Full Face Mask Receiving Channel for Helmet Harness
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Solution Overview
Problem
The combined wearing of a safety helmet and a full-face mask often compromises the sealed contact between the mask and the user's face due to interference from the helmet's suspension harness, leading to health and safety risks and discomfort, with existing solutions failing to provide a suitable interface for the helmet's harness within the mask.
Innovation Solution
A full-face mask with an upward-facing receiving channel on its forehead portion, designed to interface with the safety helmet's suspension harness, featuring a pair of opposed walls that abut the harness's bottom edge and interior surface, allowing for a secure and non-disruptive fit without breaking the seal, and optionally coated with anti-slip material for enhanced stability.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If a safety helmet with suspension harness is worn simultaneously with a full-face mask, then head protection is provided, but the sealed contact between the mask and user's face is compromised
Solution Approach 1:
A receiving channel is introduced as an intermediary structure on the mask's forehead portion that accommodates the suspension harness. This mediator allows the harness to pass through or rest in the channel, preventing direct contact between the harness and the mask's sealing surfaces, thereby maintaining the sealed contact while still providing head protection support.
Solution Approach 2:
The forehead portion of the mask is segmented to include a dedicated receiving channel structure. This segmentation creates a separate functional zone that handles the suspension harness independently from the sealing zones, allowing the harness to be contained within the channel without interfering with the mask-to-face seal.
2Strength
If the suspension harness contacts the full-face mask, then the helmet is supported, but the mask is displaced and seal is broken
Solution Approach 1:
The receiving channel acts as a mediator that intercepts the suspension harness before it can contact the mask's sealing surfaces. The channel provides a designated path or resting place for the harness, allowing the support function to be maintained while preventing the harmful displacement and seal breach.
Solution Approach 2:
The suspension harness is nested within the receiving channel structure. The channel encompasses the harness in a contained manner, allowing the harness to fulfill its support function while being physically confined to a space that does not interfere with the mask's sealing contact with the user's face.
3Adaptability or versatility
If the receiving channel is added to the mask, then compatibility with safety helmet is improved, but the mask structure becomes more complex
Solution Approach 1:
The receiving channel is designed with universal adaptability to accommodate various suspension harness configurations. By providing a standardized channel structure that can receive different harness types and sizes, the mask gains compatibility with multiple safety helmet systems without requiring complex customization mechanisms.
Solution Approach 2:
The receiving channel is implemented as a localized feature on the forehead portion of the mask, concentrating the structural modification to a specific area. This local quality approach allows the rest of the mask to maintain its simple, effective sealing design while only the forehead region incorporates the additional channel structure for harness accommodation.
Data Source
AI summary
There is disclosed a full-face mask to be worn in combination with a protective helmet having a suspension harness. The mask comprises a receiving channel interfacing with the suspension harness to secure the connection between them while preventing the safety helmet to physically interfere with or hinder wearing the mask. Thus, the combination of protective headgears may be worn with improved comfort and decreased risks of breaking the seal provided by the full-face mask.