Date of Award

2013

Degree Type

Thesis

Department

Chemical and Biomedical Engineering

First Advisor

Bartsch, Adam

Subject Headings

Head -- Wounds and injuries -- Mathematical models, Head -- Wounds and injuries -- Statistical methods, Uncertainty (Information theory), Head Impact, Concussion, Statistical Uncertainty Analysis, Validation, Mouth Guard, Bench-Top Testing, Sensor Uncertainty Analysis

Abstract

Concussion is the signature athletics injury of the 21st Century. Scientists are hard at work monitoring effects of hard impacts on the human brain. However, existing tools and devices are inadequate to screen the effects. Hence, a new approach is required to accurately quantify peak values of head impacts or concussions and relate these values to clinical brain health outcomes. A new head impact dosimeter, the "Intelligent Mouth Guard" (IMG) has been developed and can be conveniently located inside the mouth. In this study, the IMG printed circuit board (PCB) including four (4) high-quality shock resistant sensors has been developed and implemented as a tri-axial impact analyzer in a mouthpiece. The bench-top validation process of the IMG was divided into theoretical uncertainty analysis of linear accelerometers, theoretical uncertainty analysis of angular rate sensors, bench-top uniaxial impact testing of linear accelerometers and bench-top uniaxial static testing of angular rate sensors. More specifically, this study also presents a method based on National Bureau of Standards (NBS) of analyzing measurement error for any components of a specialized electrical circuit and any types of data acquisition system. In the current application of an IMG printed circuit board (PCB), utilized for linear acceleration, angular acceleration and angular velocity measurements, has sensor uncertainties quantified. The uncertainty model is branched into two parts: The bias error (B) and the random error (R). In this paper, expected measurement error types for PCB components (ADXL001 linear accelerometer, L3G4200D gyroscope) are quantified and their effects on the IMG system are computed. The uncertainty analysis presented here can be a guide in future in vitro and in vivo IMG validation tests. During bench-top testing, IMG linear accelerometers quantified peak linear acceleration with 98.2 accuracy and 98.0 precision. The IMG gyroscope quantified peak angular velocity with 97.0 accuracy and 99.7 precision. In sum

Download
COinS