Mechanical-waves attenuating protective headgear

Abstract

The present invention provides a protective headgear having a multi-layered shell to attenuate amplitude of mechanical waves of a blunt trauma to a human head by phase reversal of the mechanical waves at a boundary established between two adjacent layers of the multi-layered shell.

Claims

1. A mechanical-waves attenuating protective headgear, comprising a four-layer shell having an outermost layer of a closed-cell polymer foam, a second layer of a solid polymer plate, a third layer of an open-cell polymer foam, and an innermost layer of a closed-cell polymer foam, wherein the four-layer shell comprises: the outermost layer is fenestrated with a plurality of fenestrations so as to form a fenestrated outermost layer, and wherein the fenestrated outermost layer is configured to have a hardness value of a Rockwell R value ranging from 70 to 140; the second layer is fenestrated with a plurality of fenestrations so as to form a fenestrated second layer, wherein each fenestration of the plurality of the fenestration of the fenestrated second layer is coaxially aligned with each corresponding fenestration of the plurality of the fenestration of the fenestrated outermost layer, and wherein the fenestrated second layer is configured to have the hardness value of a Rockwell R value of higheer than 140; the third layer is fenestrated with a plurality of fenestrations so as to form a fenestrated third layer, wherein each fenestration of the plurality of the fenestration of the fenestrated third layer is coaxially aligned with each correspoinding fenestration of the plurality of the fenestration of the fenestrated second layer, and wherein the fenestrated third layer is configured to have the hardness value of a Shore D scale value of at least 10 below a Shore D scale value of the innermost layer; and the innermost layer is fenestrated with a plurality of fenestrations so as to form a fenestrated innermost layer, wherein each fenestration of the plurality of the fenestration of the fenestrated innermost layer is coaxially aligned with each corresponding fenestration of the plurality of the fenestration of the fenestrated third layer, and wherein the fenestrated innermost layer is configured to have a lower hardness value of the Shore D scale value of between 65 and 90 than a Shore D scale value of less than 100 adaptively of a human skull bone.

2. The mechanical-waves attenuating protective headgear according to claim 1, wherein the closed-cell polymer foam of the fenestrated outermost layer is configured to have a 25% indentation force deflection value of higher than 45, and a foam support factor of higher than 3.0.

3. The mechanical-waves attenuating protective headgear according to claim 1, wherein the fenestrated second layer enclosably covers the fenestrated third layer, and wherein the solid polymer plate of the fenestrated second layer having the hardness value of the Rockwell R value of higher than 140 is configured to be undeformable to the impact of a blunt trauma at an angle to a planar surface of said fenestrated second layer over a gravitational force of up to 300 g30 g (10% S.D.) and over a range of temperature from 0 F. to 175 F.

4. The mechanical-waves attenuating protective headgear according to claim 1, wherein the fenestrated third layer is configured to be tightly encased in a hemispherical space provided by the fenestrated second layer and the fenestrated innermost layer, wherein the open-cell polymer foam of the fenestrated third layer is configured to have a 25% identation force deflection value of higher than 45, and a foam support factor of between 1.5 and 3.0.

5. The mechanical-waves attenuating protective headgear according to claim 1, wherein the closed-cell polymer foam of the fenestrated innermost layer is configured to have a 25% indentation force deflection value of higher than 45, and a foam support factor of higher than 3.0.

6. The mechanical-waves attenuating protective headgear according to claim 1, wherein circumferential rims of the fenestrated second, third and innermost layers are fixedly adhered to each other for each individual layer, and wherein encircling margins of the plurality of fenestrations of the fenestrated second, third and innermost layers are fixedly adhered to each other for each fenestration.

7. The mechanical-waves attenuating protective headgear according to claim 1, wherein an inner surface of the fenestrated outermost layer having the Rockwell R value ranging from 70 to 140 adheres tightly to an outer surface of the fenestrated second layer having the Rockwell R value of higher than 140, wherein the inner surface of the fenestrated outermost layer tightly adhered to the outer surface of the fenestrated second layer forms a boundary between the fenestrated outermost layer and the fenestrated second layer, and wherein the boundary between the fenestrated outermost layer and the fenestrated second layer is configured to reduce amplitudes of transmitted mechanical waves of the blunt trauma on said mechanical-waves attenuating protective headgear across the boundary between the fenestrated outermost layer and the fenestrated second layer.

8. The mechanical-waves attenuating protective headgear according to claim 1, wherein an inner surface of the fenestrated third layer having the Shore D scale value of at least 10 below the Shore D scale value of the fenestrated innermost layer tightly placed in contact with an outer surface of the fenestrated innermost layer having the the Shore D scale value of between 65 and 90, wherein the inner surface of the fenestrated third layer tightly placed in contact with the outer surface of the fenestrated innermost layer forms a boundary between the fenestrated third layer and the fenestrated innermost layer, and wherein the boundary between the fenestrated third layer and the fenestrated innermost layer is configured to reduce the amplitudes of transmitted mechanical waves of the blunt trauma on said mechanical-waves attenuating protective headgear across said boundary between the fenestrated third layer and the fenestrated innermost layer.

9. The mechanical-waves attenuating protective headgear according to claim 1, wherein the fenestrated third layer of the open-cell polymer foam is tightly encased in the hemispherical space provided by the fenestrated second layer of the solid polymer plate and the fenestrated innermost layer of the closed-cell polymer foam, wherein the fenestrated third layer of the open-cell polymer foam is configured to release a part of mechanical waves of the blunt trauma transmitted across the fenestrated third layer adaptively to ambient air.

Description

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

(1) FIG. 1 shows a schematic presentation of a mechanical-waves attenuating protective headgear.

(2) FIG. 2A represents a schematic view of an outermost layer; FIG. 2B shows a schematic view of a second layer; FIG. 2C shows a schematic view of a third layer; FIG. 2D shows a schematic view of an innermost layer.

(3) FIGS. 3 illustrates a schematic coronal view of a stacked-up four-layer mechanical-waves attenuating protective headgear.

(4) FIG. 4 depicts a schematic view of sequential changes in mechanical waves across boundaries of each layer of the four-layer mechanical-waves attenuating protective headgear upon a collision.

(5) FIG. 5 illustrates a schematic view of sequential changes in amplitudes and phases of the mechanical waves across the boundaries of each layer of the four-layer mechanical-waves attenuating protective headgear upon the collision.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

(6) As described below, the present invention provides a mechanical-waves attenuating protective headgear. It is to be understood that the descriptions are solely for the purposes of illustrating the present invention, and should not be understood in any way as restrictive or limited. Embodiments of the present invention are preferably depicted with reference to FIGS. 1 to 5, however, such reference is not intended to limit the present invention in any manner. The drawings do not represent actual dimension of devices, but illustrate the principles of the present invention.

(7) FIG. 1 shows a schematic presentation of a mechanical-waves attenuating protective headgear which comprises a dome portion 1 covering the majority of a head including frontal, parietal, sphenoid, occipital and temporal regions, a plurality of fenestrations 2 for ventilation of said mechanical-waves attenuating protective headgear, a lower rim 3 covering a portion of zygomatic arch and mastoid protuberance, an occipital portion 4 of the lower rim covering the occipital region to below external occipital protuberance and a frontal portion 5 of the lower rim covering down to a part of a vertical portion of the frontal region of the head.

(8) FIGS. 2A -2D show a schematic view of individual layers of the mechanical-waves attenuating protective headgear. FIG. 2A represents a schematic view of a hemispherically-bowel-shaped outermost layer which is configured to adhere fixedly to a hemispherically-bowel-shaped second layer of FIG. 2B. The outermost layer in FIG. 2A comprises an outer surface 6, an inner surface 7 configured to adhere tightly to an upper surface 8 of the second layer of FIG. 2B, and the lower rim 3 which is configured to adherently fasten the outermost layer to an outer circumferential rim 9 of the second layer of FIG. 2B. The outermost layer comprises a closed-cell polymer foam having a measurable thickness ranging from 0.2 inches to 2.0 inches, which is configured to be compressible and depressibly deformable by an impact of a blunt trauma at an angle to a planar surface of the outermost layer. The closed-cell polymer foam of the outermost layer has a 25% indentation force deflection value of higher than 45, a foam support factor of higher than 3.0, and a Rockwell R value ranging from 70 to 140.

(9) FIG. 2B shows a schematic view of the hemispherically-bowel-shaped second layer which comprises the outer surface 8, an inner surface 10, and the outer circumferential rim 9. The inner surface 10 is configured to enclosably cover an outer surface 11 of a third layer of FIG. 2C. A portion of the inner surface 10 corresponding to the outer circumferential rim 9 adheres fixedly to an outer circumferential rim 12 of a hemispherically-bowel-shaped third layer of FIG. 2C. The second layer comprises a hemispherically-bowel-shaped solid plate having a measurable thickness ranging from 0.1 inches to 1.0 inches, which is made of hard polymers having a Rockwell R value of higher than 140 and configured to be undeformable to the impact of the blunt trauma at an angle to a planar surface of the second layer over a gravitational force of up to 300 g30 g (10% S.D.) and over a range of temperature from 0 F. to 175 F. without material failure.

(10) FIG. 2C shows a schematic view of the hemispherically-bowel-shaped third layer which comprises the outer surface 11, an inner surface 13, and the outer circumferential rim 12. The inner surface 13 is configured to enclosahly cover an outer surface 14 of a hemispherically-bowel-shaped innermost layer of FIG. 2D. A portion of the inner surface 13 corresponding to the outer circumferential rim 12 adheres fixedly to an outer circumferential rim 15 of the innermost layer of FIG. 2D. The third layer comprises an open-cell polymer foam having a measurable thickness ranging from 0.2 inches to 2.0 inches, which is configured to be compressible and depressibly deformable by the impact of the blunt trauma at an angle to a planar surface of the third layer. The open-cell polymer foam of the third layer has a 25% indentation force deflection value of higher than 45, a foam support factor of between 1.5 and 3.0, and a hardness of a Shore D scale value of at least 10 below the Shore D scale value of the innermost layer of FIG. 2D.

(11) FIG. 2D shows a schematic view of the hemispherically-bowel-shaped innermost layer which comprises the outer surface 14, an inner surface 16, and the outer circumferential rim 15. The innermost layer comprises a closed-cell polymer foam having a measurable thickness ranging from 0.2 inches to 2.0 inches, which is configured to be compressible and depressibly deformable by the impact of the blunt trauma at an angle to a planar surface of the innermost layer. The closed-cell polymer foam of the innermost layer has a 25% indentation force deflection value of higher than 45, a foam support factor of higher than 3.0, and a hardness of a Shore D scale value of between 65 and 90. The inner surface 16 is configured to enclosably cover an area of the human head comprising a part of the frontal, the entire parietal, a majority of the temporal region and a majority of the occipital region.

(12) FIG. 3 illustrates a schematic coronal view of a stacked-up four-layer mechanical-waves attenuating protective headgear. The outermost layer is represented as 17; the second layer as 18; the third layer as 19; the innermost layer as 20. The outermost layer 17 adheres tightly to the second layer 18 so as to facilitate reflection of incident mechanical waves off a boundary between the inner surface of the outermost layer and the outer surface of the second layer, shown in FIGS. 2A and 2B. The inner surface of the second layer 18 shown in FIG. 2B is tightly placed in contact with the outer surface of the third layer 19 shown in FIG. 2C. There is no adhesion between the inner surface of the second layer 18 and the outer surface of the third layer 19, which is to facilitate air movement in and out of open cells of the open-cell polymer foam of the third layer 19. The inner surface of the third layer 19 shown in FIG. 2C is tightly placed in contact with the outer surface of the innermost layer 20 shown in FIG. 2D. There is no adhesion between the inner surface of the third layer 19 and the outer surface of the innermost layer 20. All four layers are made adhere to the circumferential rim of each layer shown FIGS. 2A-2D. In addition all four layers are made to adhere to each layer at an encircling margin of a plurality of the fenestrations shown in FIG. 1 as 2.

(13) FIG. 4 depicts a schematic view of sequential changes of mechanical waves across boundaries of each layer of the four-layer mechanical-waves attenuating protective headgear upon a collision. In a direction of 21 toward a human head (not shown) wearing the four-layer mechanical-waves attenuating protective headgear, incidental mechanical waves 23 from a colliding object (not shown) come to a boundary established between the outermost layer 17 and the second layer 18. A part of the mechanical waves 23 are reflected off at the boundary to become reflected mechanical waves 24 and a remaining part of the mechanical waves is transmitted as 25 toward a boundary established between the second layer 18 and the third layer 19. At the boundary between the second layer 18 and the third layer 19, a part of the transmitted mechanical waves 25 is reflected off as reflected mechanical waves 26, heading back to the second layer 18 in an opposite direction 22 and a remaining part of the transmitted mechanical waves 25 becomes mechanical waves 27 heading toward a boundary established between the third layer 19 and the innermost layer 20. Inside the third layer which is the open-cell polymer foam, a part of the mechanical waves 27 is released as mechanical waves 29 coincided with collapsing compression of the third layer thereby pushing a trapped air in open air cells of the open-cell polymer foam of the third layer out to ambient air. A part of the mechanical waves 27 is reflected off at the boundary between the third layer 19 and the innermost layer 20 as reflected mechanical waves 28. A remaining part of the mechanical waves 27 becomes mechanical waves 30 heading toward a boundary between the innermost layer 20 and the human head (not shown). Similar to other boundaries, at the boundary between the innermost layer 20 and the human head, a part of the transmitted mechanical waves 30 is reflected off at the boundary as reflected mechanical waves 31 and a remaining part of the mechanical waves is transmitted to the human head.

(14) Since the collision is a bidirectional process, the human head (not shown) collides the innermost layer 20 in an opposite direction 22 toward the colliding object (not shown) at a time of the collision with the colliding object, thereby generating its' own incident mechanical waves 32 heading toward the outermost layer 17. At the boundary between the innermost layer 20 and the third layer 19, a part of the incident mechanical waves 32 is reflected off as reflected mechanical waves 33 and a part of the mechanical waves 32 is transmitted as transmitted mechanical waves 34 heading toward the boundary between the third layer 19 and the second layer 18. In the third layer 19, a part of the mechanical waves 34 is released from the third layer as mechanical waves 36 to the ambient air, which is coincided with the collapsing compression of the third layer 19. Another part of the mechanical waves 34 is reflected off at the boundary between the third layer 19 and the second layer 18 heading back in the direction of 21. A remaining part of the mechanical waves 34 is transmitted through the second layer 18 as transmitted mechanical waves 37 moving toward the boundary between the second layer 18 and the outermost layer 17. At the boundary between the second layer 18 and the outermost layer 17, the transmitted mechanical waves 37 is reflected off as reflected mechanical waves 38. A remaining part of the mechanical waves 37 is transmitted to an outer surface of the outermost layer 17 as transmitted mechanical waves 39. A part of the mechanical waves 39 is reflected off at the outer surface of the outermost layer 17 as reflected mechanical waves 40. A sum of these incident, reflected and transmitted mechanical waves is represented as final incident mechanical waves 41 in the direction of 21 to the human head receiving the impact of the blunt trauma of the collision.

(15) FIG. 5 illustrates a schematic view of sequential changes in amplitudes and phases of the mechanical waves across the boundaries of each layer, based on a hardness of the layer, of the four-layer mechanical-waves attenuating protective headgear upon the collision shown in FIG. 4. The incident mechanical waves 23 comes to a boundary 42 between the outermost layer and the second layer in the direction of 21 toward the human head (not shown). Since the hardness of the outermost layer is lower than that of the second layer, the reflected mechanical waves 24 are reflected in a reverse phase to a phase of the incident mechanical waves 23. Merging of two mechanical waves 23 and 24 together results in a reduced amplitude of the transmitted mechanical waves 25 which moves toward the boundary 43 between the second layer and the third layer. Since the hardness of the second layer is higher than that of the third layer, the reflected mechanical waves 26 are in phase with the mechanical waves 25. Temporary summation of both the mechanical waves 25 and 26 occurs, resulting in an increased amplitude of the transmitted mechanical waves 27 heading toward the boundary 44 between the third layer and the innermost layer. To reduce the increased amplitude of the mechanical waves 27, the third layer comprises the open-cell polymer foam which is configured to release a part of the mechanical waves out to the ambient air as the mechanical waves 29. The hardness of the third layer is lower than that of the innermost layer, so as to reverse the phase of the reflected mechanical waves 28. Merging of two mechanical waves 27 and 28 together results in a reduced amplitude of the transmitted mechanical waves 30 which heads toward the boundary 45 between an inner surface of the innermost layer and an outer surface of the human head (not shown). The hardness of the innermost layer is lower than that of skull bone of the human head, which reverses the reflected mechanical waves 31. Merging of two mechanical waves 30 and 31 together results in a reduced amplitude of mechanical waves which contribute to the final incident mechanical waves 41 delivered to the human head in the direction of 21.

(16) Similarly, the incident mechanical waves 32 from the human head (not shown) move toward the colliding object (not shown) and are reflected off at the boundary 44 between the innermost layer and the third layer. Since the hardness of the third layer is lower than that of the innermost layer, the reflected mechanical waves 33 is in phase with the mechanical waves 32, which results in a higher amplitude of the transmitted mechanical waves 34 through the third layer. The reflected mechanical waves 35 at the boundary 43 between the third layer and the second layer merges with the mechanical waves 34 in a reverse phase. Additionally, a part of the mechanical waves 34 is released to the ambient air as the mechanical waves 36, thereby reducing a part of the amplitude of the transmitted mechanical waves 37 to the second layer. The transmitted mechanical waves 37 are reflected off as the mechanical waves 38 in phase with the transmitted mechanical waves 37, which increases am amplitude of the transmitted mechanical waves 39 to the outermost layer. At an outer surface 46 of the outermost layer, the transmitted mechanical waves 39 are reflected off as the reflected mechanical waves 40 in a reverse phase as a hardness of the colliding object is higher than that of the outermost layer. Merging of two mechanical waves 39 and 40 together reduces an amplitude of transmitted mechanical waves (not shown) in the direction of 22 to the colliding object (not shown).

(17) It is to be understood that the aforementioned description of the apparatus is simple illustrative embodiments of the principles of the present invention. Various modifications and variations of the description of the present invention are expected to occur to those skilled in the art without departing from the spirit and scope of the present invention. Therefore the present invention is to be defined not by the aforementioned description but instead by the spirit and scope of the following claims.