Pilots' anti-gravity suits were learned from giraffes?

Many people have had the experience of riding a roller coaster. You should know that under normal circumstances, the load of a roller coaster is only about 4G (the gravity that ordinary people bear under normal conditions is 1G), and many people have already vomited and their brains are blank. When fighter pilots perform some special maneuvers, the load can even reach 10G. In this case, if the acceleration is sudden, the blood in the body will flow to the lower limbs under the action of centrifugal force and overload, causing ischemia in the brain and heart, leading to black vision, fainting, hearing loss and loss of consciousness of the pilot. The anti-gravity suit is a piece of clothing that "helps" reduce overload and maintain a good physical condition.

What is a G-Suit?

As the name suggests, anti-gravity suits are clothes that resist loads. As we all know, when pilots fly modern jet fighters for tactical maneuvers, their bodies will bear loads several times their body weight. In this case, relying solely on the fighter pilots' strong physical condition is not enough to resist this load. In severe cases, they will experience black vision, loss of consciousness, and even displacement of organs.

The main working parts of the anti-gravity suit are the abdomen and lower limbs of the human body. There are inflatable airbags inside it. When the pilot is overloaded beyond the standard, the airbags can be inflated to squeeze the pilot's abdomen and lower limbs, preventing blood from flowing to the lower limbs, thereby avoiding or alleviating black vision, fainting and other situations. Such pressurization can not only create good conditions for the work of the human central nervous system and cerebral cortex, but also keep the internal organs in a certain position to prevent displacement.

Where did the inspiration for the anti-gravity suit come from? We have to mention giraffes.

Giraffes are currently the tallest animals in the world, standing up to five or six meters tall, but their necks account for one-third of their height, which means that the giraffe's head is two or three meters away from the heart. In order to provide sufficient blood to the brain, a heart weighing 11kg gives the blood a high pressure, with arterial systolic pressure of about 300mmHg, which means it is nearly three times higher than normal human blood pressure. The most feared thing about high blood pressure is to lower the head suddenly. According to general analysis, when a giraffe lowers its head to drink water, the position of its brain is lower than the heart, and a large amount of blood will flow into the brain, increasing blood pressure and causing blood vessels to burst like balloons. Then the giraffe will die from diseases such as cerebral congestion or ruptured blood vessels when it lowers its head to drink water.

But this is not the case. There is a magical switch called a valve in the neck vein of a giraffe. When the giraffe lowers its head, the valve will automatically close to prevent a large amount of blood from rushing down. When the giraffe raises its head, the switch will automatically open. In addition to the valve, the skin on the giraffe's body also plays a vital role. When the giraffe lowers its head, the skin tightens and tightly clamps the blood vessels, limiting the blood flow to the head, so that the blood vessels will not burst due to the sudden increase in blood pressure.

Through in-depth research on the biological structure and gait of giraffes, designers successfully integrated the concept of bionics into clothing design and created anti-gravity suits to protect pilots, thus solving the discomfort and pain caused by cerebral ischemia when super-fast fighter pilots suddenly accelerate to climb. This successful case provides an eye-catching example for the harmonious coexistence of technology and nature. It is believed that in the near future, bionic design will demonstrate its unique value in more fields and create more intelligent, comfortable and practical products for mankind.

Author: Zhou Chenxia

Audit expert: Professor Li Xianghong

Scientific Communication Expert of China Textile Engineering Society (Hebei University of Science and Technology)