Skiing.

I have the hobby of going skiing and love the freedom of the sport and a part of the joy of the sport is the adrenaline of risk taking, so in a way safety has to be kept at a minimum but now days it is becoming more common for people wear more safety gear such as helmets and some snowboarder wear wrist guards to prevent strains, but me personally don't like waring the helmets i find them quite heavy on your head and don't breath well so by the end of the day you have a sweaty head, I also feel that their is a fashion/status element when you are on the mountain as you just don't look as good with a helmet, if you aren't a pro you come of as bit of a wimp or just to over protective. But I do find them kind of useful as the last time I went skiing I bailed on a run and landed on my head which not only hurt but also resulted it not being able to move my neck for a week and I know that people have died while on the mountain and they would of survived if they were wearing a helmet like actress Natasha Richardson who died in a skiing accident for not wearing a helmet.

I would like to design a helmet that wasn't noticeable and was breathable as I find that the temperature of the mountain changes rapidly throughout the day, it is normally cold in the morning and on a good sunny day you are hot by lunchtime, and always find my head and chest area are the first to over heat (the head heats up after with a helmet of as it isn't breathable and also heavy and restricting so heat is contained inside it). so if I had a helmet that could keep your head warm in the cold wind and mornings but could also not over heat your head in the sun.

I found a website that looked at different skiing and snow boarding injuries and it describes that head injuries is the most fatal and can have the worst outcome, can end up with death or severe head injuries. 'Individuals who have sustained serious head injuries often need advanced airway procedures such as intubation and ventilation in order to maintain adequate levels of oxygenation. Additional complications can include respiratory depression, seizures (fits) and associated spinal injury. If the brain has been badly damaged, bleeding both in and around the brain can occur and the brain itself can swell. This is a real problem, because the brain is encased in a solid case (the skull) which has no vent for this increased pressure. The brain therefore gets squeezed by this increasing pressure which damages it still further. All in all, not good. Unfortunately, as a result, serious head injuries, even with appropriate management, frequently result in death or permanent and significant disability.'  There are three main outcomes that can result in a head on accident; Collisions - either with another person or an object (e.g. tree, rock, fence, pylon, snow surface), Impacts with snow surface (e.g falls onto a hard snow/ice surface or jumps that go wrong) or Lift accidents (e.g hits on the head from swinging T-bars, chairs or poma buttons). so there are many factors that could go wrong if you are not careful. 

head injuries account for at most 10-20% of all snow accidents but I feel it is the most dangerous.

Over the last 10 year in the USA there has been 39 deaths on the slops due to head injuries, and 30 of them were skiers and of the 39 eight of them were reported to be wearing helmets, so it shows that helmet do save the lives but do slow down the chances. 

There are also arguments against wearing the helmet, it suggest that wearing a helmet puts strain on the neck and makes you more prone to next injuries, it also states that helmets affects your vision as you cant see a wider range as you cant see on your sides. As you have the helmet on squashing on your head and coving your ears it is thought that your hearing is more impaired  I have found this when trailing the helmet, I did find it more difficult to hear. and also it is thought that when wearing a helmet  you are more prone to take more risks as you feel you will be fine if land on your head  the "risk compensation theory"

I looked it what ski helmets are made from and I found a web site that explained the different types of padding inside the helmets and what they feel are the safest type of helmet. http://www.allsportprotection.com/Types_of_Ski_Helmets_s/662.htm;

EPS

 EPS (Expanded Polystyrene). Low-profile and light in weight, EPS foam liners are the industry standard for action sports. EPS liners are not multi-impact, but they do meet CE/CPSC standards. 

SXP from Pro Tec

 SXP (Surface Activated Expanded Polypropylene). Patented multi-impact material that is ideal for aggressive riding style. Multi-impact SXP liners have built-in rebound control. Once the liners have been compressed, multi-impact SXP memory kicks in and the liner rebounds, maintaining its impact-absorbing qualities. Multi-impact SXP are the only lightweight multi-impact helmets to be CE/CPSC-certified and still deliver the style and fit that customers deserve. 

SEPP/EPP from POC

 SEPP (Super Expanded Polypropylene) / EPP (Expanded Polypropylene). The difference between the materials is that SEPP and EPP, unlike EPS do not deform permanently on impact and is therefore suitable to absorb repetitive shocks. Meaning, essentially that an EPS liner will break, distributing the force from the impact throughout the helmet. The EPP and SEPP are similar in that they will also break when the maximum force of impact occurs, but SEPP and EPP have higher stress limits when it comes to breakage and flex. 

Hard Hat Brock Foam from Bern Unlimited

 Bern Hard Hat is an interior foam called Brock Foam. Brock Foam is a soft, very comfortable foam that is rated as a multiple impact foam. When an impact occurs on a Brock pad, each bead moves the adjacent two beads laterally which diffuses the impact. Friction between the beads turns much of the force into kinetic energy. Multiply this by the thousands of beads in each pad and you have the essence of why Brock absorbs impact better than standard foam pads. It is made up of a polypropylene bead that offers a firm protective layer and has excellent moisture and heat wicking properties.

Brock foam is not certified ASTM or CE for skate, snow or bike. The helmet is still a great helmet, but you do need to be aware of this fact. 

Zipmold from Bern Unlimited

 The Bern Zip-Mold is what other companies will often call an in-mold helmet. The Bern Zip-Mold is similar in build to an EPS helmet except the outer shell and inner shell are combined into one during the manufacturing process. This allows for a better strength to weight ratio and gives the helmet a lower profile without losing its protective qualities. 

Most of this didn't make much sense to me in if I want to make my own as I don't really know how to get ahold of the different polypropylenes or how to work with them so I felt I would go for a different approach on making one and thought about changing the materials and form, if I want it to be breathable and to protect your head. I kind of want to mix the normal hat with the helmet; I don't think it it would be a helmet good for the risky skiers or the ones that jump off cliffs but a step up form the the beanie.

I then looked into the precedent that was given in class the Hovding- airbag for cyclists, using the airbag concept to make a cycling helmet, The airbag is designed like a hood and made in an ultra-strong nylon fabric that won’t rip when scraped against the ground. Hövding protects nearly all of the head, while leaving the field of vision open.

The inflated airbag covers a much larger area than a traditional cycle helmet and is designed according to current accident statistics. The protection is greatest where it is needed most and the airbag provides extremely soft and gentle shock absorption. The pressure remains constant for several seconds, making it able to withstand multiple head impacts during the same accident. After that the airbag slowly starts to deflate.

I think the problem with this helmet when it comes to skiing as it wont work as effectively is that it is more common to fall over on skis then it is on a bike as I feel that this type of helmet is more of a one it thing and then would have to spend some time to sit and put it back in and make sure it is ready to go off again, and I feel that the force you fall of a bike is different then on skis and it would be hard to deuterium if you are fall over or just flying down the mountain at top speed. also this helmet is designed not be be on your head most of the time and have your head exposed to the elements which isn't ideal for skiing as you want to keep your head warm in -0 temperatures. But it is a good precedent as it shows a different way to make a helmet then just the normal with a Polypropylene inside and hard plastic shell. 

I then looked at different types of helmets out there not designed for skiing but designed to protect your head. and I thought about rugby and boxing headgears, they aren't made out of hard plastic, they are soft flexible and breathable. they aren't the look I want to go for but they are good to protect your head on impact, so its a good indication to know where to put the points needing most protection.