SBIR-STTR Award

The proposed personal flotation raft is comprised of panels joined to form an enclosure with a canopy. In operation, the design allows a foot-first entry procedure. The user then triggers inflation of the body shell and canopy. The body shell maintains an air gap around the lower body. The design features an above shoulders canopy with a self-sealing aperture that shuts whenever submerged. The raft is constructed from layers that are sealed into an envelope. The body shell establishes an air gap insulation barrier around the user. The canopy remains upright above water even if the raft overturns. The objective of the work is to determine the technical feasibility of a pocket-sized raft design to provide durable flotation and hypothermia protection to aviation mishap survivors in cold water. Three challenges addressed in the development of a pocket-sized raft include, a) raft design and fabrication, including shell and canopy construction, materials, inflation, stability, and packaging, b) raft thermal performance modeling, and c) raft integration with aircrew operations. GAC is proposing to achieve the objective by refining flotation raft requirements; developing an aircrew ConOps; developing a conceptual raft design; modeling thermal performance; and developing raft prototypes for limited testing.

Benefit:
The significance of this project is that the Navy needs a compact, easy-to use flotation device with thermal protection to improve the survival probability for its aircrews who encounter mishaps while flying over cold water. Compact, Durable Flotation and Hypothermia Protection - Current life rafts under-perform in practice. Due to their bulky nature, raft retrieval and deployment during emergencies is a hazardous proposition, sometimes requiring diving after a sinking aircraft. For helicopter crews acting to escape seconds after ditching, a compact, vest-mounted single-place raft solution that accompanies the crewman out of the craft is strongly desirable over current cabin-stored alternatives. Existing rafts present risks even when successfully deployed, given that many are soon damaged by sharp protrusions on the aircraft (if the fuselage drifts into the raft on the lee side, or if the raft blows up against the fuselage on the windward side). A single-person raft allows the crewman to attain a safe distance from the fuselage before deployment. Truly Easy Boarding - Manufacturers invariably claim ease-of-boarding in their raft designs and boarding aids without ever tackling the intrinsic difficulty posed by high freeboard, round walls, and buoyancy. Many raft demonstrations and training sessions take place unrealistically in warm pools and calm waters. As noted in the NATO Survival at Sea lecture series, Dont believe the manufacturers [] an improved system is needed 0x9D for the open ocean. The proposed design provides such an improved system by providing an energetically efficient means of foot-first boarding. This contrasts with conventional rafts where survivors must fight gravity and buoyancy and quickly fall out of position if they lose their strength or balance. Throughout the boarding process for the proposed raft system, the survivors remain floating horizontal and face-up, never needing to lift their soaked body out of the water or to repeatedly exert themselves. Reduced Logistical Burden, Support and Sustainment Costs - Life rafts are included in flights as safety-critical equipment however, as a result, mission cargo must be reduced in order to make room for these rafts, which, as previously described, perform below expectations in the field. A compact, person-mounted raft which is reliable will provide a cost-effective alternative that improves mission cargo capacity and reduces the lifecycle costs of procuring and sustaining a variety of rafts across the Navys diverse air fleet. Besides the US Navy, potential other commercial other users include other US and international military components.

Keywords:
raft, raft, Pocket-sized, easy of entry, Personal flotation, cold-water survival, aircrew