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

Given an choice in between safety and consolation, some individuals are probable to pick out consolation. The similar is correct when it will come to bicycle helmets, which tend to really feel far too heat after lengthy or intensive rides. The shape and non-optimised vents in the helmet as well as the insulated liners usually conclude up trapping much far too much heat.

Men and women commuting to get the job done on a bicycle, for instance, do not want a sweaty head and tussled hair because of putting on a helmet. Devoid of compromising safety, scientists had been challenged to make the helmets a great deal cooler to put on. The predicament was tackled by the EU-funded SMARTHELMET venture which brought collectively investigation and business experts to arrive up with a novel remedy.

‘SMARTHELMET venture focused on producing helmets with energetic thermal management, exactly where the ventilation can be controlled autonomously relying on a rider’s cooling demands,’ says venture coordinator Tiago Sotto Mayor of the College of Porto in Portugal.

By designing and developing new helmets that are cooler and extra comfy, the hope is that numerous extra will start off putting on them. More bikers imply a extra energetic populace and maybe cleaner air for people who pick out no extended to commute by motor vehicle. Additionally, engineering that could preserve life is not only clever but is also socially responsible.

‘Moreover, helmets are passive objects with a fixed geometry and shape which can not adapt to riders’ distinctive thermal environments and ventilation demands,’ says Sotto Mayor.

Cooler heads prevail

Normal helmets serve only to defend a person’s head. So earning 1 that can also sense, forecast and adapt its ventilation to the cooling demands of a rider demands a great deal of expertise.

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

SMARTHELMET scientists then integrated electronics into bicycle helmets to allow authentic-time sensing of physiological and environmental parameters. These parameters involved heart level, temperature and relative humidity, which had been utilized to gauge a rider’s heat output and varying cooling demands.

‘We investigated strategies to adapt the helmet ventilation through improvements in the functions of its vents and connected their operation with the rider’s thermo-regulation demands,’ says Sotto Mayor.

The results had been then integrated into an impressive helmet notion to optimise ventilation through sensing, electronics and clever operation. The notion also took in other elements like surrounding environmental disorders and the cyclist’s amount of bodily exercise.

Further than biking

LAZER, a organization that designs and sells bicycle helmets in extra than 65 nations around the world unfold more than 5 continents, was also associated in the venture. Sotto Mayor describes the firm as a normal partner to transform the investigation into impressive clever bicycle helmets.

However, he also notes that the investigation has a substantial prospective in other sectors as well, which includes merchandise these types of as bike helmets, industrial protecting headgear and even protecting outfits.

‘The prospective effect of the get the job done produced in the SMARTHELMET venture goes beyond the biking entire world,’ he provides, noting that the venture has also supplied young scientists a good possibility for fingers-on experience across distinctive sectors.