Personal Rescue Device (PRD) enabling safe jump from 300-meter height skyscraper.

This paper describes a personal protective equipment against fall safely from height of up to 300 meter (~1150 feet). After the September 11th catastrophic terror event there was a need to develop ways to rescue people in case of fire or similarly events. This entry describes a small hydraulic device consisting of a gear pump and a pressure compensated flow control valve that controls the descending speed to not higher than 2 meter/second (~6,5 feet/second) suitable to rescue people weighing up to 150 Kg.(~330 pound) jumping from heights of up to 350 meters (~1150 feet).

Basically it consists of tying belts similar to what a parachutist is using, a small drum on which a 3 mm (~0,12") Kevlar rope is wound. Inside the drum is installed a small 26 cm3 (~ 1,6 inch3) hydraulic pump that sucks oil from a 0,8 Liter (~0,21 gallon) pressurized oil reservoir transmitting oil through a pressure compensated flow control. There are a few rescue devices, personal and for public up to 200 persons. Personal rescue devices are available in different forms but the presented one is the only real personal rescue device that enables, without training, to bring the user safely to the ground from nearly every height. It is low weight, compact and ready to use any time and it is maintenance free. Once it is used, it is necessary to make a check up and replace the fluid and seals which is a small sacrifice compared to life survival.

Nahum Goldenberg.
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