Light sources in energy management liner of a helmet to illuminate helmet fit system

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-11425950-B2
Application number	US-202117368716-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Jul 6, 2021
Priority date	May 9, 2017
Publication date	Aug 30, 2022
Grant date	Aug 30, 2022

Abstract

A helmet including fit system straps with illuminable strips on them or woven into them and one or more light sources positioned adjacent the tops of the fit system straps on the helmet body to emit light toward the illuminable strips. The light sources may be connected directly to the illuminable strips to emit light into an end of the illuminable strips. The light sources may emit light from or near a lower surface of the helmet body toward the illuminable strips.

First claim

The invention claimed is:

1. A helmet comprising:
a helmet body defining an inner surface, an outer surface and a lower surface extending between the inner surface and the outer surface, the helmet body comprising an energy-management liner disposed between the inner surface and the outer surface and an outer shell covering at least a majority of the energy-management liner, the helmet body further defining a first side and a second side opposite the first side;
a fit system comprising a first strap and a second strap, the first strap attached to the helmet body adjacent the lower surface at one or more first attachment points on the first side of the helmet body, the second strap attached to the helmet body adjacent the lower surface at one or more second attachment points on the second side of the helmet body, the first strap comprising one or more first illuminable strips disposed on one or more first outward-facing surfaces of the first strap, the second strap comprising one or more second illuminable strips disposed on one or more second outward-facing surfaces of the second strap; and
one or more light sources positioned adjacent the one or more first attachment points and the lower surface on the first or second side of the helmet and within the energy-management liner, at least one of the one or more light sources positioned and oriented to emit a light through and along the length of the one or more first illuminable strips of the first strap or the one or more illuminable strips of the second strap.

2. The helmet of claim 1 , wherein the one or more light sources are positioned at the one or more first attachment points to emit the first light from the one or more first attachment points through at least a portion of the one or more first illuminable strips.

3. The helmet of claim 1 , wherein the one or more light sources are positioned adjacent the lower surface of the helmet body and are positioned to emit the light toward the one or more first illuminable strips of the first strap from the lower surface of the helmet body.

4. The helmet of claim 1 , wherein the one or more first illuminable strips of the first strap comprise thermoplastic polyurethane.

5. The helmet of claim 1 , further comprising a controller, wherein the controller is operably coupled with the one or more light sources.

6. The helmet of claim 1 , wherein the one or more first illuminable strips are coupled with the first strap via one or more translucent covers on the first strap.

7. The helmet of claim 6 , wherein the first strap further comprises a pocket formed by the one or more translucent covers, and at least a majority of at least one of the one or more first illuminable strips is disposed within the pocket.

8. The helmet of claim 1 , wherein the one or more light sources are attached to an end of the one or more first illuminable strips.

9. A helmet comprising:
a helmet body defining an inner surface, an outer surface and a lower surface extending between the inner surface and the outer surface, the helmet body comprising an energy-management liner disposed between the inner surface and the outer surface, the helmet body further defining a first side and a second side;
a fit system comprising a first strap and a second strap, the first strap attached to the helmet body at one or more first attachment points on the first side of the helmet body, the second strap attached to the helmet body at one or more second attachment points on the second side of the helmet body, wherein at least a portion of the first strap and a portion of the second strap are illuminable;
one or more light sources positioned within the energy-management liner and adjacent the lower surface on the first side or the second side of the helmet body and positioned and oriented to emit a light from adjacent the lower surface through and along the length of the illuminable portion of the first or second strap.

10. The helmet of claim 9 , wherein at least one of the one or more light sources is positioned directly superior to at least one of the one or more first attachment points or second attachment points.

11. The helmet of claim 9 , wherein the one or more light sources are positioned to emit the light toward illuminable surfaces of the first or second strap.

12. The helmet of claim 9 , wherein the first strap comprises one or more first illuminable strips.

13. The helmet of claim 12 , wherein the one or more first illuminable strips are coupled to the first strap via one or more translucent covers.

14. The helmet of claim 13 , wherein the first strap further comprises a pocket formed by the one or more translucent covers, and at least a majority of at least one of the one or more first illuminable strips is disposed within the pocket.

15. The helmet of claim 9 , further comprising a controller, wherein the controller is operably coupled to the one or more light sources.

16. The helmet of claim 9 , wherein the one or more light sources are coupled to an end of the first strap.

17. A helmet comprising:
a helmet body comprising an energy-management liner and an outer shell covering at least a majority of the energy management liner, the helmet body defining an inner surface, an outer surface and a lower surface extending between the inner surface and the outer surface, the helmet body further defining a first side and a second side;
a fit system comprising a first strap and a second strap, the first strap attached to the helmet body at one or more first attachment points on the first side of the helmet body, the second strap attached to the helmet body at one or more second attachment points on the second side of the helmet body, wherein at least a portion of the first strap and a portion of the second strap are illuminable;
one or more light sources positioned within the energy-management liner and adjacent the lower surface on the first side or the second side of the helmet body and positioned and oriented to emit a light from adjacent the lower surface through and along the length of the illuminable portion of the first or second strap.

18. The helmet of claim 17 , wherein at least one of the one or more light sources is positioned directly superior to at least one of the one or more first attachment points or second attachment points.

19. The helmet of claim 17 , wherein the one or more light sources are positioned to emit the light toward illuminable surfaces of the first or second strap.

20. The helmet of claim 17 , wherein the first strap comprises one or more first illuminable strips.

Assignees

• Bell Sports Inc

Inventors

• Mcallister Ian P
• Doublin Mark D
• Ramirez Ronald A

Classifications

• A42B3/06

  Impact-absorbing shells, e.g. of crash helmets · CPC title

• A42B3/125

  with a padded structure, e.g. foam · CPC title

• A42B3/044 Primary

  Lighting devices, e.g. helmets with lamps · CPC title

• F21V23/003

  the elements being electronics drivers or controllers for operating the light source, e.g. for a LED array · CPC title

• F21Y2115/10

  Light-emitting diodes [LED] · CPC title