Year

2026

Season

Summer

Paper Type

Master's Thesis

College

College of Computing, Engineering & Construction

Degree Name

Master of Science in Mechanical Engineering (MSME)

Department

Engineering

Committee Chairperson

Dr. Christopher Oshman

Second Advisor

Dr. Grant Bevill

Third Advisor

Dr. Lindsay Toth

Department Chair

Dr. Alan Harris

College Dean

Dr. William Klostermeyer

Abstract

Acceleration sensors have seen increasing usage within sports to detect when somebody receives an impact to their head which can potentially lead to Traumatic Brain Injury (TBI). While adoption of these sensors has steadily risen, the cost of these sensors is often cited as a reason they have not been as widely adopted, especially for amateur teams. This leads to the need for a lower-cost option for detecting these impacts. To fill this gap, a low-cost, lightweight acceleration sensor was designed that exploits the inertia of a working fluid on impact in order to rupture a metallic membrane which acts as the indicator for when a sufficient impact is received, which will require further checkup from a professional to determine whether a TBI did occur. To create a working prototype, different design properties of the sensor were tested, namely the length of the sensor, which determines the volume of the fluid within the sensor along with the type of working fluid used. By testing these different properties, the size of the device can be reduced, allowing the design to be non-intrusive for the wearer, while also reducing the device's cost. To examine the relations between the properties being tested, drop tests were performed on the sensors to determine when a rupture occurs. In the drop test, the prototype sensors were each made using acrylic tube which were cut to lengths of 20, 30, 40 and 50 mm each with the same inner diameter of 9.53 mm. Each sensor will have a thin aluminum foil adhered to one of the ends which acts as the rupturable membrane. In the drop test, the sensors were either filled with water or 70% Isopropyl Alcohol to test the viability of working fluids with different densities and surface tensions. From these tests, a range in which the membrane ruptured from an impact was found for each of the sensor lengths and working fluids used. To confirm the designs' validity and have a way to determine when the membrane should rupture, quantitative analyses were performed and compared to the drop testing results.  Based on the testing performed, the relationships between impact acceleration required to rupture the membrane and sensor features will enable a working sensor for various impact thresholds to be designed by changing the working fluid or its volume.

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