Patent Publication Number: US-2021180921-A1

Title: Electronic target and the connection of automatic detection and notification of the electronic target hit zone

Description:
FIELD OF TECHNOLOGY 
     The invention relates to an electronic target and the connection of automatic detection and notification of the electronic target hit zone. The invention falls within military and civilian shooting techniques. 
     PRIOR STATE OF THE ART 
     At present, there are multiple systems with the ability to identify a target hit or to localize the impact of a projectile. Existing systems work on a number of principles of target hit localisation by metal projectile. It is a multilayer target composed of at least three layers in order metal, insulator, metal. The metal projectile creates an, electrical connection between the front and rear surfaces at the time of the space (shot penetration), thus generating an electrical impulse, which is then processed by the electronic unit. The disadvantage of the stated solution is that the manufacture of these metal-coated targets is costly and not sufficiently variable for different graphic designs of the targets. 
     SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION 
     The above-mentioned drawbacks are eliminated by the design of the electronic target and the connection of automatic detection and notification of the electronic target hit zone of the invention, the essence of which consists in that the front layer of the target is composed of an electrically conductive coating applied to the middle layer of the insulator followed by the rear electrically conductive layer. The middle layer of the insulator is made of paper, cardboard or plastic and the back electrically conductive layer is made of an electrically conductive foil, an electrically conductive coating or a metal plate. The front layer composed of the electrically conductive coating is divided into at least one hit zone. The front layer coated with an electrically conductive coating is connected to the battery power supply pole via the sensor resistor. The output from the sensor is connected to the processor and the processor output is connected to the radio module and/or to the light signalling module with LED or RGB elements. The radio module is connected to the end peripheral display device by a wireless communication network. At the time of the space, an electrical connection is created temporarily by means of a metal projectile through an insulator with a rear electrically conductive surface that is connected to the opposite pole of the power supply—battery. At this moment, the voltage at the hit zone, which is formed by an electrically conductive coating, is changed. This zone voltage is processed by the real-time processor, which sends data on hit zones by a radio module to the end peripheral display device such as a smartphone, tablet, or computer. 
     The exceptionality and advantage of an electronic target with automatic hit zone detection of the invention is based just on the use of an electrically conductive coating capable of conducting an electric current for the purpose to capture the impact zone of a metal projectile and to determine the shooter response speed by means of an electronic unit. The main advantage of the system is its simplicity, low production costs and the variability of the target production, since any possible design of the target is printed on an insulator such as cardboard, plastic or paper, and an electrically conductive surface, such as a metal foil or electrical coating, is glued to the back of the insulator. Targets serve as consumables and, after replacement, are attached to an electronic evaluation unit. Due to the state of the art, competing systems use metal foils or metal plates instead of the electrically conductive coating. This production process increases the price and reduces the possibility of variability of production of various targets, as they cannot be easily printed. Connection of automatic detection and notification of the electronic target hit zone serves to electronic automatic real-time shooter performance evaluation. This system solves the problem of complex optical evaluation of hit zone of conventional paper targets at a greater distance. The shooter does not need to use binoculars and manually evaluate the accuracy or speed or shooting to various distances but he/she is continuously informed and evaluated thanks to the system. The system is used to train shooting at shooting ranges, or to automatically evaluate shooter competitions. 
    
    
     
       OVERVIEW OF FIGURES ON DRAWINGS 
       The above stated drawbacks are eliminated by the design of the electronic target and the connection of automatic detection and notification of the electronic target hit zone. The invention will be described below, with reference to the accompanying drawings, in which  FIG. 1  illustrates the composition of the target and its individual layers.  FIG. 2  illustrates the composition or the target and its individual layers in 3D isometric view.  FIG. 3  shows schematically the electronic target connection and the block diagram of the evaluation unit. 
     
    
    
     EXAMPLES OF EMBODIMENTS OF THE INVENTION 
     Example 1 
     In this example of a particular embodiment, the design of the electronic target is described, as shown in  FIG. 1 and 2 . The electronic target consists of three layers, where the front layer is composed of an electrically conductive coating  1  applied to the middle layer of the insulator  2  followed by the rear electrically conductive layer  3 . The middle layer of the insulator  2  is made of paper, cardboard or plastic and the back electrically conductive layer  3  is made of an electrically conductive foil, an electrically conductive coating or a metal plate. The electronic target of  FIG. 1  and  FIG. 2  has a front layer composed of the electrically conductive coating  1  divided into five hit zones. The manufacture of an electronic target is such that with the electrically conductive coating  1  a target of any shape, size, and number of separate hit zones is printed onto an electrically non-conductive material, i.e. an insulator  2 , such as cardboard. Subsequently, an electrically conductive surface  3 , e.g. an aluminium foil, is applied on the back of the insulator  2 . 
     Example 2 
     In this example of a particular embodiment, the connection of automatic detection and notification of the electronic target hit zone is described, as shown in  FIG. 3 . The front layer of the electronic target composed of the electrically conductive coating  1  is via the sensor resistor  5  connected to one pole of battery  8  and the back electrically conductive layer  3  of the electronic target is connected to the second pole of the battery  8 . The output of the sensor  5  is connected to the processor  6 . The output of the processor  6  is connected to the radio module  7  and/or to the light signalling module  9 . The radio module  7  is connected to the end peripheral display device such as a smartphone tablet, or computer by a wireless communication network. 
     In the event that the metal projectile  4  shoots through the target in the area where the electrically conductive coating  1  is applied, at the moment of the space (the moment when the metal projectile  4  creates an electrical connection of the rear part with the front part of the target) it connects this coloured surface of the electrically conductive coating  1  with the rear foil of the electrically conductive surface  3 , resulting in an electrical voltage change in this zone of electrically conductive ink. The zones of the target coated with the electrically conductive coating  1  are connected to the processor  6 , which evaluates the real-time hits based on the change in the electrical voltage at these zones. The processor  6  can generate light or acoustic signals that call the shooter to fire. Shooting results can be transmitted by radio module  7  to a display unit (such as a smartphone, tablet, or computer). 
     INDUSTRIAL USABILITY 
     The submitted invention of the electronic target and the connection of automatic detection and notification of the electronic target hit zone may be introduced into any internal or external shooting ranges for firearms. Shooting data obtained by the system can be viewed and archived by any computing device, such as a smartphone, tablet, or computer.