Design and Development of Airbag Vests for Motorcycle Riders

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Motorcyclists face a much higher risk of accidents, when compared to automobile riders. A part of this is
obviously because motorcyclists are exposed to the road environment more than automobile riders who
are enclosed by the vehicle. However, this is also largely due to the accommodative interior volume a
typical chassis of an automobile allows for technologies like air bags to be implemented. The rising
demand for high performance engines compels the average speed of motorcycles in the road today to
rise. And this contributes to higher rates of accidents caused by motorcycles, too.

“Per vehicle mile traveled, motorcyclists are about 35 times more likely than passenger car occupants to
die in a traffic crash” according to U.S. National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA), in 2006
per vehicle mile travelled.[1] In 2004, figures from the UK Department for Transport indicated that
motorcycles have 16 times the rate of serious injuries compared to cars.[2]

We plan to overcome this shortage of volume in motorcycles for safety mechanisms and implement a
similar technology that mitigates the effects of accidents at high speeds that motorcyclists face. This is
will be as to address the recent demand for high performance engines, especially accidents where the
rider is detached from the motorcycle. Our airbag vest will inflate at the time of the accident impact
with a very short interval period to surround the rider with a bag of air, essentially, that is ready to
absorb the first impact the rider will face after the initial collision. The design of the jacket will be as to
cover the delicate parts of the riders’ body, and protect him/her from suffering injuries.

Choose your area of innovation - Green Technology / Convenience / Safety / Other

Describe the solution you are proposing: (Not more than 2000 characters)

(Explain how would you develop your solution. Attaching block diagram, flowchart or any other type of
description would add weightage to your idea and increase your chance of progressing to the prototype
stage)

The airbag vests uses armor to protect the shoulders, elbows and the spine but most importantly, the
jacket also incorporates an air cushion system. In the event of an accident and a rider is thrown from the
motorcycle, the air cushion instantly inflates to protect the rider’s body. Activation is simple and
automatic. A coiled wire is attached to both the motorcycle and the jacket. Once the rider and the
motorcycle are separated, the coiled wire pulls a “key” out of a gas release system and inert gas inflates
the air cushion. The inflated jacket provides the necessary impact protection. After a few seconds the
gas is automatically released through the gas release valve. Airbag jackets have two anchoring cables
and a CO2 cartridge. One of these anchoring cables needs to be connected to the frame of the bike and
remains there. In the event of an accident, when the rider falls off the bike the cable will separate from
the bike activating the CO2 cartridge to instantly inflate the jacket in approximately 100 to 300
milliseconds.
A motorcycle airbag jacket is a device that works via a lanyard and CO2 cartridges to create an incredibly
fast inflatable cushion around the rider if they are jerked suddenly off of their vehicle or mount. These
devices generally take around twenty-five to thirty pounds of force to deploy so they do not false deploy
often. Consequently, leaping off of a stationary bike does actually provide enough force to deploy the
airbag. This means that should someone fall sideways in the right manner or the bike somehow jerk out
from under them because they weren’t appropriately seated the airbag will most likely deploy and help
them during the fall.

Without the use of sensors the cost of the jacket could reduce immensely. It provide resistance towards
sharp and pointy objects that a rider may encounter during a crash, such as broken motorcycle parts,
glass shards, fences, or poles. At the time of inflation, the CO2 gas enters to the pipe like structures and
inflates the airbags placed in the neck, at the back, near the ribs and the abdomen. These airbags
minimizes risk serious injury to internal organs, keeps the head aligned with the neck and spine to avoid
spine hyper-flexion injury and absorbs and distributes the force of impact over the surface area of the
airbag to reduce trauma.

Finally, this idea helps protect the body of motorcyclists, as helmets protect their heads. The cushions
are located cleverly as to safe guard the most vulnerable regions of the human body during an accident.

(1)
https://crashstats.nhtsa.dot.gov/Api/Public/ViewPublication/810990
(2)
http://webarchive.nationalarchives.gov.uk/20110504155235/http://www.dft.gov.uk/pgr/roadsafety/r
esearch/rsrr/theme5/indepthstudyofmotorcycleacc.pdf