As the final design of my apprenticeship, I decided to create a bike helmet.

I conducted an internet search to know the manufacturing process and the helmet constitution.

The helmet is composed of different parts:

• Internal foam (Mousses internes) : Providing comfort and head handling
• Internal shell (Calotte Interne) : Made of rigid foam that allows shock absorbtion
• Outer shell (Calotte externe) : Formerly made of plastics (thermoplastics) using polycarbonate injection. With the advent of composite materials, most helmets exploit them. Either fiberglass or carbon fiber combined with resins (epoxy) to reduce weight while increasing its resistance to shocks.

The helmet was designed with CATIA ICEM workbench for shell surfaces. Details and accessories were created with Generative Shape Design (GSD) and Imagine & Shape (IMA).

Pictures of the existing helmet found on the internet are used in CATIA to assist the design. It offers a richer work environment with a maximum data.

From the images I plotted the main curves of the model. Several colors were used to easily differentiate between separate views.

I then proceeded to create support surfaces that are themselves supported by the aforementioned curves.

The helmet had to be split into several parts. For a one-piece surface would have been far too constrained and the result would be of poor quality.

I used the physical helmet to identify the areas that had to be cut.

This blue surface is used as a support to work on the helmet top.

This sphere created and modeled with Imagine and Shape (IMA) is positioned relative to the pictures for a reference element and a support to create the upper surface.

The other surfaces are finalized by adding patches that provide the end model.

Once the main surfaces are finished, details such as side aerations need to be added to the model.

Here is the complete shell, after creation of the helmet symmetry.

The helmet shape is quite complex, simply adding thickness to the model was ou of the question. I had to rely on the GSD “Rough Offset” command to create it. The benefits can be observed on the side aeration.

I then applied composite materials on the shell with Composites Design Workbench.

A laminate alternating between glass fiber and Kevlar fiber is added to the model at different angles [0 ; 30 ; 45 ; 90]2

To conclude the helmet design, several accessories are added, such as:

• Front aeration
• Superior aeration
• Rear aeration
• Visor support and fixation
• Visor
• Protect nose
• Visor Joint
• Lower protection
• Internal foam

A 3D scan of a face was used to validate design dimensions.

The face is also used as a reference for the creation and adjustment of foam interiors created with Imagine and Shape.

I chose IMA to obtain uneven foam, an irregular surface, which is the required effect.

Materials can now be applied to the various parts to begin renderings in a realistic environment with Live Rendering Workbench.

It just also happens that this helmet is a good match for the NACA 1000 designed a few months ago.

Some additional rendering: