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TESTING & CERTIFICATION
Early tests carried out by the world-leading Transport Research Laboratory proved that the PHPS concept worked to dissipate rotational forces. Even primitive PHPS prototypes indicated a 60% improvement on a then top-of-the-range motorcycle helmet. The Department of Trade & Industry (now Department of Business Innovation & Skills) was so impressed that it funded computer simulations that showed an even higher improvement could potentially be achieved, and the National Endowment for Science, Technology and the Arts (NESTA) provided further funding to develop the technology.
| Exhaustive tests have been performed on the first commercial implementation of the PHPS enhancement on the SuperSkin helmets from LAZER Helmets SA. LAZER asked the French National Scientific Research Centre at Louis Pasteur University of Strasbourg to conduct detailed scientific studies using a computerised re-creation of head injury. These tests, overseen by Professor Remy Willinger, verified that upon head impact the LAZER SuperSkin helmet reduced the risk of intracerebral shearing by 67.5%. |
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Traditional approval standards tests have focused primarily on linear force and linear acceleration but with the development of more sophisticated biomechanical and mathematical models these tests will become more exacting over time. The tests performed on the LAZER SuperSkin helmets used much higher speed than those required by the current standard.
The tests were performed in the same way that the approval tests are conducted for the UN ECE 22.05 motorcycle helmet standard to which all commercially available helmets must conform. The oblique impact test for this standard involves suspending and then dropping the helmet onto an anvil and measuring the resulting effects. These tests clearly and visibly proved that the rotational effect of the impact is significantly reduced with the addition of the PHPS membrane.
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Standard Helmet Fall Test
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SuperSkin Helmet Fall Test
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The rotational acceleration is actually reduced by two-thirds, and the amount of rotation is reduced by three-quarters. In other words: the PHPS slows down the spin, as well as reducing the amount of spin. Recent tests demonstrate that the force and duration of impact are reduced when using a PHPS enhanced helmet. The graphs show a reduction of over 60% in the force of impact compared with a standard motorcycle helmet.
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