MSR165 data loggers help to optimize jumping cushions
Air cushions for fun sports such as high diving, free climbing, snowboarding or BMX must meet the highest safety requirements. With the help of MSR data loggers, developers from the Austrian company Airpatrol have determined and analyzed the G-forces acting on the jumper when landing in the jumping cushion.
When a stuntman in a movie saves himself from a burning house by jumping out of a window, an air cushion underneath takes him in - it is quite possible that this originates from Airpatrol. The Austrian company has been involved in the development and production of air cushions for years. Among other things, it has developed the "AIR2BAG" air cushion, which has established itself in the freestyle scene. The oversized airbag is used at fun sports events, for example.
Safety first
Airpatrol is intensively involved in the safe use and design of airbags and has developed its own safety and monitoring system for this purpose. The "Airbaganalyzer" for the operation of airbags was developed by Airpatrol in close cooperation with the Austrian TÜV and signals the readiness for use of the airbag to jumpers by means of optical and acoustic signals. The physical strain on users plays a key role in the safety of air bags - what acceleration forces are they exposed to? Data loggers can be used to measure the G-forces acting on the jumper when landing on the air cushion with high precision. Airpatrol uses the MSR165 shock data logger with external 3-axis acceleration sensor for fast recording at 1600 Hz in three axes. The data acquisition device, which is just the size of a thumb, allows shock monitoring up to ±15 g; ±200 g would also be possible. The memory capacity of over two million measured values is sufficient to record over 10,000 shocks; the capacity of the logger can be increased to over 1 billion measured values using a microSD card. The measured values of the transmitter modules recorded by the data logger can be read out via the USB interface and processed further with the MSR PC software for data analysis.
Evaluating the load curve, determining the limits of the take-off height
The aim of the measurements recently carried out by Airpatrol with the AIR2BAG was to record the load curves of the jumpers and to determine the limits of the jump height. The test subjects wore the data logger on their lower leg during the jumps. Parallel to the measurement data recordings, the exact landing position of the jumper was filmed with a high-speed camera and then compared with the measured acceleration curve. Using a data logger, rotational movements of the jumper in the air were also measured and analyzed in the 3-axis graph.
Based on the measured value recordings, Airpatrol was able to determine that the measured acceleration curves on impact at a defined jump height are largely harmless. The evaluation of the measurement data also enables the company to further optimize the AIR2BAG, allowing jumpers to land even more gently on the air cushion with even less strain.