Project: Build a spring-mass-damper system
Product used: DryLin T

*Ohio State University is the December Student Spotlight!

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For their mechanical engineering capstone project, students from Ohio State University designed and built a mechanical spring-mass-damper system, which is used as a test apparatus in order to reduce injury among the end-users of DC pistol-grip tools. The mechanism accurately characterizes a human arm while the individual is using the pistol-grip tool. The mechanism accomplishes this by interfacing with the tool and measuring both the angular rate and torque exerted on the human hand during a fastening procedure.

While working on the project, the group needed a component able to constrain the position of the fastener plate in respect to the DC pistol-grip tool and the spring-mass-damper system. The students chose a DryLin® T linear guide system, which is corrosion-resistant, wear-resistant, lubrication-free and has a low coefficient of friction. DryLin T improved the functionality of the students’ project in a number of ways. It not only enabled the implementation of a wide-array of DC pistol-grip tools with varying lengths, but also enabled the fasteners to travel during the procedure and to be changed quickly in between tests.