Patent ID: 9380823
Filing Date: 2016-07-05
CPC Classification: A42B

Claim Text:
1. A protective helmet, said helmet comprising a hard shell defining a compartment for receiving a portion of a wearer's head, said shell having an interior surface and an exterior surface, and a plurality of impact attenuating cells, each impact attenuating cell being against said interior surface of the shell, each impact attenuating cell comprising: a cell body, said cell body comprising a flexible plastic container comprised of a fluid impermeable material and having an interior compartment storing a fluid, said fluid filling the interior compartment, and at least one acceleration sensor attached to the cell body, and at least one electrically actuated exhaust valve attached to said cell body, and a controller operably coupled to each acceleration sensor attached to each cell body, and the controller being operably coupled to each electrically actuated exhaust valve attached to each cell body, each acceleration sensor producing a signal in response to an acceleration, and said controller: determining, for each acceleration sensor, an acceleration from the signal produced by each acceleration sensor, said acceleration being the determined acceleration, comparing the determined acceleration, for each acceleration sensor, with a threshold acceleration for each acceleration sensor, and generating an exhaust signal to open said electrically actuated exhaust valve for each cell body with an acceleration sensor for which the determined acceleration is not less than the threshold acceleration.