New technologies that increase the safety of helmets

In a helmet equipped with this technology we find therefore three main components: the shell in expanded polystyrene (EPS), the low friction layer and, often between the two, a fastening system by means of elastomers. In an angled impact (which is also the most common but whose effects are neglected by current legislation), the fastening system by means of elastomers stretches to allow the EPS shell to rotate independently around the head.

“Today our technology was chosen by 147 manufacturersis present in 883 models and already equips 12.6 million helmets sold “, explains Daniel Lanner, Science Project Manager. He tells us the story of MIPS, of the choice to produce solutions for third parties (instead of directly producing helmets), so as to be able to spread their safety technology as much as possible. And then, again, of the struggle to stay on the market in the first 15 years of activity, almost twice bankruptcy, until the real success, which began in 2014 and which today translates into unstoppable growth. “Two years ago we were 43, today we are 90, and we grew up during the pandemic», Lanner proudly underlines.

The Virtual Test Lab

During our visit to Täby, we also witnessed an absolute preview of a demo of the Virtual Test Lab. Created to speed up the development process and increase the reliability of the new helmets, it uses mathematical models based on the Finite Element Method (FEM) to describe and apply the properties of helmets and their materials, but also above all those of the human brain. During the demo, we see the reconstruction of a helmet identical to that of the initial experiment appear on the screen: the foams that compose it, the coating and every other detail has been decomposed in small polygons, each consisting of 4 corners. To represent the reconstruction of this specific product you need them over 430 thousand thatlike so many pieces of an extraordinarily complex Lego, describe the object with extreme precision, drawing on a precious material library patiently built by MIPS.

The “magic” of simulation

It only takes a few clicks, and in that helmet a head materializes, so let’s see repeat itself digitally the same test we had seen live at the beginning. We see the helmet break in the same way, in the same points, but this time we can slow down the blow, study it in detail as it happens, “dig” deep into the materials and see live deformation and breakage in otherwise inaccessible points. “What in 2018 required three months of development, thanks to these simulations today we can do it in 3 weeks – explains Marcus Arnesen, MIPS Model Development Engineer – and we are the only ones who can see what happens in the helmet. Usually a manufacturer has to develop up to 5 versions of a helmet before having the final one: if we do it like this, 2 or 3 are enough “.

Then when the human brain is added to the simulation, the demo becomes even more interesting: the more than two decades of MIPS research materialize in a mathematical model which, as for the helmet, describes the brain in all its parts, taking into account the properties of each part and “material”, promptly showing the reactions and damage deriving from each impact. The purpose of the demo is to show the versatility of the Virtual Test Lab, but Isak Hampel Klang, the Computational Engineer responsible for this last session, also takes the opportunity to reaffirm the concept behind the success of MIPS: the simulated test on an oblique surface. gives a strong rotation to the head, and the system shows far more serious consequences on the brain than a linear blow impressed with equal force. The same test, repeated by adding MIPS safety technology to the virtual helmet, highlights an important reduction in post-impact consequences.

Almost as if to say: “Did you see that we were right?“.