Personalized 3D Helmet
Wearing a helmet can save your life. The helmet protects drivers from impact and allows them to communicate via radio with their crew. They are designed to have a hard outer shell and an inner layer of special crushable foam. Both of these layers help disperse the crash energy and protect the brain. In this project, our task was to design a concept Formula One race car helmet or any other helmet using a 3D modeling software, as well as proper sketches and a research report. The helmet must support the highest degree of safety and comfort to the user. The design aesthetic must convey speed and the style and culture of Formula One racing.
Our process of completing this assignment was:
- Creating paper sketches of the personalized helmet (Orthogonal, and perspective.)
-Creating paper designs to decorate the Helmet (Using our team's logo.)
-Creating a detailed 3D helmet (must be physically possible, surfaces must have a thickness, all elements must be included and properly modeled including hinges, glass, rivets and padding.)
-A written design explanation of how our helmet meets the safety standards, materials, and possible extra functionalities.
-A written report of your research.
Some of the key concepts we took into consideration:
ACCELERATION is a change in speed over a period of time; the higher the acceleration, the faster the change in speed. For example, if a car goes from 0 miles per hour (mph) to 60 mph in 2 seconds, it is a higher acceleration than if the car goes from 0 mph to 40 mph in 2 seconds. Acceleration is a rate of change of speed; NO change means NO acceleration. If something is moving at constant speed, it is NOT accelerating.
COEFFICIENT OF FRICTION is the measurement of the level of friction embodied in a particular material. The formula is μ = f/N, where μ is the coefficient of friction, f, is the amount of force that resists motion, and N is the normal force. Normal force is the force at which one surface is being pushed into another.
CRUMPLE ZONES are areas of an object designed to deform and crumple in an impact, as a means to absorb the energy of a collision. The fronts of most automobiles are designed as crumple zones to protect the passengers from frontal collisions.
DRAG is a term used in fluid dynamics that is sometimes referred to as air resistance or fluid resistance. Friction is one of multiple factors that influence the amount of drag encountered by a body moving through a fluid such as air or water.
INERTIA: when an object remains still or moves in a constant direction at a constant speed.
G FORCE: a force acting on a body as a result of acceleration or gravity, informally described in units of acceleration equal to one g.
FRICTION is a force that resists motion when two objects or surfaces come in contact.
FORCE causes masses to accelerate; they are influences that cause a change of movement, direction, or shape. When you press on an object, you are exerting a force on it. When a robot is accelerating, it does so because of the force its wheels exert on the floor. Force is measured in units such as pounds or newtons. For instance, the weight of an object is the force on the object due to gravity (accelerating the object towards the center of the earth).
KINETIC FRICTION (or dynamic friction) occurs when two objects are moving relative to each other and rub together (like a sled on the ground).
Reflecting on this past time my group and I spent working through this project, I can definitely say some personal strengths I executed well was my leadership and critical thinking. We had a lot of different components and tasks to work on, and I feel that I contributed to the allocation of work and managing my team's ability to use our time wisely. Staying organized and dilligent was critical to our success in this project. Additionally, this project involved some topics and information we had never really learned before, and it took some researching on safety regulations, as well as the ability to think critically and apply what we learned to ultimately help us succeed. We were able to use evidence and reasoning to solve problems we faced, and analyzation to help design our group's helmet.
I believe an aspect we could have improved on is communication. I noticed that we sometimes experienced trouble communicating various ideas or opinions, which may have hindered our ability to include all the possible input and creativity that could have gone into our design. I think we can work on this by ensuring an open-minded perspective to group assignments and understanding that we can all contribute and combine our ideas together to make something great!