The team of British team of inventors responsible for the ThermaHelm Brain Cooling Crash Helmet Technology have now produced a new cooling technology designed to offer riders instant head cooling at the push of a button and boost road safety.

Called the ICE System (Internal Cooling/Extraction) the patented helmet technology contains a network of tiny tubes which when activated by the rider releases compressed gas to cool the head by several degrees in seconds.

The cooling process also boosts road safety by helping riders maintain concentration in hot conditions and by demisting visors with the push of a button.

ThermaHelm is the organisation behind a pioneering brain cooling device designed to prevent serious injury and death due to brain swelling post head impact in motorcycle accidents. Inventor Jullian Preston-Powers, who leads the ThermaHelm design team, said: “The cooling helmet addresses one of the oldest challenges faced by all riders – how to cool down in hot conditions or during heavy exertion such as in motocross.

“From our work in creating the brain cooling helmet, which only activates in an impact, we discovered that riders were also crying out for a solution to overheating while on the road.

“We therefore designed a new helmet to offer a simple yet highly effective solution – a helmet which at the touch of a button releases a cooling gas around the rider’s head.

“Not only does this helmet boost rider comfort, it also boosts rider safety as research shows concentration levels dip when riders overheat.”

The new helmet will soon be in production and aims to reach the market towards the end of 2010.

Traditional helmet design has focussed on safety only and although some work has been done to address overheating, no complete solution has been available.

The ThermaHelm cooling helmet makes no compromise on safety, offering the same thickness of impact absorbent material between the rider’s head and the outer surface of the helmet.

But it also incorporates a circumcranial network of porous tubing or membrane attached to a small compressed gas canister with a trigger to initiate a release of compressed gas within the safety helmet whilst being worn on a wearer’s head. The trigger can be positioned where ever is convenient to the rider.

The cooling helmet is also cost effective, with refill gas canisters costing in the region of £10 and able to deliver multiple cooling bursts.

The ICE cooling system will retail at around £199 and can be ordered to include the ThermaHelm brain cooling design for impact collisions.

The ThermaHelm team has had strong support from distinctive inclusion into UK Trade & Investment’s Global Entrepreneur Programme, which attracts some of the world’s best entrepreneurs and early stage technology companies to use the UK as their springboard to global success.

ThermaHelm has been working from its research base at the Sussex Innovation Centre in Brighton, East Sussex.