How can my powered armor quickly replace its ceramic plates?
Though ceramic plates are harder than a math exam, and can practically obliterate projectiles, they are one-hit wonders. Self-repairing has been demonstrated for a composite of silicon carbide and aluminum oxide. I guess I should also add that the composite regained full-strength, but needed a minute and 1000 °C. The plate has to be substituted for the duration of the repairing process, but how am I supposed to quickly switch plates, sometimes mid-combat?
I need a way for the armor to:
- quickly
- reliably
- energy-efficiently
replace the plates, the structural components of the mechanism should:
- be sturdy
- lightweight
- and interfere with other activities (shooting and running) as little as possible
The plates are mainly around the torso (front and side) and the legs (front and side), since you only get shot in the back if you face away from combat, or if you let the enemy get behind you.
How should my armor replace its plates?
Note
If first thought of an arm that can reach out for and pick up tiles, then place a new one in the gaps, but Moravec's Paradox blocks the way!
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2 answers
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Temporary patches to cover weak spots and crumble away after an hour or two.
Provides protection while the damaged spot can self repair and patch provides additional protection while still in place after repair in direction of fire. Patches can be bulky and double thickness to be flexible and fit on any armour segment. You only need as many patches as you expect to take hits in any given engagement.
Use back scratcher to slap patches where you cannot reach easily.
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Like sharks replace teeth.
The plates can be put on the armor in an overlapping scale pattern, with one plate visible, and another above it, protected by the overlapping scale. If a scale takes a hit it slides off, and the new scale automatically slides down into place. The broken scale can then be gathered and repaired, then put into the replacement slot.
Depending on the size of the scales you could end up with gaps if someone takes multiple hits in the same area, but if they are small enough then the gaps won't be too big.
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