Firefighter neck-wear with heat warning

Project GitHub repo

CHALLENGE

We also demonstrate the potential applications of workwear for special occupations, such as firefighters. Despite the protective clothing, tens of thousands of firefighters are estimated to suffer from burn injuries each year in the US alone. The neck is one of the most frequently burnt areas because hot air can enter the gear through gaps where the mask and clothing meet (Firefighter burn injuries: predictable patterns influenced by turnout gear). Besides, firefighters can lose track of the temperature and even pain with the adrenaline rush.

DESIGN DETAILS

Therefore, we designed an intelligent neck-wear worn inside the heat-insulating jacket that can alert firefighters to dangerous temperatures next to the skins: when temperatures hit 60°C, the neck-wear will start buzzing and vibrating. The fabric base is water-proof to avoid the humidity influence from sweat on the fabric temperature sensor.

The neck wear base was a hand-cut and sewed piece, but it could also be off-the-shelf garments. The temperature sensing area was laser-cut double-coated 0.3mm thick nylon spandex fabrics. The dxf file of the temperature sensing area we used is available in the github repo of this project

With the processor component, we implemented it by connecting the fabric sensor to one analog pin, with buzzer and vibration motor separately connected to two other pins.

IMPLEMENTATION

OUTCOME