New Helmet Tech & Concussions

[PatsWickedPissah]

Pop Science has really gone downhill lately taken over by activist non-science major writers, but every once in a while they publish something really worthwhile. This article on helmet tech shows the issues, the conundrums and controversy over impact measurements and standards and the problems getting attention from the powers that be. Sadly, a tech fix is not just over the horizon as I'd hoped. Great job by a 1st time writer for the magazine.


The Helmet That Can Save Football | Popular Science

These efforts need to succeed if football as we know it is to thrive for another generation.

 

[SDI_Gator]

Pop Science has really gone downhill lately taken over by activist non-science major writers, but every once in a while they publish something really worthwhile. This article on helmet tech shows the issues, the conundrums and controversy over impact measurements and standards and the problems getting attention from the powers that be. Sadly, a tech fix is not just over the horizon as I'd hoped. Great job by a 1st time writer for the magazine.


The Helmet That Can Save Football | Popular Science

These efforts need to succeed if football as we know it is to thrive for another generation.

At work, dont have time to read through the article right now. I hope they have some good breakthroughs soon. Thanks for the share.

 

[jmt57]

Pop Science has really gone downhill lately taken over by activist non-science major writers, but every once in a while they publish something really worthwhile. This article on helmet tech shows the issues, the conundrums and controversy over impact measurements and standards and the problems getting attention from the powers that be. Sadly, a tech fix is not just over the horizon as I'd hoped. Great job by a 1st time writer for the magazine.


The Helmet That Can Save Football | Popular Science

These efforts need to succeed if football as we know it is to thrive for another generation.

One of the comments at the end of the article sums up my opinion on the matter:

It always amazes me the stupidity in designing helmets with the surface as hard as a diamond. The surface should be ABSORBING some of the impact - just like knee and thigh pads do. Making the surface hard like billiard balls is just transferring more of the impact forces to each players respective head -- any idiot knows that! Having absorbent layers inside is self-defeating when the outside is designed to forward all the energy just like billiard balls do.

Remember the old physics display item with the 5 Pin-ball balls on a string as they transfer their energy to the other balls swinging on those strings? Same thing with the hard helmets. That's always been as dumb a thing as could be done.

You're better off having a deformable plastic that can avoid being ripped to shreds but still provide some energy absorption -- flexible layers built into it with a slippery outer layer. If they break down and need replacement 4 or 5 times a game too bad for the sport costing more.
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A second reader adds this:

Helmets are made backwards. They need to be soft on the outside, to absorb the impact before it gets to the wearer. This applies to all kinds of protective helmets. I've known this for years. Try it yourself. Put a hard surface over a piece of foam, with your hand under the foam. strike the hard surface. See how much you feel in your hand, then reverse it, put the foam on the outside and strike it with a similar blow. you'll feel much less, if anything. couple that with some more foam or other impact absorbing material on the inside, then most blows would not be a problem. Why the people that design helmets can't see this, I don't understand. It's simple logic, absorb the impact so it can't be transmitted to the wearer in any form. Easy peasy. The material that goes under shoulder pads and the like would do for the outside, as it's impervious to water and sweat. come to think of it, they should rethink the shoulder and thigh pads too.
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And there is this rebuttal, which also seems to make sense to a non-engineer, non-scientist, non-doctor such as myself:

Those who think that the helmets outer shell should be soft are overlooking the obvious - the outer shell is one part of a multi-level energy management system. The 'hard' outer shell flexes upon impact, absorbing some of the energy that would otherwise be transferred to the protective inner liner. A soft outer shell means more of the impact forces are permitted inside the helmet. That means that the inner liner must be engineered to absorb and redirect more energy and that leads to disposable one-impact helmet since the materials used to absorb higher levels of impact forces are sacrificial. It goes without saying that not all impacts in football are of sufficient force to fracture the hard outer shell that would render a conventional helmet incapable of protecting the players head.

A better approach would be to create a two-piece helmet using the hard shell to protect a disposable liner custom fitted to a players individual head. A re-usable shell and sacrificial liner would improve protection while controlling equipment costs. A replacement liner would be far less expensive than replacing a complete helmet yet offer better protection.
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[PatsWickedPissah]

I are an engineer but electrical, not mechanical. You can see from the considered opinions that there's controversy over the best design approaches. Controversy delays and prohibits implementation. I agree with the rebuttal opinion FWIW.

 

[Palm Beach Pats Fan]

as a scientist but not an engineer I see the arguments both ways for hard-soft vs. soft-hard helmet designs, outside to in.

Seems to me though that 3 layers, soft-hard-soft, may be the better approach.

Avoids the desire to use the head as a weapon due to the compressible outer layer, the hard middle layer disperses any focused blow, and then the compressible innermost layer prevents transfer of energy to the skull.

I would think that helmet manufacturers would have research labs to study basic ideas such as this, so I guess the facts may be otherwise.

 

[zydecochris]

Interesting stuff PatsWickedPissah!! Thanks for the link. There are also some related words at:

Why NFL Helmets Will Never Be Concussion-Proof | Co.Design: business + innovation + design

This article talks about some of the basic physics involved and its point is that there will never be a concussion proof helmet (unless you put a foot of padding inside), but there are ways to improve helmet technology somewhat. However, it is a difficult problem and there is not likely to be a magic solution. The article says: "I think that it’s true that football helmets are 85% as good as they’re ever going to get,” Dr. Timothy Gay, University of Nebraska physics professor, writer, and industry helmet consultant tells me. “The optimal football helmet won’t be much better than the helmet you can buy right now because there are just physics restraints on the kind of padding you can use. We have a pretty good micro, nanotechnological understanding of how materials work. And basically, there are limits on what padding materials can do for a given thickness.”

As an aside, this same Timothy Gay has written a book called: "Football Physics: The Science of the Game", that has a forward by some guy named Bill Belichick. Why am I not surprised that he would be interested in anything having to do with football science

Pop Science has really gone downhill lately taken over by activist non-science major writers, but every once in a while they publish something really worthwhile. This article on helmet tech shows the issues, the conundrums and controversy over impact measurements and standards and the problems getting attention from the powers that be. Sadly, a tech fix is not just over the horizon as I'd hoped. Great job by a 1st time writer for the magazine.


The Helmet That Can Save Football | Popular Science

These efforts need to succeed if football as we know it is to thrive for another generation.