The potential of micro-electro-mechanical accelerometers in human vibration measurements

This paper evaluates the advantages and the drawbacks deriving from the use of MEMS (micro-electro-mechanical systems) accelerometers for hand-arm and whole-body vibration measurements. Metrological performances of different transducers were assessed through the identification of their frequency response function, linearity, floor noise and sensitivity to thermal and electromagnetic disturbances. Experimental results highlighted a standard instrumental uncertainty (including the nonlinearity) lower than 5% with the single frequency calibration procedure, such a value was reduced to 2%. The temperature effect was negligible and the electromagnetic disturbances sensitivity was comparable to that of the piezoelectric accelerometers. The compatibility of measurements obtained with MEMS accelerometers with those of piezoelectric-based measurement chains was verified for two specific applications. An example of direct transducer fixation on the skin for vibration transmissibility measurements is also presented. Thanks to the MEMS peculiarities – mainly small sizes and low cost – since novel approaches in the vibration monitoring could be pursued. For instance, it is possible to include by design MEMS accelerometers in any hand-held tool at the operator interface, or inside the seats structures of cars, tractors and trucks. This could be a viable solution to easily obtain repeatable exposure measurements and could also provide diagnostic signals for the tools or seats of functional monitoring.     

Optimized design of suspension systems for hand–arm transmitted vibration reduction

This paper describes a systematic approach for optimizing suspension systems to reduce the vibrations transmitted to workers by hand-held power tools. The optimization is based on modeling tool-operator interactions using a mobility scheme. The tool is modeled as a vibration generator, and its internal impedance is included. A hand–arm impedance matrix is used to model the operator upper limbs. The mobility model is used to identify the optimal suspension characteristics, which in our study were the set of parameters that minimizes the frequency-weighted acceleration at the hand–tool interface. Different handling conditions (one and two hands) and different working cycles with the same tools can be included in the optimization process. The constraints derived from the limitation on the increase in the tool mass and the static deflection of the mounting system under the working loads are also considered. The proposed method has been applied to the reduction of the vibrations transmitted to the operator by a small pneumatic hammer. The designed system reduced the worker’s exposure so that it is within the limits of the EU directive. The agreement between the model predictions and the measured suspension performances validates the effectiveness of this approach.