present invention;
[0017] FIGS. 2A-2H illustrates a front view of each of the layers of a soft armor panel, according to an embodiment;
[0018] FIG. 3A illustrates a side view of a hard armor panel, according to one exemplary embodiment of present invention; and
[0019] FIG. 3B illustrates a front view of the hard armor panel, according to another exemplary embodiment of the present invention.
DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS
[0020] Some embodiments of the disclosure, illustrating all its features, will now be discussed in detail. The words "comprising," "having," "containing," and "including," and other forms thereof, are intended to be equivalent in meaning and be open ended in that an item or items following any one of these words is not meant to be an exhaustive listing of such item or items, or meant to be limited to only the listed item or items. It must also be noted that as used herein and in the appended claims, the singular forms "a," "an," and "the" include plural references unless the context clearly dictates otherwise. Although any systems and methods similar or

equivalent to those described herein can be used in the practice or testing of embodiments of the present disclosure, the preferred, systems and methods are now described. Embodiments of the present disclosure will be described more fully hereinafter with reference to the accompanying drawings in which like numerals represent like elements throughout the several figures, and in which example embodiments are shown. Embodiments of the claims may, however, be embodied in many different forms and should not be construed as limited to the embodiments set forth herein. The examples set forth herein are non-limiting examples and are merely examples among other possible examples.
[0021] While the present invention is described herein by way of example using embodiments, those skilled in the art will recognize that the invention is not limited to the embodiments described, and are not intended to represent the scale of the various components. It should be understood that the detailed description thereto is not intended to limit the invention to the particular form disclosed, but on the contrary, the invention is to cover all modifications, equivalents, and alternatives falling within the scope of the present invention as defined by the appended claim. As used throughout this description, the word "may" is used in a permissive sense (i.e. meaning having the potential to), rather than the mandatory sense, (i.e. meaning must). Further, the words "a" or "an" mean "at least one" and the word "plurality" means "one or more" unless otherwise mentioned. Furthermore, the terminology and phraseology used herein is solely used for descriptive purposes and should not be construed as limiting in scope. Language such as "including," "comprising," "having," "containing," or "involving," and variations thereof, is intended to be broad and encompass the subject matter listed thereafter, equivalents, and additional subject matter not recited, and is not intended to exclude other additives, components, integers or steps. Likewise, the term "comprising" is considered synonymous with the terms "including" or "containing" for applicable legal purposes. Any discussion of documents, acts, materials, devices, articles and the like is included in the specification solely for the purpose of providing a context for the present invention. It is not suggested or represented that any or all of these

matters form part of the prior art base or were common general knowledge in the field relevant to the present invention.
[0022] The present invention is described hereinafter by various embodiments. This invention may, however, be embodied in many different forms and should not be construed as limited to the embodiment set forth herein. Rather, the embodiment is provided so that this disclosure will be thorough and complete and will fully convey the scope of the invention to those skilled in the art. In the following detailed description, numeric values and ranges are provided for various aspects of the implementations described. These values and ranges are to be treated as examples only, and are not intended to limit the scope of the claims. In addition, a number of materials are identified as suitable for various facets of the implementations. These materials are to be treated as exemplary, and are not intended to limit the scope of the invention.
[0023] The present invention discloses a protective armor panel that provides protection to a torso of the female in effective manner. The protective armor panel is configured to provide proper protection to the torso of the female against various ballistic and non-ballistic impacts. The protective armor panel is further configured to be fitted comfortably on the torso of the female. The protective armor panel of the present invention is cost effective and has a simple structure.
[0024] FIG. 1 illustrates a protective armor panel (100), according to an embodiment. The protective armor panel (100) comprises of a front torso panel (102), a rear torso panel (104), and coupling elements (106). The front torso panel (102) is front portion of the protective armor panel (100). For purpose of explanation, the front torso panel (102) has a portion (126) that is adapted to lie on chest of a human.

[0025] In one embodiment, the front torso panel (102) comprises of at least two front side portions (128) configured to overlie on sides of a human torso.
[0026] In another embodiment, the front torso panel (102) may be made of a material having high performance fibres, which is, but not limited to aramid, Ultra-High Molecular Weight Polyethylene (UHMWPE), and the like.
[0027] The rear torso panel (104) is rear portion of the protective armor panel (100). The rear torso panel (104) is configured to be detachably connected to the front torso panel (102) through coupling elements (106). In one embodiment, the rear torso panel (104) has a rear portion (130) that is adapted to lie on back of a human, and at least two back side portions (132) adapted to lie on the sides of the human torso.
[0028] In another embodiment, the rear torso panel (104) may be made of a material having high performance fibres, which is, but not limited to aramid, Ultra-High Molecular Weight Polyethylene (UHMWPE), and the like.
[0029] Each of the front torso panel (102) and the rear torso panel (104) comprises a soft armor panel (108) and a hard armor panel (110) disposed within the front torso panel (102) and the rear torso panel (104), to provide protection to front part and rear part of a torso. The soft armor panel (108) will be explained in detail in FIGS. 2A-2H which illustrates the soft armor panel (108) having a plurality of layers (112).
[0030] The soft armor panel (108) as shown in FIGS. 2A-2H comprises a plurality of layers (112) attached together, with at least one layer of the plurality of layers (112). The soft armor panel (108) is configured to be accommodated inside the front torso panel (102). The soft armor panel (108) is further configured to resist projectiles such as, but not limited to, bullets, shrapnel, etc. At least one layer of the plurality of layers (112) comprises of at least two darts (116) positioned at a lower portion (114) of the at least one layer, to provide a curved shape to the at least one layer. The plurality of layers (112) of the soft armor panel (108) are attached

together, and specifically, the plurality of layers (112) is sewn together at a periphery to form the soft armor panel (108).
[0031] In one embodiment, the soft armor panel (108) may be made of a material having high performance fibres, which is, but not limited to aramid, Ultra-High Molecular Weight Polyethylene (UHMWPE), and ceramics like, but not limited to, silicon carbide, boron carbide, alumina, silicon boro-carbide or the like.
[0032] In another embodiment, the plurality of layers (112) when stitched together forms the soft armor panel (108) adapted to align with the torso of the female. It should be further noted that the soft armor panel (108) may be available in different sizes depending on the size of female breast size. For example, in case if the soft armor panel (108) is to be designed for the female with larger breast, the length of the dart also increases proportionally. Alternatively, in case of the soft armor panel (108) designed for female with smaller breast, the length of the dart is smaller comparatively. The layers of the soft armor panel (108) may be made of aramid or UHMWPE, nylon etc.
[0033] In yet another embodiment, the at least two darts (116) are configured to align the at least one layer with a front torso (chest) of a female, and one dart is configured to be symmetrical to another dart about a central line of the at least one layer from the plurality of layers (112). The at least two darts (116) are arranged in a way that position of the at least two darts (116) are slightly shifted outwards in each of the succeeding layers from the FIGS. 2A-2H.
[0034] In yet another embodiment, the at least two darts (116) provided in each of the plurality of layers (112) are configured to be at a different position with respect to other layers (118), to form a curved soft armor panel (120). The other layers (118) are the layers which are in close vicinity to the plurality of layers (112).

[0035] In yet another embodiment, the at least two darts (116) provided in each of the plurality of layers (112) is at a different position with respect to the other layers (118), to align with the front torso of the female, and accommodate specifically the female breast.
[0036] In yet another embodiment, the plurality of layers (112) may be composed of a metal material, a non-metal material, a polymer material, and the like.
[0037] In yet another embodiment, the at least two darts (116) may be composed of a metal material, a non-metal material, a polymer material, and the like, or any other solid or highly resistive material.
[0038] In yet another embodiment, the other layers (118) may be composed of a metal material, a non-metal material, a polymer material, and the like, or any other solid or highly resistive material.
[0039] FIG. 3 A and 3B illustrates a side view and a front view of the hard armor panel (110), according to one exemplary embodiment and another exemplary embodiment of present invention respectively. The hard armor panel (110) is configured to be disposed inside the front torso panel (102) and the rear torso panel (104). The hard armor panel (110) is further configured to be specifically shaped in order to provide proper protection to the front and rear part of the torso. The hard armor panel (110) comprises of an upper portion (122) and a lower portion (124) such that the upper portion (122) has a broader length than the lower portion (124).
[0040] In one embodiment of FIG. 3A and 3B, the protective armor panel (100) comprises a cavity (134) configured to provide space for accommodating the hard armor panel (110). The cavity (134) may be provided on outer side of the protective armor panel (100).

[0041] In another embodiment, the hard armor panel (110) may be made of a material having high performance fibres, which is, but not limited to aramid, Ultra-High Molecular Weight Polyethylene (UHMWPE), and ceramics like, but not limited to, silicon carbide, boron carbide, alumina, silicon boro-carbide or the like.
[0042] In yet another embodiment, the soft armor panel (108) and the hard armor panel (110) provides protection from several ballistic threats such as 7.62 x51mm NATO ball, 5.56 SS 109/ INSAS, 7.62 x 39mm, MSC (Mild steel core), AK47 etc.
[0043] In yet another embodiment, the protective armor panel (100) is configured to hold any other equipment, but not limited to, a flashlight, binoculars, googles etc.
[0044] Various modifications to these embodiments are apparent to those skilled in the art from the description. The principles associated with the various embodiments described herein may be applied to other embodiments. Therefore, the description is not intended to be limited to the embodiments but is to be providing broadest scope of consistent with the principles and the novel and inventive features disclosed or suggested herein. Accordingly, the invention is anticipated to hold on to all other such alternatives, modifications, and variations that fall within the scope of the present invention and appended claims.

We Claim:

1. A protective armor panel (100), comprising:
a front torso panel (102); and
a rear torso panel (104) detachably connected to the front torso panel (102) through coupling elements (106);
wherein each of the front torso panel (102) and the rear torso panel (104) comprises a soft armor panel (108) and a hard armor panel (110) disposed within the front torso panel (102) and the rear torso panel (104), to provide protection to front part and rear part of a torso, wherein the soft armor panel (108) comprises a plurality of layers (112) attached together, with at least one layer of the plurality of layers (112) having at least two darts (116) positioned at a lower portion (114) of the at least one layer to provide a curved shape to the at least one layer, wherein the at least two darts (116) are configured to align the at least one layer with a front torso of a female, and one dart is configured to be symmetrical to another dart about a central line of the at least one layer from the plurality of layers (112).
2. The protective armor panel (100) as claimed in claim 1, wherein the protective armor panel (100) comprises of a plurality of stiches (136) configured to stich the plurality of layers (112) with front torso of the female, to accommodate the front torso of the female within the protective armor panel (100).
3. The protective armor panel (100) as claimed in claim 1, wherein the plurality of layers (112) is configured to be sewn together to form the soft armor panel (108).
4. The protective armor panel (100) as claimed in claim 1, wherein the front torso panel (102) comprises a portion (126) configured to lie on chest of a

human, and at least two front side portions (128) configured to overlie on sides of a human torso.
5. The protective armor panel (100) as claimed in claim 1, wherein the rear torso panel (104) comprises a rear portion (130) configured to lie on back of the human, and at least two back side portions (132) adapted to lie on the sides of the human torso.
6. The protective armor panel (100) as claimed in claim 1, wherein the at least two darts (116) provided in each of the plurality of layers (112) are configured to be at a different position with respect to other layers (118), to form a curved soft armor panel (120).
7. The protective armor panel (100) as claimed in claim 1, wherein the hard armor panel (110) comprises of an upper portion (122) and a lower portion (124), the upper portion (122) having a broader length than the lower portion (124).
8. The protective armor panel (100) as claimed in claim 1, wherein the protective armor panel (100) comprises a cavity (134) configured to provide space for accommodating the hard armor panel (110).
9. The protective armor panel (100) as claimed in claim 1, wherein the front torso panel (102) and the rear torso panel (104) are made of a material having high performance fibres, which is, but not limited to aramid, Ultra-High Molecular Weight Polyethylene (UHMWPE), and the like.

10. The protective armor panel (100) as claimed in claim 1, wherein the soft armor panel (108) and the hard armor panel (110) are made of a material having high performance fibres, which is, but not limited to aramid, Ultra-High Molecular Weight Polyethylene (UHMWPE), and ceramics like, but not limited to, silicon carbide, boron carbide, alumina, silicon boro-carbide or the like.
11. The protective armor panel (100) as claimed in claim 1, wherein the plurality of layers (112) is composed of a metal material, a non-metal material, a polymer material, and the like.
12. The protective armor panel (100) as claimed in claim 1, wherein the at least two darts (116) is composed of a metal material, a non-metal material, a polymer material, or any other solid or highly resistive material.
13. The protective armor panel (100) as claimed in claim 1, wherein said armor panel resists or withstands a 7.62 x 51 mm M80 NATO ball NIJ 0101.06 (Level III) or 7.62 x 39 mm AK47 hard steel core, lead core and .30 caliber (Level IV) NIJ 0101.06, and the like.