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Innovative offshore safety system to protect the body from cold shock in extreme conditions

Project description

Thermal gel system protects from cold shock

Drowning is the third leading cause of unintentional injury death worldwide. Immersion in cold water is the second most common cause of accidental death, with the majority of incidents leading to drowning. Most such incidents involve people working in air and helicopter transportation or offshore drill platforms. Current solutions allow buoyancy in the water and are fire-resistant. However, they have no thermal properties. In addition, the required garments prescribed by the law are not effective in case of falls in the water. The EU-funded Centurion 3 project offers a three-layer upper body garment specifically designed to offer body protection from cold shock. The solution is provided with a self-heating thermal gel system that generates heat when in contact with water.

Objective

Every year 360,000 people die worldwide as a result of drowning, making it the third leading cause of unintentional injury death worldwide, accounting for 7% of all injury-related deaths. Globally, Immersion in cold water is the second most common cause of accidental death, at present 98 % of drowning deaths are caused by cold-water immersion., 3000 deaths. People working offshore who uses helicopters as their daily transportation faces the 80% risk of drowning when helicopter crashes or accidents occurs. As a matter of fact, air transportation is reported to be the leading cause of fatalities and accidents wherein 73 incidents were alone reported in UK wherein cold-water drowning being the primary cause of death. This garment should allow buoyancy in water and protect from fire. Nevertheless, it currently has very little or no thermal property. For workers in cold waters, the law requires to wear 3 layers of clothing beneath the suit during winter and 2 layers during summer. Such under-suit clothing is inadequate for safety in case of contact with water (e.g. flight crash or simply a fall in the water).

Iron Ocean proposes Centurion 3, the next-generation 3-layer upper body garment with integrated self-heating thermal gel system, specifically engineered to protect the upper body from cold shock. It can be comfortably worn under a safety suit to guarantee comfort and thermal protection in case of extreme environmental conditions. The clothing thermal properties are given by Iron Ocean’s engineered advanced thermo-chemical gel which actively produces heat upon contact with water. During the phase 1 feasibility study, Iron Ocean will establish a sound go-to-market strategy and supply chain, and will outline further development plans. In the second phase of the innovation project, Iron Ocean will improve the ergonomic and flexibility properties of the material, establish an in-house production line for gel and validate the solution with offshore workers.

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Topic(s)

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Funding Scheme

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SME-1 - SME instrument phase 1

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Call for proposal

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(opens in new window) H2020-EIC-SMEInst-2018-2020

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Coordinator

IRON OCEAN LIMITED
Net EU contribution

Net EU financial contribution. The sum of money that the participant receives, deducted by the EU contribution to its linked third party. It considers the distribution of the EU financial contribution between direct beneficiaries of the project and other types of participants, like third-party participants.

€ 50 000,00
Address
UNIT 1 DISTRICT 10 25 GREENMARKET
DD1 4QB DUNDEE
United Kingdom

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SME

The organization defined itself as SME (small and medium-sized enterprise) at the time the Grant Agreement was signed.

Yes
Region
Scotland Eastern Scotland Angus and Dundee City
Activity type
Private for-profit entities (excluding Higher or Secondary Education Establishments)
Links
Total cost

The total costs incurred by this organisation to participate in the project, including direct and indirect costs. This amount is a subset of the overall project budget.

€ 71 429,00
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