Making bicycle helmets cool to wear – Information Centre – Research & Innovation

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Specified an possibility among security and consolation, some people are probably to pick consolation. The similar is legitimate when it will come to bicycle helmets, which have a tendency to experience as well warm just after extended or intense rides. The condition and non-optimised vents in the helmet as perfectly as the insulated liners often finish up trapping considerably as well considerably heat.

Persons commuting to work on a bike, for instance, do not want a sweaty head and tussled hair because of donning a helmet. Devoid of compromising security, researchers were challenged to make the helmets a large amount cooler to have on. The dilemma was tackled by the EU-funded SMARTHELMET undertaking which introduced collectively exploration and field industry experts to come up with a novel answer.

‘SMARTHELMET undertaking targeted on developing helmets with lively thermal management, where by the ventilation can be controlled autonomously dependent on a rider’s cooling requirements,’ suggests undertaking coordinator Tiago Sotto Mayor of the College of Porto in Portugal.

By creating and producing new helmets that are cooler and extra comfy, the hope is that several extra will get started donning them. More bikers suggest a extra lively populace and quite possibly cleaner air for people who pick no for a longer time to commute by auto. Additionally, engineering that could conserve life is not only smart but is also socially accountable.

‘Moreover, helmets are passive objects with a preset geometry and condition which simply cannot adapt to riders’ various thermal environments and ventilation requirements,’ suggests Sotto Mayor.

Cooler heads prevail

Regular helmets serve only to shield a person’s head. So building a person that can also sense, predict and adapt its ventilation to the cooling requirements of a rider demands a large amount of experience.

For SMARTHELMET, this intended very first bringing collectively a mix of industry experts in biomechanics, electronics, thermo-regulation, engineering, production and innovation.

SMARTHELMET researchers then built-in electronics into bicycle helmets to allow serious-time sensing of physiological and environmental parameters. These parameters incorporated coronary heart rate, temperature and relative humidity, which were applied to gauge a rider’s heat output and varying cooling requirements.

‘We investigated means to adapt the helmet ventilation by way of alterations in the characteristics of its vents and connected their procedure with the rider’s thermo-regulation requirements,’ suggests Sotto Mayor.

The conclusions were then built-in into an ground breaking helmet principle to optimise ventilation by way of sensing, electronics and smart procedure. The principle also took in other things like bordering environmental conditions and the cyclist’s level of actual physical exercise.

Outside of biking

LAZER, a enterprise that models and sells bicycle helmets in extra than sixty five nations around the world unfold about five continents, was also involved in the undertaking. Sotto Mayor describes the organization as a normal associate to turn the exploration into ground breaking smart bicycle helmets.

On the other hand, he also notes that the exploration has a huge probable in other sectors as perfectly, including products these types of as bike helmets, industrial protective headgear and even protective garments.

‘The probable influence of the work created in the SMARTHELMET undertaking goes further than the biking world,’ he provides, noting that the undertaking has also provided youthful researchers a fantastic opportunity for arms-on working experience throughout various sectors.