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Measurement of glove and hand dynamics using knuckle vibration G.S. PADDAN1, M.J. GRIFFIN Human Factors Research Unit, Institute of Sound and Vibration Research University of Southampton, Southampton, SO17 1BJ
1

Now at: Institute of Naval Medicine, Alverstoke, Gosport, PO12 2DL, England

Abstract The transmission of vibration through gloves has been measured experimentally using two different methods: (i) vibration measured at the knuckle and (ii) vibration measured at the palm. The study was designed to measure both glove transmissibility and hand transmissibility in the same experiment. Eight male subjects participated in an inter-subject variability study with 10 gloves. In addition, variability within one male subject was quantified. Subjects pushed a horizontally vibrating handle with a force of 50 N; no grip force was applied. Subjects were exposed to random vibration at frequencies up to 1200 Hz with a frequency-weighted vibration magnitude of 5 ms-2 r.m.s. (frequency weighting Wh). Vibration was measured at three locations: (a) at the vibrating handle, (b) over the head of the metacarpal bones of the right hand, and (c) at the glove-palm interface using a palm adapter. Vibration measurements were made using a bare (i.e. ungloved) hand and while wearing gloves. Vibration measured at the knuckle of the hand (both bare hand and gloved hand) has been used to determine the vibration characteristics of gloves. There was a large variability in transmissibility between the subjects and between gloves. The application of the findings to the method of testing antivibration gloves is discussed. Introduction International Standard ISO 10819 [4] specifies a method for determining whether a glove can be considered an antivibration glove, with the implication that such a glove reduces the harmful effects of vibration transmitted from a hand-held tool to the hand. The standard specifies that vibration shall be measured at the glove-palm interface using a palm adapter. With each of two spectra, the data are analysed to determine a single figure transmissibility that is used to determine whether the glove passes transmissibility criteria specified in the standard. The standard specifies the two vibration spectra to be used: a spectrum covering a medium frequency range (16 Hz to 400 Hz) and a spectrum over a high frequency range (100 Hz to 1600 Hz). In addition, the standard states that transmissibility as a function of frequency can be calculated using either one-third octave frequency bands or narrow band analysis. The palm adapter required in ISO 10819 [4] is not present when a tool is normally operated with a gloved hand. The palm adapter will tend to alter the pressure distribution between the hand and the glove and also the mechanical impedance at the glove-palm interface. Changes to pressure may affect the material properties of the glove and the mechanical impedance of the hand and alter glove transmissibility, but the effects are unknown.

INRS 9th International Conference on Hand-Arm Vibration 5-8 June 2001, Nancy (F) Gloves / Gants

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An alternative method for measuring glove transmissibility was considered by Griffin et al. [3]. The method involved measuring vibration transmitted from a handle to a part of the hand: either a knuckle (at the metacarpophalangeal joint) or to a fingernail. With either measurement location, measurements were compared with and without a glove. For example, transmissibility between the handle and the knuckle measured with a glove was divided by the transmissibility calculated without the glove, to obtain a quotient transmissibility for the glove. Mann [5] reported quotient transmissibilities (ratio of the transmissibility from the handle to the knuckle with and without compliant material between the hand and a handle) for three glove materials. It was found that inserting the palm adapter between the hand and the glove material tended to increase the transmission of vibration at frequencies above 200 Hz, with the extent of the difference varying between materials. This paper presents measurements of the transmission of vibration through ten gloves and compares the glove transmissibilities measured using two different methods: (i) a procedure using a palm adapter, based on that specified in International Standard ISO 10819 (1996), and (ii) measurements of the transmission of vibration to the knuckle with and without a glove. When measuring to the knuckle, the measurements were performed with and without the palm adapter so as to investigate the effect of the palm adapter on the dynamics of the hand. Equipment and Procedure The experiment was conducted using a Derritron type VP30 electrodynamic vibrator powered by a Derritron 1.5 kW amplifier. A handle was attached to the vibrator such that the grip of the hand was vertical and at right angles to the (horizontal) axis of vibration. The first resonance of the handle occurred at 1440 Hz. Strain gauges (copper nickel alloy foil type) were mounted on the handle so that both the push force (i.e. feed force) and grip force on the handle could be measured. The handle was made of mild steel and had a total mass of 6.05 kg. Accelerations were measured at three locations: on the vibrating handle, between the palm of the hand and the glove (using a palm adapter), and on the metacarpophalangeal joint (knuckle) of the middle finger of the right hand. Adhesive tape (double-sided) was used to attach the accelerometer to the knuckle of the hand. The weight of the palm adapter, with an accelerometer, was 9.21 grams (ISO 10819 specifies a maximum mass of 15 grams). Figure 1 shows the dimensions of the adapter as specified in ISO 10819 (1996). The adapter used in the experiments was similar to that shown in Figure 1. The accelerometers were of the piezoelectric type (Brel and Kjr type 4374) each weighing 0.65 grams. The acceleration signals from the three locations were passed through charge amplifiers (Brel and Kjr type 2635) and then acquired into a computer-based data acquisition and analysis system (HVLab version 3.81).

INRS 9th International Conference on Hand-Arm Vibration 5-8 June 2001, Nancy (F) Gloves / Gants

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Figure 1. Adapter for holding accelerometer in the palm of the hand (from ISO 10819, 1996) The subjects stood on a horizontal surface and held the vibrating handle with the right hand. The vibration was applied in the horizontal direction with the forearm in the horizontal plane. The posture of the arm was such that the forearm was at an angle of 45 to the axis of vibration. The handle was held such that the metacarpal bones were at approximately right angles to the axis of vibration. The wrist was therefore bent at an angle of 45; there was no abduction at the wrist. The elbow formed an angle of approximately 90 between the forearm and the approximately vertical upper arm. There was no contact between the elbow and the body during the measurements. A push force of 508 N was applied during the measurements; no grip force was applied.

Four sets of measurements were obtained for each glove: with and without a glove and with and without the palm adapter. The order of using the palm adapter was balanced across the eight male subjects. The experiment was approved by the Human Experimentation Safety and Ethics Committee of the Institute of Sound and Vibration Research, University of Southampton. Eight male subjects participated in the study. The characteristics of the subjects are shown in Table 1. One male subject (28 years, weight 78 kg, height 1.78 m) took part in the repeatability study.

Table 1. Characteristics of subjects taking part in the experiment

INRS 9th International Conference on Hand-Arm Vibration 5-8 June 2001, Nancy (F) Gloves / Gants

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Age (yr.) Minimum Maximum Mean Standard deviation 24 51 31 9.4

Weight (kg) 67 87 75 6.9

Height (m) 1.74 1.90 1.81 0.06

Ten gloves, of which nine were commercially available, were used in the experiment (Table 2). In accord with International Standard ISO 10819 (1996), the gloves were worn by the subjects for at least 3 minutes prior to the vibration measurements. The room temperature during the tests fluctuated between 22 C and 25 C (the standard specifies a temperature range of 205 C) and the relative humidity varied between 29% and 46% (the standard specifies that the relative humidity shall be below 70%).
Table 2. Gloves used in the experiment

Glove number 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10

Description blue nylon lycra, yellow leather palm, hand pad, fingerless mitten, no wrist protection yellow leather palm covering rubber-like material, full finger, full wrist protection anti-vibration working gloves, black leather palm and back, full finger, full wrist protection anti-vibration working gloves, cotton covered with green rubber, full finger, some wrist protection terri-ester knitted glove, normally used as an outer glove for a pair of gloves pumpable air pad for palm, red plastic covering for palm and back, full finger, full wrist protection knitted nylon covering palm and back, hand pad, fingerless mitten, no wrist protection knitted nylon covering palm and back, hand pad, fingerless mitten, no wrist protection, similar to glove 7 beige leather on palm, cotton covering on back, full finger, some wrist protection 12 mm thick black open-cell rubber glued to leather palm, full finger, some wrist protection, experimental glove (see Griffin et al., 1982)

A data acquisition and analysis system, HVLab, developed at the Institute of Sound and Vibration Research of the University of Southampton, was used to conduct the experiment and analyse the acquired data. A computer-generated Gaussian random waveform having a nominally flat constant bandwidth acceleration spectrum was used with a frequency-weighted acceleration magnitude of

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5.01.0 ms-2 r.m.s. at the handle. The frequency weighting used was Wh as defined in British Standard BS 6842 [2]. The frequency range covered by the input vibration was 8 Hz to 1260 Hz. The vibration signal was equalised for the response of the vibrator. The waveform was sampled at 5480 samples per second and low-pass filtered at 1260 Hz before being fed to the vibrator. Acceleration signals from the three accelerometers (one on the handle, one on the palm adapter and one on the metacarpal bone) were passed through signal conditioning amplifiers and then low-pass filtered at 1260 Hz via anti-aliasing filters with an attenuation rate of 30 dB/octave (5 poles) with a maximally flat response. These signals were digitised into a computer at a sample rate of 5480 samples per second. The duration of each vibration exposure was 5 seconds. Analysis Transfer functions were calculated between the input (i.e. acceleration on the handle) and the output (i.e. acceleration at the palm-glove interface adapter or at the knuckle) using the crossspectral density function method. The transfer function, Hio(f), was determined as the ratio of cross-spectral density of input and output acceleration, Gio(f), to the power spectral density of input acceleration, Gii(f): Hio(f) = Gio(f)/Gii(f). Frequency analysis was carried out with a resolution of 5.35 Hz and 108 degrees of freedom (Bendat and Piersol, [1]). Quotient transmissibilities were determined for vibration transmitted from the handle to the adapter: (quotient glove transmissibilityadapter) = (transmissibility to adapter with glove)/(transmissibility to adapter without glove). The quotient transmissibilities were also calculated for vibration transmitted from the handle to the knuckle: (quotient glove transmissibilityknuckle) = (transmissibility to knuckle with glove)/(transmissibility to knuckle without glove). These two equations were used to compare the vibration transmissibility of gloves as implied by the two methods. Results and Discussion Transmissibilities between acceleration at the input (i.e. on the handle) and the output (i.e. on the palm adapter or at the knuckle) were measured in two conditions: with a bare (i.e. ungloved) hand and with a gloved hand. Figure 2 shows three sets of transmissibilities between the handle and the knuckle for the ungloved hand: (i) for 8 subjects with the palm adapter present, (ii) for 8 subjects without the palm adapter present, and (iii) for 1 subject without the palm adapter present. The transmissibilities between the handle and the knuckle show that the hand attenuated vibration at frequencies above about 200 Hz. There is a maximum transmissibility to the knuckle at about 80 Hz and low values at about 400 Hz, especially without the adapter. (The effect of these very low values on the quotient transmissibilities is considered later.) Comparing the two transmissibilities to the knuckle (i.e. with and without adapter) shows an effect of the adapter on vibration transmitted to the knuckle. There are marginally higher transmissibilities over the frequency range 150 Hz to 420 Hz with the adapter present (p<0.05, 1-tail, Wilcoxon matched-pairs signed-ranks test; Siegel and Castellan, [11]). This effect of the adapter increasing vibration transmitted to the knuckle is consistent with the findings of Mann (1993). Figure 2 also shows transmissibilities between the handle and the knuckle for one subject during 8 repeat measures. There is most variation in transmissibility at frequencies between 100 Hz and

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400 Hz. The transmissibility is below 0.25 at frequencies above 400 Hz. The variation over repeat exposures is noticeably less than the variation between the 8 subjects. Variation between individuals in the transmission of vibration through gloves is presented elsewhere [6, 8, 10]. Phase and ordinary coherencies for the transfer functions in Figure 2 are shown in Figure 3. Coherencies for measures of the transmissibility to the knuckle show low values at about 400 Hz, corresponding to the low transmissibilities at this frequency as shown in Figure 2.

2.5 2.0 1.5 1.0 0.5 0.0 2.5 0

8 subjects, with adapter

Transmissibility

200

400

600

800 1000 1200

2.0 1.5 1.0 0.5 0.0 2.5 0 200

8 subjects, without adapter

400

600

800 1000 1200

2.0 1.5 1.0 0.5 0.0 0 200

1 subject, without adapter

400

600

800 1000 1200

Frequency (Hz)
Figure 2. Transmissibilities between the handle and the knuckle for the bare hand (5.35 Hz frequency resolution, 108 degrees of freedom)

INRS 9th International Conference on Hand-Arm Vibration 5-8 June 2001, Nancy (F) Gloves / Gants

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Phase (degree)

Coherency

30 0 -30 -60 -90 -120 -150 -180

30 0 0 -30 -60 -90 -120 -150 -180 0

1.0 0.8 0.6 0.4

with adapter
200 400 600 800 1000 1200

0.2 0.0
1.0 0 0.8 0.6 0.4

with adapter
200 400 600 800 1000 1200

without adapter
200 400 600 800 1000 1200

0.2 0.0 0 200 400 600

without adapter
800 1000 1200

Frequency (Hz)

Frequency (Hz)

Figure 3. Phase and coherencies between the handle and the knuckle for the bare hand (5.35 Hz frequency resolution, 108 degrees of freedom, 8 subjects).

Quotient glove transmissibilities for the transmission of vibration to the palm adapter are shown in Figure 4 for the 8 subjects and 10 gloves. There are large differences in quotient transmissibilities between the gloves. For example, the data for gloves 2, 6 and 10 may suggest that they attenuated frequencies above about 400 Hz, whereas the data for the other gloves show that high frequencies were transmitted (see Paddan, [7]).
2.5 2.0 1.5 1.0 0.5 0.0 2.5 2.0 1.5 1.0 0.5 0.0 0 glove 1 glove 2 glove 3 glove 4 glove 5

Transmissibility

glove 6

glove 7

glove 8

glove 9

glove 10

1200 0

1200 0

1200 0

1200 0

1200

Frequency (Hz)
Figure 4. Quotient transmissibilities between the handle and the adapter for the subjects wearing the 10 gloves (5.35 Hz frequency resolution, 108 degrees of freedom, 8 subjects).

INRS 9th International Conference on Hand-Arm Vibration 5-8 June 2001, Nancy (F) Gloves / Gants

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Quotient glove transmissibilities were also calculated using the measures of vibration at the knuckle. Quotient transmissibilities for the 10 gloves are shown in Figure 5 for the adapter present between the hand and the handle, and in Figure 6 without the adapter present between the hand and the handle.

2.5 2.0 1.5 1.0 0.5 0.0 2.5 2.0 1.5 1.0 0.5 0.0 0

glove 1

glove 2

glove 3

glove 4

glove 5

Transmissibility

glove 6

glove 7

glove 8

glove 9

glove 10

1200 0

1200 0

1200 0

1200 0

1200

Frequency (Hz)
Figure 5. Quotient transmissibilities between the handle and the knuckle for the subjects wearing the 10 gloves with the palm adapter present (5.35 Hz frequency resolution, 108 degrees of freedom, 8 subjects).

A large variation in quotient glove transmissibility to the knuckle is apparent between subjects. The variation in response between subjects for the normal transmissibilities (i.e. before calculating quotients) was much smaller than the variation demonstrated in Figures 5 and 6. The very large transmissibility values for some subjects are explained by the almost zero transmissibility to the knuckle for these subjects with the bare hand (see Figure 2): division by a small value gave the large quotient transmissibilities. Median quotient glove transmissibilities with and without the palm adapter are presented in Figure 7. There is a trend in the median quotient glove transmissibilities measured using knuckle vibration to be lower with the palm adapter present than when the palm adapter is not present. This suggests that the presence of the adapter between the palm and the gloved hand affected the transmission of vibration through the glove: although the extent of the effect varied between gloves, the adapter generally lowered transmissibilities. Median quotient glove transmissibilities for glove 1 were similar with and without the adapter. Very high median quotient glove transmissibilities for gloves 2, 3, 4 and 5 without the adapter present are caused by the low transmissibilities to the knuckle with the bare hand, as shown in Figure 2.

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2.5 2.0 1.5 1.0 0.5 0.0 2.5 2.0 1.5 1.0 0.5 0.0 0

glove 1

glove 2

glove 3

glove 4

glove 5

Transmissibility

glove 6

glove 7

glove 8

glove 9

glove 10

1200 0

1200 0

1200 0

1200 0

1200

Frequency (Hz)
Figure 6. Quotient transmissibilities between the handle and the knuckle for the subjects wearing the 10 gloves without the palm adapter present (5.35 Hz frequency resolution, 108 degrees of freedom, 8 subjects).

2.5 2.0 1.5 1.0 0.5 0.0 2.5 2.0 1.5 1.0 0.5 0.0 0 1200 0 1200 0 1200 0 1200 0 1200 glove 1 glove 2 glove 3 glove 4 glove 5

Transmissibility

glove 6

glove 7

glove 8

glove 9

glove 10

Frequency (Hz)
Figure 7. Median quotient transmissibilities between the handle and the knuckle ( with adapter; without adapter) and between handle and the adapter () for the subjects wearing the 10 gloves (5.35 Hz frequency resolution, 108 degrees of freedom, 8 subjects).

Also shown in Figure 7 are median transmissibilities between acceleration at the handle and the adapter for the 10 gloves. There are clear differences between median quotient glove transmissibilities measured using knuckle vibration and those calculated directly from the vibration transmitted to the palm adapter. However, the extent of the difference varied between gloves. Gloves 6 and 10 show fairly similar transmissibilities using vibration transmitted to the adapter and vibration transmitted to the knuckle (with the adapter present). However, with both of these gloves, there is evidence that the presence of the adapter may have affected the transmission through the glove.

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Using vibration measured at the knuckle to estimate the transmissibility of a glove gave a large variation between subjects because of the low transmissibility between the handle and the knuckle at some frequencies with the bare hand. The method of calculating quotient transmissibilities for a glove might be improved by suitable averaging. The accuracy of measures with the bare hand might be improved by increasing the signal to noise ratio in the measurements, by different averaging when calculating the spectral estimates, by additional averaging within subjects and suitable averaging between subjects, so as to avoid errors arising from small variations in low measures of transmissibility to the knuckle. The subjects applied a push force on the vibrating handle but no grip force. It has been shown elsewhere that grip force does not significantly affect results [7]. International Standard ISO 10819 (1996) specifies that the measurement period for the testing of anti-vibration gloves should be at least 30 seconds. The measurement period used for the tests in this study was 5 seconds. Paddan [9] found that a measurement period of 5 seconds gave results within about 3% of those obtained with a period of 30 seconds. Griffin et al. [3] measured the transmission of vibration to the knuckle with and without a glove and showed that the glove increased vibration of the knuckle at frequencies below about 80 Hz and reduced the vibration at higher frequencies. The glove tested by Griffin et al. was a prototype developed for the tests; the glove was included in the current study (glove 10) and gave broadly similar results. The two alternative methods of measuring glove transmissibility compared in this study are not dynamically equivalent and, in general, would be expected to give different results. Measurements at the interface between two coupled systems (glove and hand) do not necessarily indicate what characteristics of one system (the glove) result in least vibration in the other system (the hand). Additionally, as discussed above, the adapter located to measure vibration at the interface may affect the transmission of vibration though the glove, so indicating a different vibration from that at the interface without the adapter present. The vibration at the knuckle may not indicate the vibration at other locations of the hand, and the wearing of a glove may cause changes in vibration at the knuckle that are not necessarily mirrored by changes in vibration at other locations. Conclusions The low transmissibility to the knuckle at some frequencies restricts the applicability of measures using knuckle vibration to measure glove transmissibility, although the limitation might be reduced by further work. The results suggest that the palm adapter may introduce an unrepresentative pressure distribution on the glove and the hand; it may also change the impedance of the glove-hand interface. One or other of these factors may explain why the transmission of vibration to the knuckle was affected by the presence of the palm adapter. It is not clear that either method (the palm adapter or the knuckle vibration) provides an appropriate prediction of glove transmissibility at all frequencies within the scope of ISO 10819 (1996). References [1] BENDAT, J.S., PIERSOL, A.G., Random data: Analysis and Measurement Procedures. John Wiley, New York. 1986.

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[2]

BRITISH STANDARDS INSTITUTION, BS 6842 British Standard Guide to Measurement and evaluation of human exposure to vibration transmitted to the hand. London: British Standards Institution, 1987. GRIFFIN, M.J., MACFARLANE, C.R., NORMAN, C.D., The transmission of vibration to the hand and the influence of gloves. In: Vibration effects on the hand and arm in industry (Brammer, A.J. and Taylor, W., eds). New York: Wiley. ISBN 0-471-88954-7. 103-116, 1982. INTERNATIONAL ORGANIZATION FOR STANDARDIZATION, ISO 10819 Mechanical vibration and shock - Hand-arm vibration - Method for the measurement and evaluation of the vibration transmissibility of gloves at the palm of the hand, 1996. MANN, N.A.J., Measuring the vibration transmissibility through glove materials to the hand. United Kingdom Informal Group Meeting on Human Response to Vibration, APRE, Ministry of Defence, Farnborough. 20th to 22nd September 1993. OBOYLE, M., GRIFFIN, M.J., Inter-subject variability in the measurement of the vibration transmissibility of gloves according to current standards. Proceedings of the 9th International Conference on Hand-Arm Vibration, 5th to 8th June 2001, Nancy, France. PADDAN, G.S., Effect of grip force and arm posture on the transmission of vibration through gloves. United Kingdom Informal Group Meeting on Human Response to Vibration, MIRA, Nuneaton, 18th to 20th September 1996. PADDAN, G.S., GRIFFIN, M.J., Individual variability in the transmission of vibration through gloves. Ergonomics Society Annual Conference, Stoke Rochford Hall, 15th to 17th April 1997. Ed. S.A. Robertson. Pub. Taylor and Francis. 320-325. PADDAN, G.S., Effect of measurement period on the testing of antivibration gloves. United Kingdom Group Conference on Human Response to Vibration, Centre for Human Sciences, QinetiQ, Farnborough, 12th to 14th September 2001. 345-358. ISBN 09541283-0-3.

[3]

[4]

[5]

[6]

[7]

[8]

[9]

[10] PADDAN, G.S., GRIFFIN, M.J., Standard tests for the vibration transmissibility of gloves. Health and Safety Executive Books. Contract Research Report 249/1999. ISBN 07176-1719-X. [11] SIEGEL, S., CASTELLAN, N.J. JR., Nonparametric Statistics for the Behavioral Sciences. Second Edition. McGraw-Hill. 1988. ISBN 0-07-100326-6. Acknowledgements This work has been supported by the United Kingdom Health and Safety Executive.

INRS 9th International Conference on Hand-Arm Vibration 5-8 June 2001, Nancy (F) Gloves / Gants