Drop Tower (Impact Testing machine)
The Head Injury Biomechanical Measurement System is the centerpiece of blunt head injury research in the CIBM3 and is essential for the completion of the scope of work proposed. The system has the overall objective of bridging experimental and computational research efforts in the areas of mild TBI and sports concussion. Our overall approach is to accurately measure all kinetic and kinematic variables through a combination of electro-mechano-optic sensors (possible in 3D) under controlled loading conditions to drive both experimental and computational research to achieve actionable solutions.
Purpose : To generate and study the effects of blunt injuries on full scale head-neck-brain models.
Capability : The Impact testing machine is a fully programmable free fall guided impact machine. This system is capable of recreating precise impacts and along with a high speed imaging system is used to simultaneously acquire kinematic motions of the impacted head-neck-brain models. These scaled models of human skull can be customized with sensor placement to gather data due to the blunt impact.
Features : The impact tower is a Uniaxial Monorail Impact Machine (Cadex Inc.). It is a fully programmable free fall guided impact machine that complies with Snell, DOT, ANSI, and other standards. Some of the essential features (image2) include a (1) drop follower, (2) soft release system, (3) electronic encoder for measuring the drop height, (4) a velocimeter (time gate) for speed measurement, (5) quick and easy interchangeable anvils to simulate different impact directions, and (6) remote control
