3rd General Assembly of SmartPro in Patras – Protective clothing for law enforcement personnel
SmartPro, the project developing lightweight, flexible and smart protective clothing for law enforcement personnel, is holding its 3rd general assembly in Patras, Greece. The Institute for Chemical Engineering Sciences of the Foundation for Research and Technology is organising and hosting the event.
The goals of the meeting are a review of the progress made during the first 18 months of the project, present the deliverables of the different work packages due in month 18 & 24, and agree on timing of the next meetings.
The event is taking place on the 20th and 21st of January with all the project partners.
About SmartPro:
Modern body armours still have some drawbacks, as they are mostly heavy, bulky and rigid. Therefore they limit the wearer’s mobility and agilityand are impractical for use on joints, arms, legs, etc. Moreover, body armours have traditionally been designed toprotect the wearer against ballistic threats and, thus, they provide only a limited level of protection against knives,sharp blades or sharp-tipped weapons. However, stab and puncture have become amain cause of police officers’ injuries. Therefore, there is an obvious need to develop materials that combine staband ballistic protection, while retaining their flexibility and low weight.
In this context SMARTPRO aims to develop optimized ballistic textiles (both woven and spacer knittedfabrics) and apply innovative surface treatments (e.g. shear thickening fluids, ceramic coatings) to improve theirperformance on an areal density basis. Thus, fewer fabric layers will be required, which is expected to result inincreased flexibility and reduced weight of the armour. Main parameters to consider also include physiologicalcomfort and ergonomic design.
Additionally, smart functions, including positioning systems, will be integrated to further increase the efficiency of the body armour, eventually leading to reduced casualties. Finally, while a main limitation is that existing protective gear is usually limited to the body armour; innovativesolutions are herein proposed for the protection of vulnerable body parts other than the torso.
