Whole-body vibration is one of the factors causing military aircrew discomfort and pain during and after flight operations. Health risks are a concern after only a few hours of continuous flight at the seating positions on some aircraft. Safe proposes to develop a passive vibration isolator that isolates an entire helicopter crew seat at its floor attachments. The isolator adjusts automatically to inputs near the resonance frequency, but uses simple passive devices that do not require aircraft power. This approach minimizes the complexity of seat and aircraft integration to keep qualification testing and production costs low enough for successful commercialization.
Benefit: The proposed research will develop an isolator that keeps the vibration dose received by seated occupants within safe levels even for extended missions. Navy personnel will benefit through better mission endurance and effectiveness and less down time. The costs associated with treating back pain and addressing disability will also decrease. Potential commercial applications include any vehicle that delivers a high vibration dose to the occupants, including ground combat vehicles, heavy construction vehicles, propeller-driven airplanes, and rotary-wing aircraft. This market is substantial with significant commercialization potential if only a small fraction of operators adopts the technology. The technical approach is not limited to protecting people and is also applicable to isolating industrial equipment.
Keywords: passive anti-resonance, passive anti-resonance, Vibration Isolator, mission endurance, Helicopter Seat, Cushion, aircrew, Ergonomics, back pain
