3 WAYS WE STOP HOT SPOTS BEFORE THEY START

Hot spots distract from the mission. Whether you’re wearing a special ops helmet or a snowboarding helmet, focus is paramount. Concentration is required to avoid injury.
 
An ill-fitting helmet puts unwanted pressure on the head. Pressure mounts and turns discomfort into legitimate pain. It’s like riding in a plane with old, cheap seats. After an hour or so, you’re going to feel it. No one needs that.
 
Combat helmets, bump helmets, SAR helmets and ski helmets have all come a long way. Engineers now work to alleviate potential hot spots before they occur – planning ahead for scenarios that turn helmets into distractions.
 
But this type of planning is a fairly new phenomenon. History is quick to remind us that comfort has long been an afterthought when it comes to helmets. Think back to World War I…
 
From Popular Mechanics:
 
American troops were issued with the M1917 Kelly helmet, copied from the Brodie helmet developed by the British. The design was basic, just a sheet of manganese steel pressed into a bowl shape, weighing about a pound and a half. It came with a basic liner to stop it from rubbing, and a leather chinstrap. This strap could be a liability: once tightened it was difficult to undo, a deadly consequence for a soldier who gets accidentally snagged on some obstacle.
 
The Kelly was also uncomfortable, but it gave life-saving protection from shell fragments. It was normally painted olive with an anti-reflective coating, but different units soon introduced their own color schemes.
 
The Kelly helmet was advertised as being able to stop a .45 caliber pistol bullet at 600 feet per second, but this may have given a false sense of security. In the real world, even low-power .45 ammo reaches 800 fps or more, and the 9mm pistols used by the Germans had far greater penetration—as did all the rifle and machine-gun bullets tearing across No Man's Land.
 
The famous M1 helmet, introduced during WWII, was used for the next 40 years – spanning the Korean and Vietnam wars. A Kevlar helmet became standard in the 1980s. It wasn’t until 2005 that ballistic helmets offered a liner intended to mitigate blunt impacts, which could also serve as a platform for precisely tailoring how the helmet fit on the head. But liner systems are not the only factor at play in in achieving comfort and eliminating hot spots.
 
Manufacturers now seek the perfect combination of protection and comfort.
 
Team Wendy does this in three ways.

1. Material Properties. Reducing the weight of the helmet through the materials in which it is made is always top of mind for our engineers. We are constantly working to make helmets lighter without compromising performance.

 
Then there’s viscoelasticity, which is a fancy way of saying the pads inside our helmets respond to pressure. If you’re familiar with memory foam mattresses, then you know all about viscoelasticity. The material exhibits both viscous – “gooey” – and elastic properties. It’s not something you find in a motorcycle helmet or bike helmet, but we employ this material in our helmet liner systems. Over time the areas pressed the hardest will soften up so pressure is applied evenly throughout. The key factor with viscoelasticity is that if you push and hold, you’ll notice that pressure is reduced.

2. Material Layout. Helmet design – from the shape of the helmet shell to how we place and prioritize the location of our helmet padding inserts – goes a long way in mitigating contact points up front. Your forehead is critical because you’re more sensitive to pressure points and pain there. It’s the helmet liner’s job to assist.
 
Small changes to the pad in front of the helmet can have a dramatic effect on how the helmet feels during periods of extended use. All areas of the helmet are important, but we’ve found that proper layout up front is significant no matter the make or model.
 
For Team Wendy bump helmets and ballistic helmets, the final decision on layout rests in the hands of the wearer. The vast majority of Team Wendy helmet pads are customizable because no two head sizes are the same. Nor are any two head shapes the same. That’s one reason why our EXFIL^® helmet shell geometry isn’t perfectly round. The human head isn’t round, so our shell shape also aids in comfort.

3. Balance of Helmet. A key piece of the puzzle is our patented CAM FIT™ Retention System, which is a four-point retention system capped with an integrated BOA^® Fit System. The Team Wendy CAM FIT tightens around your head so pressure is evenly distributed – like a belt around a waist.
 
The helmet chin strap is also a crucial component of CAM FIT. Night vision devices can be heavy – perhaps 1.5 lbs. or more. The chin strap needs to be able to uphold a powerful lock in order to maintain balance.
 
All of this is especially important in ballistic helmets, which are routinely mounted with night vision and thermal optics devices, tactical helmet lights, cameras and other accessories. More accessories equal a greater risk that balance can shift and pressure points may develop.
 
This happens in everyday life, too. For example, mount a GoPro to a bicycle helmet. The camera might be light, but many riders find themselves complaining about the friction after an hour or so.
 
Let’s review. Team Wendy engineers must anticipate the use of accessories. We work with precise materials and lay them out accordingly – always leaving room for the operator to customize according to his or her preferences. Finally, the CAM FIT Retention System anchors it all in order to achieve balance.
 
The last step is rigorous testing. All the planning in the world is fruitless until it holds up under real-world pressure.
 
And we’re always up to the challenge. Ultimately, our products are able to save lives by allowing the wearer to focus not on their helmet, but on their mission — whether that be combat, rescue or adventure.
 
 
By Ron Szalkowski
Director of Product Development and Research Collaboration