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

Presented an possibility concerning safety and comfort and ease, some individuals are most likely to decide on comfort and ease. The exact is genuine when it arrives to bicycle helmets, which are inclined to experience way too heat after very long or intensive rides. The shape and non-optimised vents in the helmet as very well as the insulated liners often end up trapping substantially way too substantially heat.

Men and women commuting to perform on a bicycle, for occasion, do not want a sweaty head and tussled hair for the reason that of carrying a helmet. Without compromising safety, scientists were challenged to make the helmets a whole lot cooler to use. The problem was tackled by the EU-funded SMARTHELMET challenge which brought collectively study and sector industry experts to come up with a novel solution.

‘SMARTHELMET challenge targeted on developing helmets with active thermal administration, where by the air flow can be controlled autonomously dependent on a rider’s cooling requirements,’ claims challenge coordinator Tiago Sotto Mayor of the College of Porto in Portugal.

By designing and making new helmets that are cooler and much more comfortable, the hope is that quite a few much more will start out carrying them. A lot more bikers imply a much more active inhabitants and probably cleaner air for those who decide on no for a longer time to commute by auto. Additionally, engineering that could save lives is not only smart but is also socially dependable.

‘Moreover, helmets are passive objects with a fastened geometry and shape which simply cannot adapt to riders’ distinctive thermal environments and air flow requirements,’ claims Sotto Mayor.

Cooler heads prevail

Normal helmets serve only to defend a person’s head. So generating a single that can also perception, forecast and adapt its air flow to the cooling requirements of a rider demands a whole lot of expertise.

For SMARTHELMET, this meant initial bringing collectively a combine of industry experts in biomechanics, electronics, thermo-regulation, engineering, producing and innovation.

SMARTHELMET scientists then integrated electronics into bicycle helmets to enable actual-time sensing of physiological and environmental parameters. These parameters incorporated heart amount, temperature and relative humidity, which were employed to gauge a rider’s heat output and various cooling requirements.

‘We investigated ways to adapt the helmet air flow through improvements in the characteristics of its vents and connected their operation with the rider’s thermo-regulation requirements,’ claims Sotto Mayor.

The conclusions were then integrated into an impressive helmet principle to optimise air flow through sensing, electronics and smart operation. The principle also took in other aspects like encompassing environmental circumstances and the cyclist’s level of bodily activity.

Past cycling

LAZER, a organization that designs and sells bicycle helmets in much more than 65 international locations unfold above five continents, was also included in the challenge. Sotto Mayor describes the business as a organic husband or wife to change the study into impressive smart bicycle helmets.

Even so, he also notes that the study has a huge likely in other sectors as very well, which includes products these kinds of as motorbike helmets, industrial protective headgear and even protective clothing.

‘The likely impression of the perform developed in the SMARTHELMET challenge goes over and above the cycling earth,’ he adds, noting that the challenge has also specified youthful scientists a good possibility for fingers-on working experience across distinctive sectors.