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Comparison Of Anti-Vibration Interventions For Use With Fastening Tools In Metal - Introduction; Proceedings Of The First American Conference On Human Vibration
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6/1/2006
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[PDF-125.20 KB]
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Description:Tool manufacturers continue to incorporate new designs to the internal mechanism of tools in order to decrease the vibration that is delivered to the hand during operation. Modification of some tools to minimize tool vibration is not easily resolved through internal tool design. For this reason, vibration damping materials applied between the tool and the hand are a simple alternative. The damping materials may be applied to the area of the tool directly contacted by the operator or in a glove containing a vibration absorbing pad. These interventions are developed specifically to damp vibration but are not necessarily produced and tested under the same work conditions that a company may expose their workers. Therefore, it is important to test the value of the proposed interventions for the specific applications. This study evaluates the effectiveness of anti-vibration interventions currently in use at a local manufacturing company. Methods The design of this study evaluates the vibration energy produced at the tool handle and from the back of the operator’s hand. Each operator performed a series of fastener installations in metal using several interventions and one series with no intervention as a control. Four of the interventions were gloves containing anti-vibration material and the fifth intervention was an anti-vibration material wrapped around the tool handle. The protocol for wrapping the tool handle was developed and is part of the equipment procedure at this manufacturing company. Test conditions mimicked production work conditions including similar materials, fasteners and technique for installation. Vibration values were collected using 3 tri-axial accelerometers with one firmly glued to the tool handle close the hand grip as recommended by ISO 5349. A second accelerometer was placed on the top of the pistol shaped tool. The third accelerometer was attached to the back of the hand close to the third knuckle using double sided tape. Results Preliminary results for 3 volunteers show a difference between the vibration values of the control condition (mean hand vibration on bare hand = 1.77 Gs) compared to all of the interventions (p=.0001 using Mixed Procedure, Tests of Fixed Effects). The graph below shows individual trials for each subject for each condition. Glove 3 with the air bladder insert shows large variability between subjects (Range = 0.84-3.33 Gs). The other interventions show much less variability both within subjects and between subjects indicating consistent response with use of the intervention.
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