Safety
The US$240,000 Helmet
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March 23, 2006 It’s one of the most serious high tech toys on the planet and all you’ve got to do to get your hands on one is graduate all the way to ultra-elite flight crew level. Boeing’s Joint Helmet-Mounted Cueing System (JHMCS) is used on U.S. Air Force (USAF) and Air National Guard F-15 Eagles, USAF F-16 Fighting Falcons, U.S. Navy F/A-18E/F Super Hornets, as well as the most mission-critical fighters of five international air forces. The system offers the ability to rapidly acquire and designate a target simply by looking at it. By placing an aiming cross, projected on the helmet visor, over the desired target and pressing a button, the pilot can quickly and easily aim weapons and sensors to designate and attack airborne or ground targets. JHMCS also displays aircraft altitude, airspeed, gravitational pull and angle of attack on the visor, as well as tactical information to increase situational awareness. How good? So good that Boeing has just received its third full-rate production order of more than 400 JHMCS systems, expanding production capacity for the second consecutive year and the total number of systems in the field to more than 2000. The JHMCS not only makes the pilot and aircraft more lethal, but it also makes them more survivable because it reduces the time the pilot and aircraft are exposed to potential enemy fire. Very serious! Read More
Redesigning the cricket helmet
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February 28, 2006 Cricket is one of the oldest and most original of all modern sports, originating somewhere between 700 and 900 years ago in England, with international competition beginning a century ago and almost no major rule changes since. As incredible as it may seem to the uninitiated in this most beguiling of contests, each international match lasts 30 hours over five days and often ends without a result, with each international series comprising five such matches (150 hours) also frequently ending without a clear winner. Played with a small, very hard ball which is bowled (thrown with a straight arm), at up to 160 km/h, it is illustrative of the staid mindset afflicting the governing body of the sport that helmets for the human being in the firing line were not introduced until 30 years ago despite a history of horrendous injury. Like nearly everything else in a sport afflicted by stubborn traditionalism, the design of the cricket helmet has trailed well behind the technologies available and with mid-2004 university tests showing that helmets can delay a batsman’s reactions by up to a quarter of a second, you’d think that we might have seen a rethink of cricket helmet design since then, but we haven’t noticed one. Inspired by those tests, designer Ravinder Sembi has reengineered the cricket helmet with a view to overcoming this fundamental problem. Read More
The rear-view helmet
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November 22, 2005 NEW IMAGES Seeing behind you on a motorcycle has always been a problem. Sometimes the mirrors vibrate, and sometimes they offer a terrific view of your elbows, and most of the time they offer a distinctly inferior view of the rear compared to that you get in a car because you can’t see the parts directly behind you. As a soldier in combat will tell you, when your situational awareness is down in a hostile environment, the risk of injury multiplies enormously. And hence when a helmet with an integrated rear view mirror system was launched last week in Munich we think it’s worth a look. Manufacturers Reevu spent ten years developing the helmet, which has a built-in 180 degree unbreakable rear-view mirror system in the hope it will save lives on the roads by improving situational awareness and hence preventing accidents. The innovative technology allows the wearer to see the road behind, using a system of unbreakable mirrors constructed out of ABS, which are contained inside the helmet shell and provide a window in the top of the helmet opening – a robust, low cost heads-up display. Read More
Cervical spine protection system for motorcyclists
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October 27, 2005 As science advances at a rapid rate, most areas of road safety have improved markedly, with the motorcycle seemingly decades behind the automobile in terms of applied technology to reduce road trauma. For example, the motorcycle airbag recently developed by Honda is a full 25 years behind the first automotive airbag from Mercedes Benz. With motorcycle helmets now compulsory in most markets, the most vulnerable part of a motorcyclist is now the neck and spinal area. A new initiative announced this week betweeon KTM and BMW Motorrad plans to push ahead with the development of an adequate system of protection for this extremely sensitive area. The objective is to reduce the risk of injury to the neck, the cervical spine, the spinal cord and the collar bone in the event of a serious fall. The work builds on and supports the work of South African Dr. Chris Leatt from Leatt-Brace. Leatt-Brace manufactures Kevlar and carbon-fibre neck brace systems for both motorsport and motorcycle sports. Read More
Futuristic BMW off-road helmet and body armour
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June 21, 2005 With the forthcoming release of the new cross-country BMW HP2 motorcycle, BMW has put together some fancy new off-road gear, and the pick of the bunch is carbon fibre, Kevlar and fibreglass off-road helmet that’s also aerodynamic and aesthetic enough to be seen anywhere. Indeed, we’re predicting that when the helmet becomes available it will be a best seller, particularly if the company decides to fit its Bluetooth and noise cancellation technologies which will enable it to work with a mobile phone and eventually with other Bluetooth devices such as MP3 players and the like. Now there’s a promising thought – imagine trail riding whilst listening to crystal-clear classical music. The new off-road helmet is reconfigurable, and can be used with or without both the visor or the screen and adds to an impressive BMW helmet line-up which also includes the featherweight SportIntegral carbon fibre helmet that weighs just 999 grams. Read More
Yolk ski and snowboard helmet
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Yolk is a soft helmet designed to overcome the unfashionable image that helmets seem to have with the young-at-heart on the ski slopes of the world. ‘Yolk’ under regular use is flexible and conformable to the user’s head but when subjected to an impact it instantaneously forms a rigid shell dispersing and absorbing the energy . This is achieved utilising a semi- rigid liner and a Kevlar skin which is impregnated with a shear thickening fluid. ‘Yolk’ allows the user to plug in a two way radio, music player, or mobile phone to the integrated headphones and controls thereby creating a convenient and seamless transition.
‘Yolk’ can be fitted with of a choice of skins which can be stretched over the liner to match the user’s personal style. With similar safety standards across bike riding, inline skating, skateboarding, there are vast opportunities to develop different skins for these sports using the same liner. Read More
Landmark BMW helmet system
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BMW has shown a landmark new helmet system designed to reduce noise via noise cancelling technology inside the helmet and enable crystal clear voice communications and music. The helmet uses state-of-the-art materials (kevlar, carbon fibre) to create an ultralight, aerodynamic and very quiet helmet wind-tunnel tested to be the quietest helmet on the market. The helmet will enable communication with the pillion, or anyone via your bluetooth phone, or to listen to music clearly and wirelessly ON ANY MOTORCYCLE. The entire system is inside the helmet so it can be used on any motorcycle. Read More
