Custom fitting protective athletic equipment composed of larger compressive chambers to generally surround a body part as well a plurality of smaller compressive chambers, which can be shaped to absorb rotational impact forces, outside the larger compressive chambers. A hard or yielding shell positioned either outside the chambers or between them can provide additional impact dampening and protection. Both the larger and smaller compressible chambers preferably contain compressible fluid, such as air, another gas, gel or liquid. Valves are preferably provided in the chambers so that the fluid can be controlled when an impact is received. A method is also disclosed to use three-dimensional scanning techniques and three-dimensional 3D printer manufacturing techniques to produce the protective athletic equipment of the present invention.

Disclosed is a cooling pack for a head including an outer cover fixed at an inside of the head protector. The outer cover adheres to a top of a human body, a refrigerant is embedded in the outer cover, and a plurality of fixers are coupled to the outer cover. The fixers are attachable to or detachable from the head protector, and the refrigerant is formed of a polyester polymer powder.

A garment worn by a wearer has an impact absorbing material comprising arrays of various hexagonal or other deformable polygonal-shaped structures positioned between an exterior surface and an interior surface. When force is applied to the exterior surface, the structures of the impact absorbing materials deform (e.g., buckle) in a desired manner, reducing the force received by the interior surface.

A helmet cover that has an outer skin, an impact absorbing material and at least one vent comprising an aperture through the helmet cover is described. A helmet cover vent may be aligned with a vent in a helmet, thereby providing for improved ventilation and cooling, and may be attached to a helmet. A helmet cover vent may be configured as a tapered or flared vent, and may be an, air capture vent. The impact absorbing material may be configured over substantially the entire helmet cover surface, or may cover only a portion of the surface. In one embodiment, the impact absorbing material is configured as a discrete pad that is located where impact is most common, such as on the front, sides, or back of the helmet cover. A discrete pad may be interchangeable, allowing for customizing the type and location of impact absorption on the helmet cover.

A process of making a family cell of homogenous inner bladders with varying elasticity includes a forming a plurality of inner bladders from a first material with a first elasticity. The inner bladders have interior surfaces during inner chambers and exterior surfaces exposed to an outside environment. The inner chambers are configured to store a fluid. A family cell is formed by fluidly connecting the inner bladders. One or more hybrid bladders are selected from the inner bladders and a second material having a second elasticity is applied to the hybrid bladders. The second elasticity is less than the first elasticity, such that the second material reduces the elastic qualities of the hybrid bladder.

A helmet having non-bursting air cells preferably includes a hard helmet shell, an outside air cell impact layer and an inside air cell impact layer. The outside air cell impact layer preferably includes at least one air cell layer and an outside layer of sheet material. Each air cell layer includes a plurality of air cells created between two plastic sheets. The inside air cell impact layer includes the at least one air cell layer. The inside and outside air cell impact layers may be permanently or removably attached to hard helmet shell. A second embodiment of the helmet having non-bursting air cells preferably includes the hard helmet shell, the outside air cell impact layer and an inside air cell inflatable impact layer. The inside air cell inflatable impact layer preferably includes at least one inflatable air cell layer and a check valve.

A helmet includes interconnected flexing panels and a multi-chamber impact absorption system comprising a bladder including a plurality of adjacent compressible fluid filled chambers.

The present invention provides an apparatus to disperse and attenuate mechanical waves which travel through a human brain upon direct and indirect blunt head trauma. The apparatus comprises a pressurizable and ventable outer balloon shell encasing an inner hard shell. The pressurizable and ventable outer balloon shell releases a pressurized gas to atmosphere upon an impact to said pressurizable and ventable outer balloon shell. The pressurizable and ventable outer balloon shell is configured to compartmentalize an impact region, to reduce amplitudes of incident, reflected and transmitted mechanical waves and to dampen resonance of the mechanical waves delivered to both the apparatus and a human head.

A helmet configured to protect a human head against mild traumatic brain injury upon impact includes an outer shell and a liner consisting of fluid fillable flexible fluid chambers fluidly connected to each other by fluid connections. The fluid chambers being spaced around the circumference of the helmet and configured to fill a space between the head and the outer shell when the helmet is positioned on the head. Impact resistant flexible pads are also in the liner and are spaced around an inner circumference of the outer shell adjacent to each of the fluid fillable flexible fluid chambers. A flexible inner shell inside the liner is configured to fit closely on the head. The flexible fluid chambers are configured to compress in response to impacting of the helmet on an impact side and to force liquids through the fluid connections to inflate other fluid chambers inside the helmet thereby cushioning the head against a rebound impact on the inside of the helmet.

The invention provides head, neck, chest, and spine logical impact protection and thermal-regulation device having a webbing adapted to encapsulate head and neck, wherein the webbing is composed of a plurality of reversibly deformable substrates that are capable of being cooled or heated; wherein the webbing further provides apertures interspersed between the reversibly deformable substrates to allow fluid exchange between the head, neck, chest, and spine and the regions exterior to the webbing; and a temperature indicator, wherein the temperature indicator measures the temperatures of the body surface underlaying the webbing.