Inflatable Emergency Shelter for Disaster Relief

In disaster-struck or emergency-hit areas, quick and reliable shelter can be the difference between survival and suffering. This project presents a compact, inflatable emergency shelter designed in the shape of a semicircular prism. When deflated, it folds into a flat, rectangular pack for easy transport. Once inflated, it rises into a spacious, stable structure. Lightweight, quick to deploy, and practical for real-world relief scenarios, this shelter is a low-cost, reusable solution tailored for refugees and emergency responders.

For making a working model supplies i needed are -

1. Bicycle tire tube - QTY 4 (Reused from Cycle repairing shop)
2. Wire Conceller strip - approx. 7.3m (24')
3. Tarp Paper
4. Mseal and Instant Glue
5. Rope
6. Pneumatic Pipe (size 10) and T joints.
7. Tester, Soldering Gun
8. Measuring tap, Hack Saw, Marker , Pencil

I designed this shelter to accommodate 10 people at a time. This Shelter consists of Semicircular Tubes which are rested on Rectangular tubes as a structure of the shelter. There are total of 3 Semicircular Tubes. There are horizontal tubes which connects all of the 3 tubes together. For this I have used total of 5 straight tubes. For Fillin air to all of this tubes I have taken provision of pneumatic pipes and joints. To fill air in real case sceneries we will require a small capacity compressor. On front and last end, we have given points near tubes to anchor to the ground for extra stability. That's the basic structure of the Shelter. Now there will be thermal insulated as well as whether proof cloth used for the covering of the Shelter. This will be achieved by making the shelter in 3 layers. Outer layer will be weather proof (eg .......), Inner layer will be Thermally insulation cloth (eg ........ ) and the gap between them will be filled with insulated material (eg .....). This will make sure that whatever the outer harsh environment will be, it wont affect the residents/ Patients inside it. There I have patches in cloth with transparent material (eg ......) with will ensure the sunlight will come through during daytime. There are also 2 doors (Zip type) at Front of the Shelter.

Now i am making a working Prototype model of this Inflatable Shelter. The Scale will be 1:10 (It will be 10 times smaller). I tried to use as much as Recycled material for sustainable Prototype making. This Prototype will serve as proof of concept for larger version of this shelter.

As the tubes i took was from scrap, many were punchered and had small holes in it. For proper functioning I had to seal this holes with Punchure Patch and its Solution.

1. I filled the tube with air using hand pump.
2. i soaked the tube in water bucket to locate the puncture .
3. The bubbles came out from place of punchure.
4. Cleaned,dried and sanded the area near the puncture.
5. Applied the puncture solution and then applied the patch to seal the puncture.
6. Put some soapy solution on tube to check if it was sealed properly.

1. I cut 600mm long Conceller strip as a base for this tubes
2. Repeated the same to cut total of 3 pieces
3. Pressed the tubes towards the concealer strip until it reached the both end of strip. Pressure in Tube at this time is low (10PSI)
4. Secured it with 4 Cable tie (Two at opposite ends and 2 in middle)
5. Put some instant glue to make it fixed.
6. Repeat the steps for other 2 tubes.
7. Attached T joint and Pnuematic Connection to it. (REFER starting Concept Diagram for Pneumatic connections)

1. I removed the valve from one tube.
2. Cut the head like structure using hacksaw.
3. Attached the assembly to the pneumatic pipe.
4. Later sealed with M seal for leak proofing.
5. With this the air won't escape from the shelter from the inlet.

For making Horizontal tubes. I cut the tube and thus it became linear. I sealed both the ends of the tube with m-seal. Here I also tried many other alternatives like Rubber based adhesive, Punchure solution and Hardner expoxy. But M-seal worked the best for me. If anyone in community finds a better option, please suggest it in comments.

Checked if there are any leakages at the sealed ends of the tubes.

Firstly I planned to install 5 horizontal tubes for support of tent, But later on decided to use 3 tubes for the prototype.

I used instant glue to fix it on concealer patti.

I used 6 T joints and 2 straight joints. If you cut the pipe properly you wont need the straight joints. The Basic structure of the the shelter is now ready.

Firstly i took dimensions of the infaltted shelter of front face , Back face and the length of the shelter. Added 10% to every dimension of shelter when cutting on tarp paper.

Now made an Semcircular outline on the Tarp paper using masking tape. I also made outline for the transparent area and doors.

1. For front I had two doors, one for entry and other for exit. I also had to add some transparent medium which would allow light to come in shelter in daytime
2. For back I made it fully closed.
3. For Center portion I calculated perimeter of the semicircle and cut out an rectangle with width of perimeter and length of the shelter.

The Shelter is semetric so the cutting was also semmtric .

Joined all the tarp pieces to the Shelter tubes using Instant glue.

1. Open up the Deflatted Shelter.
2. Join the pneumatic Connection to all T Joints.
3. Start Filling the air from the inlet valve.
4. Place the anchor (Dead weight in my scenorie) to stabilize the shelter.

As simple as that. The above video shows the working of the prototype.

Thus the final dimensions of this small scale prototype is Lx Bx H = 1300 x 600 x 300 mm. This was not exactly 1:10 scale due to size of Tube were different.

Change in Volume can show us the real use of this inflatable shelter, as it becomes easy to carry when deflated.

V1 =Deflated Volume = L*B*H = 300*200*300 = 1,80,00,000mm2

V2 =Inflatted volume = L*B*H = 1300*600*300 = 23,40,00,000 mm2

Percentage in reduction of volume = (V1-V2)100 / V1 = 92.30 % in reduction of Volume.

Interpretation: The deflated shelter is 92.31% smaller in volume than its inflated size. Which is excellent for portability!