El proyecto Kid-Shell está orientado a diseñar y desarrollar un sistema de protección dirigido a niños que viajan como pasajeros en motocicletas.
The
KID-SHELL project aims to design and develop a protection system addressed to children who are travelling as PTW passengers, since motorcycles are by far the most dangerous means of transport. This paper focusses on the second stage of the project where the design of the child protection system was defined and simulated, and an assessment protocol developed.
Firstly, the KID-SHELL was designed to cover the most exposed parts of the PTW child passenger such as the back, neck and shoulders. It is a one-piece vest with a rigid back part to protect the child in case of falling from the
motorcycle or an accident.
Secondly, the test protocol was defined according to the energy absorption that the system needs to provide in the event of an impact. This protocol assesses the level of safety of the KID-SHELL protector in rear fall-off impact conditions.
The dummies, impactors, setup and requirement specifications for the test were specified. Furthermore, a pattern of the target zones where the impactor has to collide were defined. In order to make the test repeatable and reproducible, this was carried out by the Dynamic Impact Test System (DITS). Concerning the results, three levels of qualification were specified in order to assess the KID-SHELL system protection.
Finally, the KID-SHELL protector was evaluated with virtual simulation according to the test protocol conditions defined in the previous paragraph.