Nov 29 2013
A team of researchers at the Surrey campus has developed an impact-diverting “patch” (IDP) for safety helmets that tests show can mitigate head injuries.
Iman Ebrahimi displays the IDP, which has been customized with the SFU Clan logo.
The patent-pending technology is currently completing a preliminary field trial with the assistance of the SFU Clan football team.
“In any collision, safety helmets nearly always contact a barrier or obstacle at an angle, which causes both compression and swift rotation of the head,” says Iman Ebrahimi, a post-doctoral fellow in the School of Mechatronics Systems Engineering (MSE) who has supervised the technology’s development.
“While research studies show that the brain tissues are considerably more sensitive to the shear force caused by rotation than compression, the majority of helmets are only designed to protect the head against compression of the brain.”
The IDP addresses the issue of rotary motion by diverting the frictional force on the helmet at the point of impact.
The technology is the result of four years of research and development in SFU Surrey’s Head Injury Prevention Lab. Ebrahimi has conducted a myriad of standardized industry impact tests using a specialized test rig under the leadership of MSE director Farid Golnaraghi, professor Gary Wang, and Combiz Jelveh, CTO of Innovata Labs, an industry collaborator.
“The results of these extensive oblique impact tests show that the IDP can significantly mitigate the risk of head injury and concussion caused by the swift rotation of the head” says Ebrahimi.
The IDP is a first-of-its-kind micro-engineered layer of materials that is less than two millimeters thick and weighs around 20 grams. It can be applied to the outer shell of any helmet like a decal or a sticker. It is weatherproof and can sustain harsh weather.
For each type of safety helmet, the team has determined the “sweet spots” that are most prone to impact. On a motorcycle helmet, for example, an IDP should be applied to both the lateral right and left of the helmet, since these are the areas that statistically are most likely to be impacted in a collision.
The IDP is currently in its final testing phase and the team plans to commercialize it next year with assistance from the SFU Innovation Office.
Source: http://www.sfu.ca/