Helmet-Mounted Thermal Sensor for First Responder Burn-Saver Device

The personal protective equipment (PPE) worn by firefighters (turnout Gear, SCBA, helmet, etc.) protects the wearer against burns and hazardous environments. Unfortunately, they work so well that they decrease the firefighter's situational awareness, in particular their ability to notice rapidly increasing temperatures. Although current thermal sensor technologies (generally built in to the Personal Alert Safety System (PASS) unit) have the ability to respond to changing temperatures, no commercial devices can respond fast enough to ensure that the firefighter is not exposed to temperatures that exceed the capabilities of their PPE. TDA Research, Inc. (TDA) proposes to design, fabricate, and test a rapidly responding temperature warning device that is low cost, portable, durable, and accurate. In the event of a high temperature situation, the device will provide both visual and audible alarms along with wireless notification to the command center. In collaboration with our commercial PPE manufacturing partner, we will develop a low cost, rugged, burn saver device for NFPA certification. We anticipate a TRL(1) at the beginning of Phase I to transition to TRL(4) at the end of Phase I, and we expect to achieve TRL(6) by the conclusion of Phase II.