Patent ID: 8746123

Claim:
A wearable air blast wave energy protection device, the device comprising: (a) a layer of a first material shaped and configured to reflect a substantial portion of incident air blast wave energy originating from a high-order explosive, the first material including at least two reflective-regions, the at least two reflective-regions including (i) a first reflective-region having a first acoustic impedance Z 1 mismatched to the acoustic impedance of air Z A , and (ii) a second reflective-region acoustically bound to the first reflective region and having a second acoustic impedance Z 2 less than the first acoustic impedance Z 1 ; and (b) a layer of a second material shaped and configured to attenuate a substantial portion of the incident air blast wave energy transmitted through the layer of the first material, the second material comprising a yield stress to absorb the substantial portion of the incident air blast wave energy utilizing an inelastic response, and shaped and configured for wearing proximate to an exterior portion of a human body, wherein the layer of the first material includes a front surface and a back surface, the layer of the second material includes a front surface and a back surface, and at least a portion of the back surface of the layer of the first material is acoustically bound to at least a portion of the front surface of the layer of the second material such that there is no significant continuous air path between a portion of the front surface of the layer of the first material and an exterior portion of the human body.