The Principle of Inflatable Devices for Floating Self-rescue Swimsuits
In recent years, drowning caused by swimming has occurred frequently and has become one of the top ten major causes of death in the world. Among them, more than 50,000 children and teenagers die from drowning every year in China. People who are drowning often miss only 4 minutes of prime time for life-saving because they have difficulty calling for help. Therefore, the development of self-rescue swimsuits is particularly important. To strengthen swimmers' self-rescue capabilities, improve rescue efficiency, and reduce accidents, it is key to design and develop instant inflatable floating self-rescue swimsuits to meet the needs of swimmers' safety and comfort.
In the process of exploring functional swimsuits in China's clothing industry, the lifebuoy developed by Yihan Zhang and others uses a built-in pressure sensor to automatically open the airbags on both sides of the neck collar by pressing the alarm button, allowing the drowner’s head to float on the water; at the same time, the sound and light alarm systems will go off and send location signals. This life-saving device brings inspiration to the future development of life-saving functional clothing, but the built-in chip is unstable underwater. If the submerged signal is affected, the safety factor will be reduced. Shipei Fu and others added GPS global positioning and GSM global mobile communication modules that have been optimized to enhance waterproofing and signal shielding into smart self-rescue swimsuits to facilitate better assistance, install automatic inflating devices, quickly inflate swimsuits, and connect communication technology with clothing. Although this design combines the inflatable device with clothing, the cost of the optimized module is high and it is not easy to promote on the market. Kaiwen Bie developed a portable self-inflating life-saving device using the principle of compressed gas cylinders plus needles. When danger occurs, a needle is used to pierce the seal of the cylinder containing compressed gas, and a large amount of gas is quickly released for inflation. The life-saving device adopts simple mechanical principles, and the inflatable part is not interfered with by signals and the external environment. However, this attached device has the disadvantages of large volume and not being portable, which hinders the free movement of swimmers. The emergency automatic inflatable device swimsuit developed by Chao Chen connects the built-in igniter to sodium azide, causing the foam block to act, allowing the waterproof suit to float with the person, achieving the purpose of emergency inflation. However, the principle of sodium azide explosive inflation itself has a certain degree of danger and is not suitable for use in clothing. At present, there are few studies related to inflatable life-saving devices. Existing research also has problems such as large sizes of the device, high costs, unstable life-saving function underwater and unsafe inflation methods, making it unable to be put into production and marketed.
In recent years, wearable smart devices have become a hot research and development trend. Clothing is endowed with functions such as positioning tracking, medical diagnosis, antibacterial and antivirus, heating and luminescence. Compared with healthcare functional clothing, the research and development of functional swimsuits has not received much attention, and the research and development are not yet mature; few existing swimsuits on the market have the safety of floating emergency devices, and there is a certain degree of safety hazards. Traditional swimsuits are in urgent need of innovative development. Given this, this article integrates the inflatable system with safety into swimsuits, aiming to develop people-oriented life-saving swimsuits to ensure that swimmers can float on the water to prevent drowning in times of crisis and reduce the recurrence of unfortunate accidents.
1.1 The overall structure of the inflatable device
The inflation device adopts an instant-open, inflatable airbag device, which includes an airbag, a knob valve, a first chamber that holds baking soda (connected to the left through a hole of the valve), and a second chamber that holds acetic acid solution (connected to the right through hole). The cross-sectional structure of the inflatable device is shown in Figure 1.
Figure 1 Cross-sectional structural diagram of the inflatable device
1.2 The principle of inflation reaction
The principle of inflation reaction is that baking soda and acetic acid produce a strong chemical reaction to produce gas. The inflatable material designed in this article is safe and low-cost, and the airbag has small sizes and light weights. It is easier to carry than the general life-saving devices on the market and is convenient for swimmers' daily swimming activities. The reaction formula is CH3COOH+NaHCO3 = CH3COONa+H2O+CO2↑. When the wearer turns the valve, the acetic acid solution in the second chamber flows to the first chamber, reacts with the baking soda, and quickly releases carbon dioxide gas. The airbag is rapidly inflated and expanded, increasing the buoyancy and allowing the human body to float on the water to achieve self-rescue.
1. 3 The principle of valve ventilation
Valve ventilation adopts a simple mechanical principle, and is initially closed to block the flow of the two chambers in the airbag. When a swimmer is in danger, turning the valve opens the 2 chambers and a chemical reaction produces gas. The opening and closing structure of the valve is simple and easy to operate, which is suitable for use in emergencies. The knob valve is a conventional part and is easy to purchase and process on the market.
1.4 Choosing airbags and chamber materials
The airbag expands by storing gas, and its material needs to be waterproof and airtight. You can choose styrene-butadiene rubber (SBR), graphene oxide nanoribbon-carbon nanotube or thermoplastic polyurethane elastomer rubber (TPU) composite materials, polyurethane elastomer rubber (TPU) composite materials, which have good properties of no leakage, and being easy to store gas. They are also highly elastic, easy to expand, and resistant to chemical corrosion. They are very suitable for use as airbag materials. The first chamber uses a small breathable cloth bag to store baking soda; the second chamber uses a small bag made of the same material as the airbag to store the acetic acid solution.
1. 5 Designing airbag ports
Glue the ports of the airbag and the inner chamber to the styrene-butadiene rubber SBR round hose. The outer port of the round hose is well fixed on the through hole of the valve to ensure the sealing between the valve, the airbag and the inner chamber, and prevent leakages of solution, powder and air bag between the first chamber and the second chamber. The external valve is removable and the round hose port can repeatedly inject baking soda into the inner chamber of the bag and acetic acid into the inner chamber of the diving material.
In the process of exploring functional swimsuits in China's clothing industry, the lifebuoy developed by Yihan Zhang and others uses a built-in pressure sensor to automatically open the airbags on both sides of the neck collar by pressing the alarm button, allowing the drowner’s head to float on the water; at the same time, the sound and light alarm systems will go off and send location signals. This life-saving device brings inspiration to the future development of life-saving functional clothing, but the built-in chip is unstable underwater. If the submerged signal is affected, the safety factor will be reduced. Shipei Fu and others added GPS global positioning and GSM global mobile communication modules that have been optimized to enhance waterproofing and signal shielding into smart self-rescue swimsuits to facilitate better assistance, install automatic inflating devices, quickly inflate swimsuits, and connect communication technology with clothing. Although this design combines the inflatable device with clothing, the cost of the optimized module is high and it is not easy to promote on the market. Kaiwen Bie developed a portable self-inflating life-saving device using the principle of compressed gas cylinders plus needles. When danger occurs, a needle is used to pierce the seal of the cylinder containing compressed gas, and a large amount of gas is quickly released for inflation. The life-saving device adopts simple mechanical principles, and the inflatable part is not interfered with by signals and the external environment. However, this attached device has the disadvantages of large volume and not being portable, which hinders the free movement of swimmers. The emergency automatic inflatable device swimsuit developed by Chao Chen connects the built-in igniter to sodium azide, causing the foam block to act, allowing the waterproof suit to float with the person, achieving the purpose of emergency inflation. However, the principle of sodium azide explosive inflation itself has a certain degree of danger and is not suitable for use in clothing. At present, there are few studies related to inflatable life-saving devices. Existing research also has problems such as large sizes of the device, high costs, unstable life-saving function underwater and unsafe inflation methods, making it unable to be put into production and marketed.
In recent years, wearable smart devices have become a hot research and development trend. Clothing is endowed with functions such as positioning tracking, medical diagnosis, antibacterial and antivirus, heating and luminescence. Compared with healthcare functional clothing, the research and development of functional swimsuits has not received much attention, and the research and development are not yet mature; few existing swimsuits on the market have the safety of floating emergency devices, and there is a certain degree of safety hazards. Traditional swimsuits are in urgent need of innovative development. Given this, this article integrates the inflatable system with safety into swimsuits, aiming to develop people-oriented life-saving swimsuits to ensure that swimmers can float on the water to prevent drowning in times of crisis and reduce the recurrence of unfortunate accidents.
1.1 The overall structure of the inflatable device
The inflation device adopts an instant-open, inflatable airbag device, which includes an airbag, a knob valve, a first chamber that holds baking soda (connected to the left through a hole of the valve), and a second chamber that holds acetic acid solution (connected to the right through hole). The cross-sectional structure of the inflatable device is shown in Figure 1.
Figure 1 Cross-sectional structural diagram of the inflatable device
1.2 The principle of inflation reaction
The principle of inflation reaction is that baking soda and acetic acid produce a strong chemical reaction to produce gas. The inflatable material designed in this article is safe and low-cost, and the airbag has small sizes and light weights. It is easier to carry than the general life-saving devices on the market and is convenient for swimmers' daily swimming activities. The reaction formula is CH3COOH+NaHCO3 = CH3COONa+H2O+CO2↑. When the wearer turns the valve, the acetic acid solution in the second chamber flows to the first chamber, reacts with the baking soda, and quickly releases carbon dioxide gas. The airbag is rapidly inflated and expanded, increasing the buoyancy and allowing the human body to float on the water to achieve self-rescue.
1. 3 The principle of valve ventilation
Valve ventilation adopts a simple mechanical principle, and is initially closed to block the flow of the two chambers in the airbag. When a swimmer is in danger, turning the valve opens the 2 chambers and a chemical reaction produces gas. The opening and closing structure of the valve is simple and easy to operate, which is suitable for use in emergencies. The knob valve is a conventional part and is easy to purchase and process on the market.
1.4 Choosing airbags and chamber materials
The airbag expands by storing gas, and its material needs to be waterproof and airtight. You can choose styrene-butadiene rubber (SBR), graphene oxide nanoribbon-carbon nanotube or thermoplastic polyurethane elastomer rubber (TPU) composite materials, polyurethane elastomer rubber (TPU) composite materials, which have good properties of no leakage, and being easy to store gas. They are also highly elastic, easy to expand, and resistant to chemical corrosion. They are very suitable for use as airbag materials. The first chamber uses a small breathable cloth bag to store baking soda; the second chamber uses a small bag made of the same material as the airbag to store the acetic acid solution.
1. 5 Designing airbag ports
Glue the ports of the airbag and the inner chamber to the styrene-butadiene rubber SBR round hose. The outer port of the round hose is well fixed on the through hole of the valve to ensure the sealing between the valve, the airbag and the inner chamber, and prevent leakages of solution, powder and air bag between the first chamber and the second chamber. The external valve is removable and the round hose port can repeatedly inject baking soda into the inner chamber of the bag and acetic acid into the inner chamber of the diving material.