FR3135193A1 - Rider protection system including an airbag vest connected to a horse fall sensor - Google Patents

Abstract

PROTECTION SYSTEM FOR RIDER INCLUDING AN AIRBAG VEST CONNECTED TO A HORSE FALL SENSOR Protection system (100) for a rider (200) on his horse (300), comprising an airbag vest (20) intended to be worn by the rider and comprising at least one inflatable sheath, a gas generator (21), a gas cartridge (22) and an electronic unit (23) connected to the gas generator and making it possible to trigger the inflation of the sheath, said system further comprising a movement sensor (30) intended to be installed on the horse, on the saddle for example, and configured to detect a fall of the latter, said motion sensor being connected to the electronic unit so as to trigger the inflation of the sheath in the event of detection of a fall of the horse in order to mitigate a possible crushing of the rider by the horse. Figure for the abstract: figure 1

Description

Rider protection system including an airbag vest connected to a horse fall sensor

The present invention belongs to the field of personal protective equipment for athletes and other users, in particular airbag vests for riders, and relates more particularly to a protection system for riders comprising an airbag vest connected to a horse fall sensor.

The present invention finds a direct, but not exclusive, application in horse riding and more particularly in show jumping.

State of the art

Traumatic injuries and deaths linked to sports practice remain frequent despite a notable improvement in safety measures and the development of increasingly effective protective equipment.

Equestrian sport, in these different disciplines, appears to be a particularly risky practice.

In fact, both the speed and weight of the horse and the perilous figures performed by the rider are factors that can cause accidents with different levels of severity. In certain disciplines more than others, riders risk serious falls, sometimes with a fatal outcome.

The Fédération Equestre Internationale (FEI) has published statistics concerning falls and injuries during international eventing events over the period from 2008 to 2019. These statistics reveal, among other things, that many riders have suffered very serious, sometimes fatal, injuries. , falling violently from their horse and/or being crushed or trampled by the horse once on the ground.

Situations in which the horse falls on the rider happen very quickly and leave little time for the rider to escape to avoid being crushed by the horse, especially when the rider remains in the saddle despite the fall. This type of fall, called a “plume” in specialist jargon when it occurs during a show jump, is the most dangerous because the horse is likely to crush the rider with all its weight against the ground.

These falls are all the more dangerous as traditional protective equipment such as airbag vests are triggered by a cable which connects the vest to the saddle and therefore the rider to the horse, so that if the rider remains in the saddle the airbag does not trigger and the effects of being run over by the horse are not mitigated.

Indeed, it is when the rider is ejected from the saddle that the cable triggers the inflation of the airbag via a mechanical gas generator which hits the gas cartridge to inflate the sheath integrated into the vest. This cable system therefore cannot detect the fall of a horse which falls on its rider if the rider is not ejected from the saddle.

Furthermore, when the horse finds itself in an extreme posture likely to cause it to fall, it is almost impossible for it to return to a balanced position, and the fall becomes inevitable. This is due to the horse's musculoskeletal system which certainly makes it very efficient in speed, jumping and endurance, but which does not allow it to restore its balance if it takes a significant lateral tilt angle because it cannot not spread its limbs sufficiently apart to "catch up", nor if it exceeds a significant angle of longitudinal inclination because its front limbs have a limited longitudinal step and therefore do not open enough to make it tip in the opposite direction (unlike to other more agile animals whose limbs have a large opening amplitude to avoid this type of fall).

Known protective equipment does not make it possible to overcome this limit, despite numerous improvements to best protect all the rider's sensitive areas.

For example, document US6032299A describes a vest designed to alleviate cerebrospinal injuries associated with a fall from a rider. This vest is activated when a particular phenomenon, such as the rider falling off the horse during a race, is detected. A gas generator blows gas into a series of air lines which inflate a series of pockets, mini-cushions and a protective volume of the cervical region, through a series of concentric circular cylinders expanding to provide resistance to transverse movements relative to their concentric axis. A series of plugs installed in cascade inside the air ducts are moved by the effect of the injected gas. These plugs constitute a column which, with the other columns and with a support element housed inside the collar of the vest, form an external frame around the cervical region of the rider. In addition, this vest includes micro-electric equipment ensuring its activation.

However, this vest, with enhanced protection, is only triggered if the rider falls from the saddle, and does not detect a fall of the horse to protect the rider in the event of being crushed by the horse.

Furthermore, the use of a cable to trigger an airbag vest presents numerous disadvantages, in particular by hindering the rider at least visually (impression of being attached and not being free in his movement), and by providing him with additional constraints when he has to lock the cable using mechanisms that are sometimes difficult to handle and unreliable.

Presentation of the invention

The present invention aims to overcome the disadvantages of the prior art exposed above and proposes an innovative and particularly effective solution for improving the safety of a rider in the event of his horse falling, especially in situations where the horse risks falling. fall on him and crush him with all his weight.

To this end, the present invention relates to a protection system, for a rider on a horse likely to fall on him in particular during show jumping, comprising an airbag vest intended to be worn by the rider, said vest comprising at least one inflatable sheath, a gas generator with pyrotechnic triggering for example, a gas cartridge and an electronic unit connected to the gas generator and making it possible to trigger the inflation of the sheath. This system is remarkable in that it comprises a motion sensor intended to be installed on the horse and configured to detect a fall of the latter, and in that said motion sensor is connected to the electronic unit of the airbag vest of so as to trigger the inflation of the sheath in the event of detection of a horse falling.

As a result, when the rider is not ejected from the horse in the event of the latter falling, the motion sensor which is directly installed there allows the airbag to be triggered to mitigate a possible crushing of the rider by the horse which would come at him. fall back on it.

Particularly advantageously, the motion sensor is configured to detect a fall of the horse by measuring an angular position of said horse along at least one axis, preferably along two perpendicular axes.

Indeed, the angular position of the horse is a reliable indicator of the occurrence of a fall because beyond a certain angle, the usual mobiles (horse, motorcycle, etc.) break down and the fall (or crash) becomes inevitable.

More particularly, the motion sensor is configured to detect a fall of the horse when the value of a lateral or longitudinal inclination angle is greater than or equal to a predetermined limit value.

This limit value corresponds to a threshold beyond which the motion sensor signals the fall to the electronic unit so that it triggers the airbag.

According to one embodiment, the motion sensor comprises a gyrometer and an accelerometer.

The presence of this type of sensor allows, through successive integrations of linear and angular accelerations, to calculate both the position and orientation of the horse.

Advantageously, the motion sensor is connected to the electronic unit by a radio frequency type wireless link, preferably of short range to reduce the energy consumption of the system.

According to one embodiment, the airbag vest further comprises a cable to be connected to the horse in a detachable manner, said cable triggering the inflation of the sheath when it detaches from the vest.

Thus, the airbag can also be triggered by the cable as is customary in existing airbag vests. This therefore makes it possible to trigger the airbag both in the event of the rider being ejected and in the event of the rider not being ejected.

In order to reduce the energy consumption of the motion sensor, it can remain inactive when the vest is connected to the horse by the cable.

Advantageously, the protection system further comprises automatic activation means configured to activate the movement sensor only when the latter is installed on the horse. Such means can be integrated into the motion sensor or the electronic unit.

According to another embodiment, the protection system further comprises a movement sensor installed on the airbag vest while being connected to the electronic unit and configured to detect a fall of the rider.

Thus, this additional sensor can know the movement of the rider wearing the vest and be precisely configured to detect the fall of the rider, either from its own measurements or from a correlation analysis between its own measurements and the measurements of the sensor. of movement installed on the horse.

The configuration of the different motion sensors can in particular be based on automatic learning ( Machine Learning ) by collecting fall detection data from different users.

According to a variant of this last embodiment, the airbag vest does not include a cable to be connected to the horse and to trigger the inflation of the sheath. This eliminates the constraints linked to the use of an airbag trigger cable.

In the case of application to equestrian sports, the protection system according to the invention can advantageously comprise a saddle on which the movement sensor is installed, for example at the rear of it at the level of the cantle.

The fundamental concepts of the invention having just been explained above in their most basic form, other details and characteristics will emerge more clearly on reading the description which follows and with reference to the appended drawings, giving as non-limiting example an embodiment of a protection system for riders comprising an airbag vest connected to a horse fall sensor, conforming to the principles of the invention.

Presentation of the drawings

The figures are given for purely illustrative purposes for a better understanding of the invention without limiting its scope. The different elements are represented schematically and are not necessarily on the same scale. In all the figures, identical or equivalent elements bear the same numerical reference.

• : un système de protection pour cavalier selon l’invention ;
• : un gilet airbag selon l’invention ;
• : le système de protection dans lequel le gilet airbag est déclenché par détachement du câble ;
• : le système de protection dans lequel le gilet airbag est déclenché par la détection d’une chute du cheval.

It is thus illustrated in:

• : a protection system for riders according to the invention;
• : an airbag vest according to the invention;
• : the protection system in which the airbag vest is triggered by detachment of the cable;
• : the protection system in which the airbag vest is triggered by the detection of a fall from the horse.

Detailed description of embodiments

It should be noted that certain technical elements well known to those skilled in the art are recalled here to avoid any insufficiency or ambiguity in the understanding of this description.

In the embodiment described below, reference is made to a protection system comprising an airbag vest connected to a fall sensor, intended mainly for equestrian sports to protect riders in the event of a fall. This non-limiting example is given for a better understanding of the invention and does not exclude the use of the protection system by any other athlete or occasional user using any mobile device (horse, motorcycle, snowmobile, etc.) from when the mobile risks falling on the user in the event of an accident.

In the present description, the expression “airbag vest” designates a garment cut into a vest, for the protection of a user in particular a rider, comprising one or more inflatable sheaths which can be activated by a pyrotechnic trigger for example; an object is said to be “connected” when it is equipped with means capable of communicating, autonomously, with other objects connected by a wired connection and/or on a wireless network.

There represents a protection system 100 equipping a rider 200 and his horse 300, and comprising an airbag vest 20 intended to be worn by the rider and a motion sensor 30 fixed on a saddle 40 and connected by a wireless connection to the airbag vest 20 to control its triggering.

Indeed, the airbag vest 20 is equipped with an internal inflatable sheath which inflates when the motion sensor 30 detects an inevitable fall of the horse 300 corresponding to an extreme angular position which the horse cannot return to normal, to restore its balance, due to its anatomy and more particularly its musculoskeletal system.

Thus, when the rider 200 remains attached to the horse 300 which is in the process of falling on its back for example, the airbag vest 20 is triggered to provide protection which will absorb the shock and limit its effects on the rider.

Of course, when in his fall, the rider 200 is ejected from the horse 300, the airbag vest 20 is triggered, in a conventional manner, thanks to a cable 24 connecting said vest to the saddle 40.

This situation is represented on the in which a distance D is indicated and corresponds to an activation distance, or triggering, of the gas generator and therefore of the airbag. As long as the distance between the attachment points of the cable 24 on the airbag vest 20 and on the saddle 40 remains less than the activation distance D, the cable does not detach from the vest and the airbag is not triggered. The activation distance D must be sufficient not to constrain the normal movements of the rider 200 on his horse 300 when practicing his discipline.

There represents, according to an exemplary embodiment, the airbag vest 20 which can be worn alone or with an overcoat such as a riding competition jacket. The airbag vest 20 can also be integrated into a jacket in a removable or permanent manner.

The airbag vest 20 mainly comprises an inflatable sheath, not visible in the figure but which is located in a suitable pocket sewn into the vest, a gas generator 21 with pyrotechnic triggering, a gas cartridge 22 connected to the gas generator, a card electronic 23 and the cable 24 connecting said card to the saddle 40.

Thus, when a rider 200 wearing the airbag vest 20, with the cable 24 attached, is ejected far enough from the saddle 40 for the cable 24 to be detached, this detachment triggers the inflation of the sheath integrated into the vest via the generator of gas 21 which impacts the gas cartridge 22 to release the gas and inflate said sheath.

Of course, the inflation of the sheath can be chemically triggered, for example from a propellant as in automobile airbags.

In addition, when the horse 300 falls and the rider remains on the saddle 40, thus preventing the cable 24 from becoming detached from the vest 20, the motion sensor 30 triggers the inflation of the sheath by detecting an exceeding of the limit angle which corresponds to an abnormal orientation of the horse and the beginning of an inevitable fall.

There represents such a fall.

Indeed, the movement sensor 30 makes it possible to measure the movement of the saddle 40 on which it is fixed, and this along several axes, so as to allow detection of abnormal angular positions of the horse before its fall.

The motion sensor 30 may be a miniature IMU ( Inertial Measurement Unit ). Such a unit is generally made up of an association of sensors, called proprioceptive, directly measuring the movements of the mobile on which said unit is fixed, here the saddle 40 and therefore the horse 300, assuming that the relative movement of the saddle in relation to the horse remains negligible. Such sensors are accelerometers and gyrometers. For reasons of miniaturization, these sensors are, for example, designed using microelectromechanical systems (MEMS) technology.

Preferably, the motion sensor 30 comprises a gyrometer, an accelerometer and, incidentally, a magnetometer.

The motion sensor 30 can be provided with an integrated calculator in the form of a microcontroller, carrying out successive integrations of the measured angular accelerations to obtain the components of the angular velocity vector as well as the angular position. Thus, the analysis of the angular position along two measurement axes makes it possible to deduce the orientation of the saddle 40 and therefore that of the horse 300 on which said saddle is installed, and to detect angle excesses using specific algorithms suitably calibrated.

In addition, to reduce its energy consumption, the motion sensor 30 remains on standby until the cable 24 has been locked between the vest 20 and the saddle 40.

For example, the motion sensor 30 is an accelerometer and gyrometer module, called 6 axes, with a wide programmable operating range.

The motion sensor 30 is connected to the electronic card 23 which has a wireless communication module, for example radio frequency, coupled with a transmission/reception antenna.

Preferably, the wireless communication module transmits on an ISM (Industrial, scientific and medical) frequency band, in particular on LoRa or Sigfox networks which are particularly suitable for short ranges and low consumption connected objects.

The antenna can thus be of the printed circuit (PCB) type and directly integrated into the electronic card 23.

The electronic card 23 and the motion sensor 30 include suitable electrical power devices, which may include an energy recovery system (solar, mechanical, etc.) and/or a battery such as a lithium-ion battery.

The motion sensor 30 is configured to detect a fall and report it to the electronic unit 23 if an angle of inclination, longitudinal or lateral, of the horse exceeds a predetermined limit value.

For example, the limit value of the angle of longitudinal inclination, which corresponds to the inclination of the horse in relation to the vertical, is at least equal to 90° in absolute value.

For example, the limit value of the angle of lateral inclination, which corresponds to the inclination of the horse in relation to a horizontal plane, is at least equal to 70° in absolute value.

According to an alternative embodiment not shown, the protection system does not include a trigger cable connecting the airbag vest to the saddle, and includes an additional movement sensor installed directly on the airbag vest and connected to the electronic card of the latter to detect the fall of the rider.

The additional motion sensor thus makes it possible to analyze the rider's kinematics and detect the rider's fall, either by comparing an instantaneous acceleration of the rider with an instantaneous acceleration of the horse (measured by the motion sensor attached to the saddle), following the same axis and at the same time, or by relying on an automatic learning model calibrated on data obtained by other riders during their falls.

In other words, to detect a fall of the rider, the additional motion sensor can operate alone or in combination with the horse motion sensor. In the latter case, the horse's movement sensor serves as a reference. Indeed, during a fall by ejection, the difference in acceleration, in algebraic value, between the rider and the horse is necessarily significant.

The rider's movement sensor can for example be integrated into the airbag vest in an electronic box including the electronic card.

It appears from this description that certain elements of the protection system can be replaced by equivalent elements without departing from the scope of the invention. For example, the protection system can include several movement sensors installed at different locations on the saddle, or even directly on the horse in which case they would be made in the form of patches. Also, the protection system may include height sensors fixed on the front hooves of the horse to detect a height limit necessarily causing the horse to fall on its back.

Claims (11)

Protection system (100), for a rider (200) on a horse (300) likely to fall on him, comprising an airbag vest (20) intended to be worn by the rider, said vest comprising at least one inflatable sheath, an gas generator (21), a gas cartridge (22) and an electronic unit (23) connected to the gas generator and making it possible to trigger the inflation of the sheath, characterized in that it comprises a movement sensor (30) intended to be installed on the horse and configured to detect a fall of the latter, and in that said movement sensor is connected to the electronic unit so as to trigger the inflation of the sheath in the event of detection of a fall of the horse. Protection system according to claim 1, wherein the motion sensor (30) is configured to detect a fall of the horse (300) by measuring an angular position of said horse along at least one axis. Protection system according to claim 2, in which the movement sensor (30) is configured to detect a fall of the horse (300) when the value of a lateral or longitudinal inclination angle is greater than a predetermined limit value. Protection system according to any one of the preceding claims, wherein the motion sensor (30) comprises a gyrometer and an accelerometer. Protection system according to any one of the preceding claims, in which the motion sensor (30) is connected to the electronic unit (23) by a radio frequency type wireless link. Protection system according to any one of the preceding claims, wherein the airbag vest (20) further comprises a cable (24) for being connected to the horse (300) in a detachable manner, said cable triggering the inflation of the sheath when it comes off the vest. Protection system according to any one of the preceding claims, further comprising automatic activation means configured to activate the movement sensor (30) only when the latter is installed on the horse (300). Protection system according to claim 1, characterized in that it further comprises a movement sensor installed on the airbag vest (20) being connected to the electronic unit (23) and configured to detect a fall of the rider. Protection system according to claim 8, in which the airbag vest (20) does not include a cable to be connected to the horse (300) and to trigger the inflation of the sheath. Protection system according to any one of the preceding claims, further comprising a saddle (40) on which the motion sensor (30) is installed. Protection system according to claim 10, in which the movement sensor (30) is fixed to the rear of the saddle (40), at the level of the cantle of said saddle.