Theoretical Analysis and Optimization of a Gloved Hand-Arm System

Studies have shown that isolators in the form of antivibration (AV) gloves effectively reduce the transmission of unwanted vibration from vibrating equipment to the human hand. However, as most of these studies are based on experimental or modeling techniques, the level of effectiveness and optimum glove properties for better performance remains unclear. To fill this gap, hand-arm system dynamics with and without gloves are studied analytically in this work. In this work, we use a lumped parameter model of the hand-arm system, with hand-tool interaction modeled as a linear spring-damper system. The resulting governing equations of motion are solved analytically using the method of harmonic balance. Parametric analysis is performed on the biomechanical model of the hand-arm system with and without a glove to identify key design parameters. It is observed that the effect of glove parameters on its performance is not repetitive and changes in the studied different frequency ranges. This observation further motivates us to optimize the glove parameters to minimize the overall transmissibility in different frequency ranges.