I-Corps: Smart Fire Protection Blankets

University Of Maryland, College Park, College Park MD

Investigators

Abstract

The broader impact/commercial potential of this I-Corps project is the development of a new class of smart fire protection blankets (SFPB) to protect citizens and firefighters from wildfires and/or sustaining dangerous exposures to excessive heat. Wildfires, now more common, can cause death from entrapment, burns, or asphyxiation; these mortalities have increased continuously since 2011. With the proposed technology, once the firefighter or first responder is exposed to moderate temperatures, the blanket undergoes a phase transformation and begins expanding, generating an air pocket. This reduces the heat flow from the fire to the firefighter’s skin, reducing burn injuries. This I-Corps project is based on the development of a new class of smart fire protection blankets utilizing shape memory elements. Layers of aluminum foil, fiberglass, Kevlar, fire-retardant sheets and a backing of silica weave will be interwoven with the shape memory elements. The fast actuation phase transformation characteristics are activated when excessive thermal exposures are detected. Once activated, the shape memory elements will expand and introduce air pockets inside the blanket that will reduce their thermal conductivity and also lower the risk of burns. The proposed smart garment will have self-tuning characteristics to adjust the thickness of the air pockets according to the ambient temperature. This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.