Are You Prone To Fall? Four Fall Protection Materials To Understand

Falling is a very common phenomenon in daily life. For young people, a fall may be simply "standing up to pat the ashes". But for the elderly, the risk of a fall is no less than that of a heart attack or a stroke, which may lead to fracture or life threatening. According to statistics, it is the first reason for the death of these people to fall and die in China over 65 years old.

Therefore, installing some protective devices to alleviate the impact on human body after falling is very important. The material used for fall protection includes four main categories: airbag, sponge material, 3D gel material, buffer air bag and so on.

Safety air bag

The airbag is able to receive the falling signal from the sensor when it falls down, and automatically stimulate the gas pump or gas generating device to inflate quickly, so as to achieve the purpose of buffer protection. All kinds of electronic sensing technology should be combined with gas generator or portable air pump. Its protection performance is strong, protection is in time, under normal condition, it does not affect beauty and comfort. For example, the wearable airbags of Prop Japan Co., Ltd. can inflate two airbags placed on the human buttocks and heads in 0.1 s and provide backward fall protection.

　　 Sponge material

The sponge material can produce the corresponding deformation along with the change of force, absorb the energy generated by different impact force, and has good force transfer characteristics. It can be used as an alternative material for protective pad in the femoral protector. It can be used repeatedly, with good cushioning, easy to combine with clothing, but low in appearance. The cushioning performance of long term wear will be reduced and need to be replaced. According to the latest research, the buffer rate of 50 special hard sponge materials is higher than that of other sponge materials of the same thickness. Considering the comfort, beauty and the normal walking of the elderly, the 50 special hard sponge material with thickness of 20 mm is more suitable for protecting the protective pad in the femoral bone protector.

　　 3D gel materials

3D gel materials are soft and elastic under normal conditions. When they collide or squeeze instantaneously, the intermolecular structure will be locked together, and the material will harden to digest the external impact force. When the external force is gone, the material will be restored to its original flexible state. It is called "soft armor". It is very lightweight and has a good sense of fit with the protective parts. It is an ideal material that combines free activities with collision protection, but the price is high and it is not easy to get. At present, D30 gel materials have been used in ski wear, motorcycle clothing, bicycle riding clothes, water sports clothes and other fields. Recently, some skiers in the United States and Canada have used D30 materials in the Winter Olympics.

　　 Buffer airbag

The airbag made of polyethylene film has a vent hole which can slowly discharge after being pressed on the side wall or bottom, so as to achieve the buffering effect after falling down. Its quality is light, easy to use, good adaptability, low price, but poor repeatability, environmental protection and low buffer rate. Our country has developed a wearable fall protection system using air bags on both sides of the waist. A device similar to the waist belt is fixed on the waist of the human body to protect the buttocks of the elderly. It is based on the three axis acceleration and angular velocity threshold to monitor the occurrence of falls, but the accuracy of the system needs to be verified.