Cooling of Motorcycle Helment Using Phase Change Material

Abstract

Human life is so precious and valuable, that it should not be compromised under any cost. In a latest survey, it is mentioned that nearly 62% of mortality in road accidents occur due to head injury, where the rider has not worn a helmet. It is not that people are very negligent about their lives on road, but that they experience dozens of discomforts by wearing helmets. But the most common discomfort is that, heavy sweat occurs due to excessive heat formation. This project mainly focuses on absorbing this heat produced inside the helmet. To achieve this, a suitable Phase change material (HS 22) is encapsulated inside an aluminium packet. Also 6 holes of 6mm diameter are drilled on the front and rear sides of helmet. This allows fresh air (reaction air coming opposite to riding direction) to continuously flow in and out of the helmet so that the heat produced in the helmet is instantaneously tapped out. During summer season, the inlet air itself will be hot which will be absorbed by the PCM. The PCM fuses taking its latent heat of fusion from the packet surface and cools it. Thus continuous cooling is achieved till the entire PCM fuses. After the ride, the PCM rejects the heat and again solidifies. Factors like position of PCM in the helmet, volume, latent heat of fusion, etc. are carefully adjusted to achieve effective forced convective heat transfer and thus cooling for a minimum drive of 1.5 hours at an utmost ambient temperature of 450C. This ventilation system is practically feasible, very economical and will surely promote the riders to wear helmets. This project has been successfully completed as our 3rd year project.