BENGALURU: Fire incidents growing in number in cosmopolitan cities has pressed the defence laboratory in New Delhi to develop a 50-metre emergency escape chute. The prototype of the produce which is awaiting its patent was displayed at the Pride of India Exhibition at the five-day Indian Science Congress in Bengaluru on Friday.
The chute, which is designed using fire resistant Kevlar polymer and aluminium alloy rings, can hold up to five tonne weight, and can extend to 50 metres in height, said Mahipal Meena, a scientist and deputy director of Centre for Fire Explosive and Environment Safety of a Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) laboratory based out of New Delhi.
The research and development of the chute began in 2008, he added. The 50-metre tube has smaller cylindrical units. Diagonally places nets in these cylinders make the landing soft as the person gets bounced from one diagonal net to another. The use of chute requires no training and practice, and can be customised for helicopter-based rescue operations during landslides, floods, etc, according to DRDO.