Personal Protective Equipment Liner

Abstract

A protective liner for personal protective equipment comprises a foam component and a polymer component. The foam component is embedded in parallel with the polymer component such that the foam component and the polymer component absorb energy in parallel during impact.

Therefore, the following is claimed: 
     
         1 . A protective liner for use in personal protective equipment, comprising:
 a polymer component; and   a foam component embedded in parallel with the polymer component.   
     
     
         2 . The protective liner of  claim 1 , wherein the foam component comprises one or more layers of at least one of: open-cell foam, semi-open cell foam, closed foam, or viscoelastic foam. 
     
     
         3 . The protective liner of  claim 1 , wherein the polymer component comprises at least one of a thermoplastic or a thermoset. 
     
     
         4 . The protective liner of  claim 1 , wherein the polymer component comprises an engineered chamber configuration comprising one or more engineered chambers. 
     
     
         5 . The protective liner of  claim 4 , wherein the engineered chambered configuration comprises at least one of: a honeycomb-shaped configuration, a hemisphere-shaped configuration, or a tetrahedron-shaped configuration. 
     
     
         6 . The protective liner of  claim 1 , wherein the polymer component is an encapsulant that encapsulates the foam component. 
     
     
         7 . The protective liner of  claim 1 , wherein the foam component comprises a geometric form of at least one of: a cylinder, a prism, a cube, a tetrahedron, or a cuboid. 
     
     
         8 . The protective liner of  claim 1 , wherein the protective personal equipment is a helmet, the protective liner is disposed within an interior portion of the helmet, energy generated by an impact to the helmet is absorbed in parallel by the foam component and the polymer component, the polymer component increases rebound of the foam component impacted by absorption of the energy. 
     
     
         9 . The protective liner of  claim 1 , wherein the protective liner comprises an inert gas for optimizing thermal conductivity of the protective liner. 
     
     
         10 . The protective liner of  claim 1 , wherein the inert gas comprises at least one of helium or argon. 
     
     
         11 . An item of personal protective equipment, comprising:
 a shell; and   a protective liner disposed within an interior portion of the shell, the protective liner comprising a foam component embedded in parallel with a polymer component comprising at least one of a thermoplastic or a thermoset.   
     
     
         12 . The item of personal protective equipment of  claim 11 , wherein the polymer component comprises an encapsulant, and the polymer component encapsulates a geometric form of the foam component. 
     
     
         13 . The item of personal protective equipment of  claim 12 , wherein the geometric form comprises at least one of: a cylinder, a prism, a cube, a tetrahedron, or a cuboid. 
     
     
         14 . The item of personal protective equipment of  claim 11 , wherein the polymer component comprises one or more engineered chambers, the foam component being embedded in the one or more engineered chambers. 
     
     
         15 . The item of personal protective equipment of  claim 14 , wherein the polymer component comprises at least one of: a honeycomb-shaped configuration, a hemisphere-shaped configuration, or a tetrahedron-shaped configuration. 
     
     
         16 . The item of personal protective equipment of  claim 11 , wherein the foam component comprises one or more layers of at least one of: open-cell foam, semi-open cell foam, closed foam, or viscoelastic foam. 
     
     
         17 . The item of personal protective equipment of  claim 11 , wherein the polymer component comprises thermoplastic urethane. 
     
     
         18 . The item of personal protective equipment of  claim 11 , wherein the protective liner is a single unit. 
     
     
         19 . The item of personal protective equipment of  claim 11 , wherein the protective liner comprises a plurality of units that are separate relative to each other. 
     
     
         20 . The item of personal protective equipment of  claim 19 , wherein individual ones of the plurality of units are connected to adjacent ones of the plurality of units via an interconnecting channel, the interconnecting channel allowing for at least one of fluid transfer or gas transfer. 
     
     
         21 . An item of personal protective equipment, comprising:
 a shell; and   means for absorbing energy generated by an impact to the shell, wherein the means for absorbing the energy is disposed along an interior portion of the shell.   
     
     
         22 . The item of personal protective equipment of  claim 21 , wherein the shell is flexible. 
     
     
         23 . The item of personal protective equipment of  claim 21 , wherein the shell is rigid. 
     
     
         24 . The item of personal protective equipment of  claim 21 , wherein the means for absorbing the energy comprises a protective liner.