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Fun, health, pleasure – the explanations for using bikes are quite a few and private. As dedicated biking addicts, we’re eternally celebrating the positives, however our favorite exercise additionally comes with a component of danger.
It was a actuality that Leatt founder, Dr Chris Leatt, confronted in 2001 when a fellow motocross rider died on the tracks, and he set his sights on designing a neck brace to assist forestall future tragedies.
The South African firm has since devised security options for cyclists and full-body protection for mountain bikers. In 2017, Leatt launched new helmet safety referred to as 360 Turbine Technology. This is claimed to guard riders from each low-speed linear impacts and rotational acceleration. It options throughout the total vary of Leatt helmets, together with the MTB 3.0 Enduro.
We caught up with Dr Leatt to debate a number of the finer particulars of 360 Turbine Technology and the MTB 3.0 Enduro helmet.
Ultimate safety
Anti-impact know-how in biking helmets will not be new. MIPS (Multi-directional Impact Protection System) is a well-recognized security characteristic throughout road helmets and MTB lids. Designed to guard the mind from rotational affect, MIPS is a skinny layer that sits between the EPS foam and helmet liner.
Leatt’s 360 Turbine Technology appears altogether very completely different. Small, spherical ‘turbines’ made out of a gentle gel-like substance are positioned strategically across the helmet, hardening on affect to assist defend the mind.
“Instead of one large slip-plane, Leatt chose to develop multiple smaller ones, that when displaced act as a slip-plane, but have the added advantage of also being able to offer low-speed linear dampening, not included in larger slip-plane technologies,” explains Dr Leatt.
The firm developed the know-how to fulfill the HIC (Head Injury Criteria) as assessed by helmet requirements organisations, similar to SNELL, ECE and DOT.
“In the past,” explains Dr Leatt, “it was thought that linear deceleration was the only important consideration for the risk of brain injury. We now know that brain rotational accelerations and velocities are of great importance when assessing the risk of brain injury and new computations for the risk of brain injury have been added to standard helmet testing, including these parameters.”
While we’re all conscious that high-velocity affect may be catastrophic, these small falls and incidental bumps can even have a detrimental affect.
“The 360 Turbine Technology not only mitigates against rotational acceleration, but also low-speed linear impacts, that if repeated, can have a cumulative effect on the frequency and severity of concussion, which may lead to the development of chronic degenerative brain conditions like CTE (Chronic Traumatic Encephalopathy),” says Dr Leatt.
Science behind the fun
Based in Dr Leatt’s state-of-the-art lab services in Cape Town, the crew set to work growing 360 Turbine Technology by designing disc-shaped generators constructed from an energy-absorbing materials. This non-Newtonian polymer is alleged to soak up power and the generators are positioned on the within of the helmet’s EPS liner.
“When you put the helmet on, they are positioned directly against the skull and are ready to protect you,” explains Dr Leatt. “In a crash, these turbines deform, reducing rotational impact forces and absorbing energy from the impact. This technology can thereby absorb both rotational impact forces, as well as low-speed linear impact forces in a crash.”
Safety for all
Leatt has utilized the 360 Turbine Technology to its full vary of helmets, together with the MTB 3.0 convertible enduro helmet. Despite weighing in at simply 760g, it nonetheless meets the AS/NZS 2063:2008, EN1078, CPSC 1203 and ASTM F1952–10 security requirements, proving you don’t must commerce in security for weight.
Dr Leatt says the know-how is designed to go well with all types of using. “Rotational and linear forces act on the brains of all riders,” he says, “whether suffering low- or high-speed impacts from all applications; be it bicycle, motorcycle or other.”
Watch this area
As an organization that prides itself on being on the chopping fringe of know-how, Dr Leatt says it is going to by no means cease studying and growing within the pursuit of security. “As new research articles are published and more is known about brain injuries and our sport,” he says, “we aim to constantly update our research and development efforts.”
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