HELMET MARKING TOOL

1. HELMET MARKING TOOL Michael Meck, Katherine Bagwell, Chad Wilkinson, Tristan Assimos FINAL DESIGN CONCEPT GENERATION OVERVIEW Alignment: uses a crosshair laser on rotating dial for manual alignment withbenchmarks on helmet BACKGROUND INFORMATION The design has three main functional components that determine its success: alignment, clamping, and marking. Concept generation is broken down into these three parts. Benchmarking is used to help provide launching points. Marking: uses the linked arm concept for manual drawing of test patterns Chesapeake Testing (CT) performs a variety of ballistic tests for personal protective equipment, including military helmets. Patterns, based on specific benchmarks on the helmet, are drawn to ensure the testing is performed properly. The current process is primarily operator-dependent and takes 147 and 130 seconds for the V0 and V50 test markings, respectively. ALIGNMENT Alignment: placing the helmet in the correct position to be marked Figure 2. Alignment concepts, from left to right: revolving clamp concept, dial concept. The lasers, not pictured, would project from above from the top of the stand. CLAMPING Figure 1. Marking pattern: V0 test (above); current tools used at CT for marking process (right). Clamping: holding and securing the helmet in the correct position PROJECT SCOPE Clamping: uses a crown-point clamp with tripod base with rotating alignment Figure 3. Clamping concepts, from left to right: crown-point clamp, exterior profile v-clamp, interior clamp. The scope of work is to design and prototype a device that accelerates and simplifies marking of two types of helmets for two types of testing. The two types of helmets, the Advanced Combat Helmet and Enhanced Combat Helmet, each have multiple revisions and sizes. The design should work for any profile of both types. The two types of tests are the V50 and V0 test, which find the projectile velocity at which fifty percent or zero percent of bullets penetrate the helmet, respectively. For the project, the first manufactured prototype is the final product.As such, the team maximizes the number of interchangeable parts in the prototype to allow for future modifications based on test results. Testing can be performed on component and system level, while examining for any operator error. MARKING Marking: providing a method of marking the helmet that makes the correct pattern and minimizes operator variation METRICS Figure 4. Marking concepts, from left to right: rigid arm on a prescribed path (later linkage arm), flexible stencil, rigid track. TESTING CONCEPT SELECTION The final design is chosen based on iterations of the concepts above in order to produce optimized functionality as a system. Figure 5. Concept Drawings, from left to right: Full assembly, Clampwith gas-loaded springs and swiveling mount, Dial with revolving laser mount and linkage arm mount. ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS Note: metrics are listed with the most closely associated want. The correlations to the wants are determined by conversation with project customers and by study of marking process efficient and successful. We would like to thank our sponsor, Chesapeake Testing, and our advisor Dr. Michael Keefe, and the rest of the Senior Design Staff.