Breathing support for buried avalanche victims

Master thesis (2016)

Authors

Contributors

A.J. Jansen (mentor)
J.E. Obersdorf (mentor)
Department
Integrated Product Design (IDE) (TU Delft)
Copyright: Campus only
Breathing support Buried avalanche victims
More Info
expand_more

Published Date

08-07-2016

Reuse Rights

Other than for strictly personal use, it is not permitted to download, forward or distribute the text or part of it, without the consent of the author(s) and/or copyright holder(s), unless the work is under an open content license such as Creative Commons.

Faculty

Industrial Design Engineering

Department

Integrated Product Design

Abstract

Avalanches cause injuries to more than 1500 people on an annual basis. 150 of those victims do not live to tell the tale. As such, avalanches are the most prominent safety concern for freeriders. Most lives can be saved by prolonging the breathing period that buried avalanche victims have from 15 minutes (after which acute asphyxiation occurs) to approximately 60 minutes (the extraction average for organized rescue). Any technology that is used to achieve this should focus on eliminating the chances of carbon dioxide build up around the victim’s respiratory conducting zone. Supplying fresh oxygen is not required as it can be extracted directly from the snowpack.