Smart Suit
SMART SUIT
ROUNDUP
How does the new Alpinestars Tech Air Race predict you are about to hit the deck and when or even if the suit's dual airbags should deploy? Senior Engineer Colin Ballantyne addresses these and other "active" protection questions.
MATTHEW MILES
Targeted protection
"A shoulder injury is not really critical; you can break your shoulder and easily survive. But, after impacts to the head, it's the most-common roadracing injury and one with which we think riders are very familiar."
Pump up the volume
"Full inflation fakes 45 milliseconds, and we guarantee five seconds of impact performance. There's a small bleed-through in the system, so when the airbag is fired, oper ating pressure is above what we need and then it slowly drops. After six seconds, you still get reasonable protection. After 20 seconds, the air bag will be so soft you'll hardly notice it. Then, it's ready to inflate again."
Thinking ahead
"The key parameter, especially in racing, is how far in advance you can detect the accident. If you can detect the crash, say, 500 milliseconds before your shoulder hits the ground, you've got a lot of time. Our sensors are working on a two-millisecond cycle, so there's new data coming in every two milliseconds, and the ECU has that window to process the data and decide what to do."
Digital partner
"We worked with Cosworth on the electronics. They supplied all of the original data-logging equipment. The coding, converting the algorithm into a format that could be understood by the microprocessor, was done by Cosworth. But the actual writing of the algorithm, . deciding what mathematical formulae would be used and how the vari ables would be connected, was carried out in-house."
To blow or not to blow
Y? "Intheend,it comes down to pure math. If the crash is small, the energy involved is low, and there's no point in firing one of the charges; the passive protectors in the suit will do an acceptable job. We set the system at a level where by we believe the energy going off requires this sort of protection."
Light is right
"Having a small system means all of the components that make up the system are also small. We didn't want to add a few extra kilograms, because the rider will ask, `Is all that weight worth what I think the benefit will be?"
Patented dual charge
“We thought, ‘What if, after the rider crashes, the system deflates and he can ride again with the same amount of protection?’ Psychologically, it’s a big weight off his shoulders. It was also a new concept. After you’ve crashed your car, the airbag is finished. You don’t tend to drive it anywhere else.”
Same look, better protection
“We weren’t looking to make a radically different suit. If you do that, you’re starting from zero trying to fit riders.
You always take something the riders are good with and then add effective and increased performance. We’re already exploring other ways to expand the system in the future.”
