DE202021106652U1 - Noise protection device integrated into a rigid helmet - Google Patents

Abstract

Noise protection device integrated into a rigid helmet (20), the helmet (20) comprising a hollow interior provided with a padded lining (21) and adapted to contain at least part of the head and the two ears of a user the protective device comprising two acoustic hoods (10) fixed in the hollow interior of said helmet facing each other, each acoustic hood comprising:
a padded ring (11) defining a cavity, the padded ring being made of a first foamed material and adapted to encircle an ear of the helmet (20) user while being sandwiched between the helmet (20) and the head of the user of the helmet remains compressed;
a cushioned disc (12) made of a second foamed material and located within the cavity of the cushioned ring (11) and in peripheral contact with an inner periphery of said cushioned ring (11); characterized in that
the first foamed material and the second foamed material are closed-cell foamed materials having soundproofing properties, and that each acoustic hood (10) further comprises a rigid housing (13) having a front and a rear, the cushioned ring (11) and the cushioned disk ( 12) are attached to the front of the acoustic hood (10), and the rear of the acoustic hood (10) is attached to the hollow interior of the helmet (20) by a releasable fastener (14) so that removal and/or replacement of the acoustic hood ( 10) is allowed.

Description

field of technology

The present invention relates to a noise protection device integrated into a rigid helmet and adapted to cover at least part of the head and the two ears of a user. The rigid helmet will normally be an impact protection helmet, for example a motorcycle helmet.

The anti-noise device allows to reduce the noise perceived by the user of said helmet, thus increasing its security against possible acoustic damage suffered due to a punctual or prolonged exposure to high noise levels, and also increasing its comfort against the discomfort that a means continuous or discontinuous exposure to strong or annoying sounds.

State of the art

Noise protection devices are known, typically in the form of two acoustic hoods connected by a resilient arch which presses said acoustic hoods against opposite sides of a user's head.

Said acoustic hoods comprise a rigid housing, a cushioned ring and a cushioned disk contained within said cushioned ring.

However, these noise protection devices do not allow simultaneous use with the use of protective helmets that cover the ears of the user, such as motorcycle helmets.

There are also known rigid helmets with a hollow interior provided with a padded lining that cover the user's ears and which integrate inside them a padded ring designed to surround the user's ear. However, said cushioned ring is typically formed from the same foamed material as the rest of the cushioned covering, which is an open-celled foamed material and which therefore offers very little sound insulation. In addition, said padded rings are fixed inside the helmet, preventing their removal when the acoustic conditions make the use of an anti-noise device unnecessary or even undesirable, since in the absence of excessive or annoying noise it may be necessary or even advisable to listen to the ambient noise to be able to

The present invention solves the aforementioned and other problems.

Brief description of the invention

The present invention relates to a noise protection device integrated into a rigid helmet.

Said rigid helmet has a hollow interior provided with a padded coating and adapted to cover at least part of a user's head and two ears. Preferably said rigid helmet will be a crash helmet approved for use on motor vehicles and motorcycles, although it is not excluded that they may be other types of helmets such as protective helmets for sporting purposes or for work purposes such as construction helmets.

Said anti-noise device comprises two acoustic hoods fixed in the hollow interior of said helmet, facing each other. Each acoustic hood remains pressed against the user's head, around their ear, so that the volume of noise reaching said ear is noticeably reduced, protecting the user's hearing from loud or annoying noise.

• • einen gepolsterten Ring, welcher eine Aushöhlung definiert, wobei der gepolsterte Ring aus einem ersten geschäumten Material besteht und dazu ausgebildet ist, ein Ohr des Benutzers des Helmes zu umgeben, wobei er zwischen dem Helm und dem Kopf des Benutzers des Helmes zusammengedrückt bleibt;
• • eine gepolsterte Scheibe, welche aus einem zweiten geschäumten Material besteht, welche sich innerhalb der Aushöhlung des gepolsterten Ringes befindet und in umfänglichem Kontakt mit einem Innenumfang des genannten gepolsterten Ringes ist.

Each acoustic hood comprises, in a manner known per se in the prior art:

• • a padded ring defining a cavity, the padded ring being composed of a first foamed material and configured to encircle an ear of the helmet user while remaining compressed between the helmet and the head of the helmet user;
• • a padded disk made of a second foamed material located within the cavity of the padded ring and in peripheral contact with an inner periphery of said padded ring.

Thus, the padded ring surrounds a cavity sized and shaped to contain the ear of a user of the helmet, said cavity also comprising a padded disk completely covering the interior thereof.

The padded ring is pressed against the user's head around their ear Ben and the padded disc will remain facing said ear. The combination of the padded ring and the padded disc forms a cradle for the ear that completely surrounds it, isolating it from the surrounding ambient noise and filtering any noise, reducing the level of noise reaching the ear.

• • das erste geschäumte Material und das zweite geschäumte Material geschlossenzellige geschäumte Materialien mit Schalldämmungseigenschaften sind, und dass
• • jede Akustikhaube außerdem ein starres Gehäuse umfasst, mit einer Hinterseite, am hohlen Inneren des Helmes durch eine lösbare Befestigungsvorrichtung befestigt ist, und mit einer Vorderseite, am welcher der gepolsterte Ring und die gepolsterte Scheibe befestigt sind, sodass das Entnehmen und/oder das Ersetzen der Akustikhaube erlaubt wird.

However, the present invention also proposes, in a manner not known per se in the prior art, that:

• • the first foamed material and the second foamed material are closed-cell foamed materials with soundproofing properties, and that
• • each acoustic hood also comprises a rigid housing, with a rear fixed to the hollow interior of the helmet by a removable fastener, and a front to which the padded ring and the padded disk are fixed, allowing removal and/or replacement the acoustic hood is allowed.

Thus, it is proposed that the first foamed material and the second foamed material are closed-cell foamed materials, that is, materials that do not allow the passage of air through them, increasing their soundproofing properties.

In addition, it is proposed that the cushioned ring and cushioned disc be mounted on a front face of a rigid housing. The rigid housing is fixed, at its rear, to the helmet through its hollow interior via a removable fastener, that is to say that it allows it to be repeatedly fixed and released without tools.

The integration of each acoustic hood through a rigid housing allows to guarantee its geometry, whatever the helmet to which it is attached, which allows the acoustic hoods to be placed inside the helmet only when necessary, guaranteeing their correct functioning , or that they are replaced by other acoustic hoods with different characteristics or in the event of damage.

It is also optionally proposed that the attachment device comprises a first attachment configuration connected to the hollow interior of the helmet and a second attachment configuration connected to the rear of the rigid housing and complementary to the first configuration.

The fastening device may, for example, comprise manually detachable hook and loop fasteners, magnets or clips, which will typically consist of two elements which are intended to work together to provide attachment, for example by two complementary hook and loop fastener formations (hook and loop). two magnets, or a magnet and a ferromagnetic element, intended to attract each other providing a fastener, or a clip and a fold complementary to the clip.

According to another embodiment, each acoustic hood can also integrate an active noise-cancelling device consisting of a loudspeaker connected to a microphone, to a power source and to a control device adapted to emit a modulated sound from this loudspeaker in order to generate a sound from the microphone to cancel detected ambient sound, with the loudspeaker being in a central position of the acoustic hood surrounded by the padded ring and directed towards the hollow interior of the helmet.

Two sound waves with identical frequency but opposite sign cancel each other out. Based on this effect, the active noise cancellation device detects the ambient sound through the microphone and, through the control device, calculates a sound of equal frequency but of opposite sign with respect to the detected sound, which is then emitted by the loudspeaker, so that the said cancellation of the sound is caused.

It is also proposed that the two acoustic hoods share the control device or the control device and the supply source, in which case both acoustic hoods will be connected to each other via a cable.

According to a further embodiment, the active noise cancellation device further comprises a radio frequency connection antenna for its connection to a radio frequency transmission device, and is adapted to reproduce sounds transmitted via the radio frequency transmission device. This allows the active noise canceling device to be used for other functions as well, such as playing music or making phone calls. Preferably, like the connection antenna, be adapted to connect to the radio frequency transmitter under the WLAN, Bluetooth protocol or a corresponding pro tokoll to manufacture and it is suggested that the transmission device is a smartphone.

The padded lining of the hollow interior of the helmet may comprise pressurizable cavities connected to an air pump, for example a hand pump operable from outside the rigid helmet. This allows the said padded coating to be adapted to users of different head sizes, varying the pressure inside the pressurizable cavities.

In this case it is proposed that each acoustic hood can be attached to the hollow interior of the helmet on an area of the padded lining provided with pressurizable cavities, thus allowing the pressure of the padded ring against the user's head to be regulated by increasing or decreasing the pressure in said pressurizable cavities.

The padded ring and/or the padded disc are preferably covered with a laminated material or with an openwork laminated material. For example, the pressure ring may be covered with leather, synthetic leather, or mock leather, and the padded disk may be covered with openwork fabric, openwork 3D fabric, or openwork leather, imitation leather, or mock leather.

Preferably, the padded ring will have a thickness of at least 2 cm and/or a width, measured between an outer perimeter and the inner perimeter thereof, of at least 2 cm.

It is also proposed that the cushioned disk be of a thickness less than the thickness of the cushioned ring so that, within the cavity, a socket is created which allows the ear to be comfortably socketed.

The first foamed material and the second foamed material will preferably be different from each other, each adapted to the specific conditions and requirements of their geometry and position.

The first foamed material and the second foamed material are selected and sized to provide a sound reduction of at least 15 dB in the ears covered by said acoustic hoods relative to the noise level outside of said acoustic hoods.

Other features of the invention will appear in the following detailed description of an embodiment.

character list

• 1 eine Explosionsansicht einer Akustikhaube zeigt;
• 2 eine zusammengefügte Ansicht einer Akustikhaube zeigt;
• 3 eine Schnittansicht eines starren Helmes mit einer darin befestigten Akustikhaube zeigt.

The foregoing and other advantages and characteristics will be more fully understood with the following detailed description of an embodiment with reference to the accompanying drawings, which are to be considered as illustrative and not limiting, in which:

• 1 shows an exploded view of an acoustic hood;
• 2 Figure 12 shows an assembled view of an acoustic hood;
• 3 Figure 12 shows a sectional view of a rigid helmet with an acoustic hood mounted therein.

Detailed description of an embodiment

The accompanying drawings show illustrative and non-restrictive examples of embodiment of the present invention.

According to a preferred embodiment, the present invention comprises two acoustic hoods (10) fixed inside a rigid helmet (20) in opposite and facing positions corresponding to the positions of the ears of a user of said helmet (20).

Each acoustic hood (10) consists of a rigid housing (13) with a front and a back. A padded ring (11) is fixed to the front of the rigid housing (13) surrounding a padded disc (12) also fixed to the front of the rigid housing (13).

The padded ring (11) surrounds a cavity intended to contain a user's ear, and the padded disc (12) is also, snugly, contained in said cavity and is intended to face the user's ear stay.

The padded ring (11) is made of a first closed-cell foamed material covered with a laminated material, preferably artificial or mock leather. The padded ring (11) can have a thickness protruding from the rigid housing (13) equal to or greater than 2 cm and a width intermediate that outer and inner circumference of the padded ring (11) which is also equal to or superior to 2 cm.

The padded disc (12) is made of a second closed-cell foamed material, different from the first foamed material, and is also covered with a laminated material, in this case preferably an openwork or 3D openwork fabric.

The rigid housing (13) includes, on its rear side, a releasable fastening device (14), which in this preferred embodiment is a Velcro, which is formed of two straps, which are releasably connected to each other by the typical hairy formation of the Velcro, and one are glued to the rigid helmet (20) and the other to the rigid case (13), allowing the separation of the two straps with a simple pull.

It is also contemplated that each acoustic hood (10) may incorporate an active noise cancellation device comprising a speaker located in the socket designed to contain the user's ear, above the cushioned disc (12) and from the cushioned Ring (11) surrounded. The loudspeaker is connected to a supply source, a microphone and a control device which is designed to generate a sound wave which cancels out the ambient sound picked up by the microphone and to reproduce said canceling sound wave via said loudspeaker directly at the user's hearing so that the ambient noise is cancelled.

The helmet (20) includes inside a padded cover (21) for greater comfort and safety of the user.

The padded cover (21) may comprise pressurizable cavities, for example formed from bags of airtight and resilient material, connected by conduits to a pump, preferably a hand pump, although an electric pump is also envisaged, which can be found in the Outside of the helmet (20) is located.

Actuation of the pump introduces pressurized air into said pressurizable cavities and increases their size so that the padded cover (21) is pressed against the head of the helmet wearer.

Claims (13)

Noise protection device integrated into a rigid helmet (20), the helmet (20) comprising a hollow interior provided with a padded lining (21) and adapted to contain at least part of the head and the two ears of a user to cover, the protective device comprising two acoustic hoods (10) fixed in the hollow interior of said helmet, facing each other, each acoustic hood comprising: a padded ring (11) defining a cavity, the padded ring consisting of a first foamed material and adapted to encircle an ear of the user of the helmet (20) while remaining compressed between the helmet (20) and the head of the helmet user; a cushioned disc (12) made of a second foamed material and located within the cavity of the cushioned ring (11) and in peripheral contact with an inner periphery of said cushioned ring (11); characterized in that the first foamed material and the second foamed material are closed-cell foamed materials having soundproofing properties, and that each acoustic hood (10) further comprises a rigid housing (13) having a front and a rear, the padded ring (11) and the padded disc (12) is attached to the front of the acoustic hood (10), and the rear of the acoustic hood (10) is attached to the hollow interior of the helmet (20) by a releasable attachment device (14) so that removal and/or Replacing the acoustic hood (10) is allowed. protective device claim 1 wherein the attachment device (14) comprises a first attachment formation connected to the hollow interior of the helmet (20) and a second attachment formation connected to the rear of the rigid housing (13) and complementary to the first attachment formation. protective device claim 1 or 2 , wherein the fastening device (14) comprises Velcro fasteners that can be released by hand, magnets or clips. protective device claim 1 , 2 or 3 each acoustic hood (10) also integrating an active noise-cancelling device constituted by a loudspeaker connected to a microphone, to a power source and to a control device adapted for said loudspeaker to emit modulated sound to cancel an ambient sound detected by the microphone, the loudspeaker being located in a central position of the acoustic hood (10) surrounded by the padded ring (11) and directed towards the hollow interior of the helmet (20). protective device claim 4 wherein the two acoustic hoods (10) share the control device or the control device and the supply source. protective device claim 4 or 5 wherein the active noise cancellation device further comprises a radio frequency link antenna for connection to a radio frequency transmission device and configured to reproduce sounds transmitted via the radio frequency transmission device. A protective device according to any one of the preceding claims, wherein the padded lining (21) of the hollow interior of the helmet (20) comprises pressurizable cavities connected to an air pump for adapting said padded lining (21) to different head sizes of users . protective device claim 7 , each acoustic hood (10) being fixed to the hollow interior of the helmet (20) on an area of the padded lining (21) which is provided with pressurizable cavities so as to allow the pressure of the padded ring (11) to be counteracted regulate the user's head. Protection device according to one of the preceding claims, in which the padded ring (11) and/or the padded disc (12) are covered with a laminated material or with an openwork laminated material. Protection device according to one of the preceding claims, wherein the padded ring (11) has a thickness of at least 2 cm and/or a width measured between an outer periphery and the inner periphery thereof of at least 2 cm. Protection device according to one of the preceding claims, in which the padded disc (12) has a smaller thickness than the thickness of the padded ring (11). A protection device according to any one of the preceding claims, wherein the first foamed material and the second foamed material are different. A protection device according to any one of the preceding claims, wherein the first foamed material and the second foamed material are selected and dimensioned to provide a noise reduction of at least 15 dB.

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