Motorcycle helmets can shield your head in opposition to deadly harm, however they depart you to breathe the noxious fumes of site visitors. A Spanish startup known as Zyon claims that its helmet addresses this drawback by combining medical grade filtration with essentially the most superior shock-protection expertise out there, reworking each breath into clear air whereas holding your coconut in a single piece.
Premium helmet fashions just like the $900 Shoei Neotec 3 look cool and provide ECE 22.06 P/J certification—the most recent European customary for motorbike helmet security, which incorporates extra stringent testing procedures and impression factors than some other certification on this planet—however depart riders fully uncovered to pollution.
One funds possibility—the $56 Indian Shellios Puros—offers fundamental HEPA (excessive effectivity particulate air) filtration for however fails each European and U.S. security requirements. Solely the $850 Zyon—out there now for preorder and supply later within the yr—provides each medical grade air purification and top-tier impression safety in a single system.
[Image: Zyon Helmets]
“There’s at present no authorised helmet in the marketplace that features an built-in filtration system,” Tanguy Uzel, founding father of the Madrid-based Zyon Helmets, tells me by way of e mail. “The one exception is a mannequin developed by an Indian model, which doesn’t have homologation or European and American security requirements.”
The core of the Zyon is its Breath Secure System, which the corporate claims processes each molecule of air earlier than it enters your physique. How a lot do you want this? Motorcyclists undergo PM2.5 exposures of 75 micrograms per cubic meter, 5 instances greater than pedestrians and 15 instances greater than automobile occupants. This air pollution penetrates lung alveoli and enters the bloodstream, inflicting continual irritation that has been linked to heart problems and cognitive decline.
HEPA filters have demonstrated 48% to 60% reductions in allergic signs, outperforming many pharmaceutical therapies. Activated carbon neutralizes gases like carbon monoxide, whose publicity above 9 elements per million considerably reduces lung operate in industrial drivers. Whereas no transportable system fully eliminates fuel publicity, partial discount offers important well being advantages throughout continual city publicity.
[Image: Zyon Helmets]
Multilayer filtering
The Zyon has three layers positioned contained in the chin guard, the place you may see its honeycomb openings and a mechanism to alter the air-intake in line with your velocity.
The primary hydrophobic barrier blocks water and bugs. The second layer employs H13 HEPA filters that seize 99.95% of particles all the way down to 0.3 microns, together with the harmful PM2.5 particles that penetrate deep into the respiratory system and enter the bloodstream, inflicting continual irritation.
A 3rd layer makes use of activated carbon to soak up toxic gases like carbon monoxide and nitrogen oxides that escape from exhaust pipes, the corporate says. A remaining layer protects the meeting and maintains filter integrity for one to a few months of use, relying on the standard of the air throughout simple rides. This multi-layer filter design eliminates 99% of the air pollution that motorcyclists would usually inhale in a metropolis, the place concentrations of poisonous particles attain ranges that might set off well being warnings in the event that they occurred indoors.
That’s in your lungs. In your skull, the helmet makes use of the Swedish multidirectional impression safety system (MIPS), which reduces rotational forces throughout a crash. A low-friction layer permits the helmet to maneuver 10 to fifteen millimeters relative to the pinnacle throughout impression, deflecting vitality that might injury the mind. This expertise capabilities with out interfering with the filtration system or the neck sealing essential to take care of clear air, the corporate factors out.
The ECE 22.06 P/J certification (launched within the EU in 2022) triples the variety of impression factors examined in comparison with earlier laws and contains indirect impacts that simulate actual accidents. The U.S. makes use of the Division of Transportation’s FMVSS 218 customary, which is legally required however is taken into account a Mickey Mouse-level safety that gives “minimal helmet efficiency” reasonably than optimum safety.
[Image: Zyon Helmets]
Three-mode air flow
The corporate claims its helmet maintains efficient air flow, even when stopped at site visitors lights, by means of three modes with out the necessity for electrical followers. It provides City for gradual site visitors, Street for medium speeds, and Touring for freeway use. A single mechanism switches between modes in line with driving circumstances.
The corporate says that air enters by means of the entrance consumption, filters by means of the 4 layers, circulates by means of inner channels, and exits by means of rear vents. This steady present maintains optimistic strain contained in the helmet, stopping soiled air from coming into by means of small leaks within the sealing—a essential element that makes the filtration efficient.
“Our filter acts by electrostatic attraction to seize advantageous particles and by chemical response with a layer of lively carbon to neutralize poisonous gases. In contrast to mechanical filters (comparable to these of masks), this technique permits higher breathability, but in addition requires common substitute,” Uzel tells me.
The Zyon’s shell combines fiberglass with natural supplies in an built-in matrix. The supplies are chemically bonded collectively throughout manufacturing to create a single, unified composite materials reasonably than separate layers glued collectively. The glass fibers present energy and stop cracking, whereas the natural resin permits managed flexibility that absorbs crash vitality by deforming barely as a substitute of transmitting all of the impression drive on to your head, which your mind might be pleased about.
The helmet is loaded with some intelligent electronics too, together with built-in air high quality sensors that may speak to a cellular app that screens what goes by means of the filtering system and warns when the filter wants altering.
“The length of the filter will depend on the setting, however it is strongly recommended to alter it each one to a few months. As soon as opened, even with out use, it begins to lose properties because of publicity to air,” Uzel says. “The helmet detects flights and air circumstances in actual time. From that knowledge, the app generates customized statistics on the filtered contamination stage and filter efficiency, and notifies the person when to exchange it.”
The helmet additionally has aviation-class accelerometers, which is able to establish accident patterns and mechanically alert emergency companies in your cellphone—a probably lifesaving expertise for riders who crash in distant areas.
The rear gentle prompts when braking by means of the identical movement sensors at any time when they detect deceleration, enhancing visibility particularly in low-light circumstances or excessive air pollution. The battery offers 18 hours of autonomy and prices by way of USB-C.
It appears like an awesome design, if it really works like they are saying. The mixture of medical filtration, MIPS safety, and good electronics ought to shield you in opposition to the 2 primary threats that motorcyclists face: accidents and air pollution. For riders who spend hours every day respiration poisonous city air, this could possibly be the answer.
