Structural panel

Claim 2

A cast-as-one-piece structural panel for fabricating hulls and bodies for vehicles, comprising: a first plate having an exterior first plate surface and an interior first plate surface, the interior first plate surface disposed completely in a first plane; a second plate spaced from the first plate, the second plate having a second plate surface faced toward the first plate; a cross corrugated metal panel integrally cast with the first and second metal plates, the cross corrugated panel having an array defining two sets of generally pentahedrally shaped chambers with the plates; the first plate forming a single side of each chamber in the first set and the second plate forming a single side of each chamber in the second set; the chambers in the first set having walls shared with chambers of the second set; the pentahedrally shaped chambers in the first set having one corner terminating at the second metal plate and the pentahedrally shaped chambers in the second set having another corner terminating at the first metal plate.

Claim 3

The structural panel of claim 1 wherein the pentahedrally shaped chambers form the boundaries of tetrahedrally shaped chambers distributed in an evenly spaced array among the pentahedral chambers.

Claim 4

The structural panel of claim 1 wherein the first plate defines evenly spaced apertures whose diameter is 20 to 50 percent of the center-to-center distance between the apertures.

Claim 5

The structural panel of claim 1 wherein the walls define apertures and wherein filler material occupies the chambers and apertures so as to form a single continuous body interwoven with the cross-corrugated panel.

Claim 6

The structural panel of claim 1 wherein the walls define apertures having an area no greater than 85 percent of the area of the walls and wherein the wall thickness is no greater than the thickness of a thinner one of the first and second plates.

Claim 7

The structural element of claim 1 wherein the second plate has an exterior second plate surface and an interior plate surface, the interior second plate surface being faced toward the interior first plate surface.

Claim 8

The structural panel of claim 6 wherein the first plate and the second plate both define a plurality of apertures.

Claim 9

The structural panel of claim 6 wherein both the first plate and the second plate are unapertured plates.

Claim 10

A cast structural panel comprising: a first plate having an exterior first plate surface and an interior first plate surface, the interior first plate surface disposed completely in a first plane; a second plate having an exterior second plate surface and an interior second plate surface, the interior second plate surface disposed completely in a second plane and faced toward the first interior plated surface; a first tray integral with the first plate, the first tray comprised of an array of hollow first pyramids joined at their bases to the first plate, the first pyramids contacting one another along their basal edges, the sides of the pyramids defining one or more apertures; a second tray integal with the second plate, the second tray comprised of an array of hollow second pyramids joined at their bases to the second plate, the second pyramids contacting one another along their basal edges, the sides of the second pyramids defining one or more apertures; the array of first pyramids and the array of second pyramids meshing together so that edges of the first pyramids contact edges of the second pyramids, the first and second pyramids integrally joined to each other at areas of contact; the plates and trays together forming a one-piece, continuous casting.

Claim 11

A cast structural panel comprising: a first plate having an exterior first plate surface and an interior first plate surface, the interior first plate surface disposed completely in a first plane; a second plate having an exterior second plate surface and an interior second plate surface, the interior second plate surface disposed completely in a second plane and faced toward the first interior plated surface; a first tray integral with the first plate, the first tray comprised of an array of hollow first pyramids joined at their bases to the first plate, the first pyramids contacting one another along their basal edges, the sides of the pyramids defining one or more apertures; a second tray integal with the second plate, the second tray comprised of an array of hollow second pyramids joined at their bases to the second plate, the second pyramids contacting one another along their basal edges, the sides of the second pyramids defining one or more apertures; the array of first pyramids and the array of second pyramids meshing together so that edges of the first pyramids contact edges of the second pyramids, the first and second pyramids integrally joined to each other at areas of contact; the plates and trays together forming a one-piece, continuous casting.

Claim 12

The structural panel of claim 9 wherein the apexes of the first pyramids contact points where four bases of the second pyramids join the sides of the second pyramids.

Claim 13

The structural panel of claim 10 wherein a continuous filler body forms a lattice-like structure inside the panel and is is interwoven with the trays of the panel, whereby the body and panel are mechanically locked together.

Claim 14

The structural panel of claim 11 wherein the diameter of the apertures in the sides of the pyramids are 20 to 50 per cent of the length of the basal edge of the pyramids.

Claim 15

The structural panel of claim 12 wherein the thickness of the sides of the pyramids is substantially the same as the thickness of the plates.

Claim 16

The structural panel of claim 11 wherein adjoining first pyramids together form V-shaped valleys, the valleys of one set perpendicularly intersecting the valleys of another set, the apexes of the second pyramids fitting closely into the intersections of the V-shaped valleys.

Claim 17

The structural panel of claim 9 wherein the first plate is an apertured plate and the second plate is an apertured plate.

Claim 18

A one-piece vehicle body portion comprised of a plurality of structural panels integrally formed with one another, each structural panel comprising: a first plate having an exterior first plate surface and an interior first plate surface, the interior first plate surface disposed completely in a first plane; a second plate having an exterior second plate surface and an interior second plate surface, the interior second plate surface disposed completely in a second plane and faced toward the first interior plated surface; a first tray comprised of first pyramids having apertured sides and joined integrally at their bases to the first tray, the first pyramids abutting along their basal edges to form V-shaped valleys between the first pyramids; a second tray comprised of second pyramids having apertured sides and joined integrally at their bases to the second tray, the second pyramids abutting along their basal edges to form V-shaped valleys between the second pyramids; the first pyramids and the second pyramids fitting closely together and being integrally joined at the areas of contact; filler material occupying the pyramids and apertures in the panel so as to form a single continuous body interwoven with the tray.

Claim 19

A one-piece vehicle body portion comprised of a plurality of structural panels integrally formed with one another, each structural panel comprising: a first plate having an exterior first plate surface and an interior first plate surface, the interior first plate surface disposed completely in a first plane; a second plate having an exterior second plate surface and an interior second plate surface, the interior second plate surface disposed completely in a second plane and faced toward the first interior plated surface; a first tray comprised of first pyramids having apertured sides and joined integrally at their bases to the first tray, the first pyramids abutting along their basal edges to form V-shaped valleys between the first pyramids; a second tray comprised of second pyramids having apertured sides and joined integrally at their bases to the second tray, the second pyramids abutting along their basal edges to form V-shaped valleys between the second pyramids; the first pyramids and the second pyramids fitting closely together and being integrally joined at the areas of contact; filler material occupying the pyramids and apertures in the panel so as to form a single continuous body interwoven with the tray.

Claim 20

The vehicle body portion of claim 16 wherein the body portion is a frameless one-piece hull for a military tank.

Claim 21

The vehicle body portion of claim 13 wherein the vehicle body portion is formed by an investment casting technique.