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SSN College Students Patent Roof Exit Safety System for Drowning Vehicles 2026

Innovators-in-Residence Dr S. Suresh Kumar, B. Vishal, and Neil Ashwin Raj, with the Civil Engineering department at SSN College of Engineering, Chennai, have developed and patented a pneumatically controlled roof-opening system for escape from submersible vehicles. This idea focuses on the design and development of a system to improve the survival prospects of submersible vehicles in flood- or water-related road accidents.

By : Abhishek 2026-05-22 23:47:51

SSN College Engineers Innovate Roof-Exit System that Saves Flooded In-Vehicle Passengers

Engineering researchers at SSN College of Engineering, Chennai, have patented a system that allows vehicle passengers to escape from vehicles that may be sinking below the water surface. The ‘Improved Escape Worthiness of Car Occupants Under Drowning Environment’ roof exit system triggers and opens the roof of the vehicle when the vehicle is in the process of being submerged. This system is a response to the need to address a serious concern in urban emergencies and flooded conditions.

The project, sponsored by the SSN College of Engineering, was led by the Associate Professor of the Mechanical Engineering department, Dr Suresh Kumar, and student researchers B. Vishal and N. Ashwin Raj. The project promoted the College’s program to engage students in application-oriented research on the protection and safety of the general populace.

There is a disturbing increase in incidents of vehicles becoming trapped in flooded underpasses and waterlogged roads across urban India. If a vehicle becomes fully submerged, the pressure differential between the rising water and the vehicle's interior makes it physically impossible to open a door. For vehicle occupants, a potentially fatal situation has been created. This state is extremely dangerous, as the occupants have to rely on a respiratory escape; they have to choose from an unpredictable and unplanned escape.

The SSN Engineering Research design team has undertaken the engineering challenge of designing a vehicle subsystem that is faster, wider, and more accessible than is typically provided in most vehicle designs, and adjustable to a wide range of user situations.

 

The Patented Roof-Exit System

The team at the SSN College developed a system that utilises sensors and a compressed-air-controlled mechanism to detect water submersion and open the vehicle roof before water reaches a critical pressure level. The system constructs a wider opening in the vehicle's roof to provide all occupants with a means of exiting the vehicle, especially those in the rear seats, who tend to be the most difficult to evacuate.

One non-explosive hybrid control system differentiates this system from the other systems. Other electric vehicle systems become inoperative once water reaches the system. This design avoids that particular vulnerability by combining pneumatic actuation with early activation logic, allowing for functionality even in situations that would be a system failure for standard electronics.

The technology was not only designed on the computer. The research team performed Fluid Dynamics simulations to study the behaviour of water around a vehicle under different submersion conditions. A prototype was created, and full-scale, real-time, multi-scenario testing was performed on a modified vehicle. These scenarios included flat sinking, side sinking, and sinking with the vehicle in a nosedive position. The system was consistent and reliable throughout all testing, which also laid a strong foundation for future testing.

 

Researcher Insights and the Broader Safety Case

What motivated the research was explained by project faculty lead Dr. Suresh Kumar. “In a drowning case, time is really short and normal escape routes do not work. This is to make escape easier and to enhance the safety of passengers in those critical scenarios.”

The system offers multiple escape avenues. It can assist passengers escaping from a vehicle after floodwaters rise or a fire causes the vehicle to become jammed by a collision, and serve as an alternative rescue point when a vehicle is so badly damaged that emergency personnel cannot access it. Given the range of scenarios, this system can make a significant contribution to the field of vehicle safety.

The timing for the developed system is also very relevant. It is increasingly becoming a problem for urban design in India, particularly in cities such as Chennai, Mumbai, and Bengaluru, during the monsoon season. Many of these cities experience extreme flooding in underpasses, and on numerous occasions, vehicles left there have resulted in the loss of life for their occupants. In these avoidable incidents, the occupants were unable to escape because there was no viable escape route. An affordable, automated escape roof system to be integrated in vehicles could prevent loss of life during floods when urban design is insufficient.

 

Implications for Students and Future Directions
For engineering students in India, the work done by B. Vishal, Neil Ashwin Raj, and their mentor, Dr. S.Suresh Kumar, at SSN College of Engineering, shows precisely how the undergraduate and postgraduate research employees can yield results that have a real impact on society. This patent shows that a student research project can meet the intellectual property criteria if sufficient infrastructure, such as CFD, prototyping, and testing, is available.
SSN College of Engineering in Chennai is known to promote research. This patent adds to this reputation and assures future students that research of this nature is not limited to the four walls of SSN.

Based on current research trends, the team is exploring potential partnerships to assess the integration of this technology into a new automotive safety product designed for regions with recurrent flooding and road-related water issues. For students interested in mechanical engineering, automotive safety, fluid behaviour, and product development, this area of research offers a simple and useful introduction.

As an initial area of focus, students interested in this work can explore CFD simulation, pneumatic actuation, and automotive safety standards. For more specific ideas, students can follow the research published by SSN College of Engineering and reach out to the Mechanical Engineering department.

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