Jake Merrell Shoulderpads
Mechanical Engineering PHD Student Jake Merrell tests his XoNano smart foam equipped shoulderpads and helmet.
Photo by Jaren Wilkey/BYU
© BYU PHOTO 2017
You can’t talk about football without recognizing the dangers of CTE. Luckily the game is getting safer thanks to an influx of safety-related tech hitting the market. Texas football (along with other schools) has adopted SyncThink’s eye-tracking VR device while HitIQ designed a mouthguard with head-impact detecting motion sensors.
Thanks to a BYU mechanical engineering Ph.D. student, another high-tech remedy is being introduced. Jake Merrell, along with a team of researchers, designed a nano composite smartfoam meant to be placed inside a helmet or shoulder pads.
The unique quality is that the foam measures impact based on electrical signals.
“The standard measurement systems on the market today directly measure the acceleration, but just measuring the acceleration is not enough and can even be erroneous,” explained Merrell via BYU News. “Our XOnano smartfoam sensors measure much more than just acceleration, which we see as a vital key to better diagnose head injuries.”
Two data points necessary in determining whether someone is at risk of a concussion are impact energy and velocity of a collision. Nobody except for this team of researchers has been able to measure them.
When an impact occurs the foam is compressed. That foam rubs against nickel nano-particles creating static electricity. A conductive electrode in the foam collects the charge which is measured and can be transmitted to sideline device within seconds. A higher spike in voltage equals a harder collision and vice versa.
Merrell has already teamed up with Xenith to produce shoulder pads using the tech. He’s also working with the U.S. Army.
According to researched published by Merrell in the Annals of Biomedical Engineering, the tech shows a 90 percent rate of success in determining location of impact and impact severity.
