Mr Su(CEO of S-Airbag), who engaged in the automobile industry for many years, is determined to develop a device to protect the elderly in the event of a fall. “More than a decade ago, my grandfather passed away after an accidental fall. This has happened to my friends, so we think it's a social phenomenon.” Su organized technical staffs to start the development of new protective equipment. With years of experience in Auto industry, they are inspired by car airbags. “Can we apply the technology of automobile airbags in the field of human protection to reduce the damage to the human body in an accidental fall?” The elderly are prone to fractures when they fall, and hip fractures are the most serious cases. Most elderly people with hip fractures, even after careful treatment, often take several years to recover. Many elderly people lost their mobility due to hip fractures. Su’s team developed an airbag belt to protect the hip area. Then seniors only need to wear the airbag belt, in the event of a fall, the airbag can deploy to protect. Soon S-AIRBAG made the first set of sample. For safety,the R&D team didn’t conduct live test.They tested with a bucket which is similar to a person’s waist and falling at height.However, the test did not go well, and the airbag did not deploy as designed.If the airbag doesn't deploy in time, the equipment is useless. So what's the problem? After analysis,the R&D team found the answer soon. In fact, the activation of airbags in cars has a strict procedure. Generally, when the car has a strong collision, the airbag will deploy, which belongs to passive protection. But the human airbag protector must complete protection before a person hits the ground. Then how to start earlier to turn passive into active? Normally,it takes between 300-400 milliseconds for a person to go from a standing posture to falling to the ground. We need to calculate a limit value. We assume that his minimum landing time is 300 ms Let’s try to set it at about 100 ms (triggering protection system)to achieve a protection. During this time the airbag can deploy before the person hitting the ground. To advance the time of airbag activation, a trigger switch is a must. The trigger switch needs to distinguish between normal bend-over or accidental fall. In fact, when a person is bending over normally, the change in the angle of gravity is relatively stable. The displacement of the center of gravity generally does not exceed 0.2 m within 100 ms. However, when a person falls accidentally, the change of human center of gravity is much faster. The displacement of the center of gravity can reach more than 1 meter in 100 milliseconds, which is about 10 times as much as normal activity. The change in the angle of gravity can be more than 50 times that of normal activity. So from the speed and angle change can determine whether a person is accidentally fallen or normal activity. Then how to identity the millisecond difference?The R&D team came up with a precision instrument to measure the change of angle: MEMS gyroscope. When we browse the phone screen, we can see that the phone's screen are changing with the gesture angle. This is actually the MEMS gyroscope installed inside the phone to work. MEMS gyroscope just like a trigger switch that detects angular changes on the nanometer scale. With the assistance of this switch, it may be able to start the deployment of the airbag. How about the performance of the protective equipment with the addition of MEMS gyroscope? In this test, when the tilt angle of the bucket reached about 30 degrees within 100 ms.The MEMS gyroscope successfully activated the airbag. The test with bucket was successful. But a fall of a real person and a bucket has huge differences in weight and speed. Then the team decided to test with a porcelain vase similar to a person’s height. Porcelain is thin and brittle,it may crack or broken even with a slight bump. Although testing with porcelain can be more intuitive to see the protective effect, it gave the R & D team more pressure. In the experiment, the airbag was successfully deployed only about 100 milliseconds after released. The vase is tilted at an Angle greater than 45 degrees. Both the speed and the angle are more accurate than the test with a bucket. The vast is still intact after falling to the ground. The control effect of the MEMS gyroscope was perfectly verified. After the initial success of the experiment, the R&D team demonstrate the device among various communities. They expect to get opinions about the device from the elderly. This is the protector for hip of the elderly, the hip joint is very important. The elderly also praised such equipment. But then they also made a pertinent suggestion. The elderly are in trouble when they fall, and they think our products should protect their shoulders, heads and knees. For these concerns of the elderly, the R&D team realized that the protection effect of the existing equipment is far from enough. The fall environment and circumstances of the elderly are complex and varied. Accidental falls are more fatal if the head and neck hit the ground. The R&D team worked hard and designed a new device, which fulfills the requirements of protecting the key parts of the body during a fall. Unlike the belt design, this vest has a very subtle design. Elderly can wear it as a normal jacket without being abrupt. The airbag in the vest deploys smoothly before the dummy hits the ground in the test. The head and hips and other key body parts are well protected. The S-AIRBAG vest test was very successful, the airbag was deployed in time before the dummy fell, and well protected the dummy's head ,back& hip. However the researchers found a safety hazard. The air leakage has never occurred in previous experiments. After checking the sample carefully, the R&D team think that the problem may come from the production line. This is an airbag production factory in Xiamen, Fujian. Most of the processes on the flow line are basically mechanized and intelligently operated. Here the R&D team found the reason of airbag leakage. It is caused by the defects of the traditional production process which was sewn together before. We checked and found that the operator had some imprecise operation during the sewing process. The needle pierced the air chamber and the air leaked. This time, we changed the design. The best solution to solve the airbag leakage problem is to make the airbag in one piece. Just like a balloon, there is only one airbag, leaving only a stitched interface. This can significantly reduce air leakage. Newly designed S-AIRBAG intelligent vest in the moment of the experiencer landing can effectively protect his hip,head and other key body parts. Successful experiment! Actually, S-AIRBAG intelligent vest can be reused after deployed. Just need to fold the airbag back and replace new gas Inflators. But the R&D team is not satisfied. Their vision is that S-AIRBAG intelligent vest should not only be able to protect the elderly, it should also have a wider range of applications. So the R&D team conducted a special ride activity. When people are in strenuous exercise, such as in the process of cycling, there will be a brake emergency stop high-speed turns and other situations. The instantaneous change of the body's center of gravity and angle is similar to that of a fall. The R&D team wanted to test whether the vest would be misjudged through such a test. At the end of the test, when all the R&D members reached the destination,the equipment they wore did not falsely report the vest unfolding. In addition to the above circumstances, can this S-AIRBAG intelligent vest work in the event of any accidental fall? To further improve the reliability of the S-AIRBAG intelligent vest, the R&D team is still improving the performance of the vest. They emulated various accidental fall scenarios. The team hopes that through this special airbag protective vest to give the elderly an extra layer of security in their lives. Let the S-AIRBAG intelligent vest really become the patron saint of the elderly. Check out the full videos by: https://oss.s-airbag.com/video/s-airbag/CCTV10_TV_SHOW_VIDEO.mov