Development of a simulator for use in the measurement of chain saw vibration.

The measurement of vibration production of light, hand held power tools is important in the assessment of the potential for elicitation of vibration injury to the operators of these tools. The manner in which these measurements are made can greatly affect the results. The measured vibration production of the tool becomes a function of the operator holding the saw during the measurement and his physical characteristics. The objective of the work reported here was to develop a simulator of the operator which might be used in the vibration production analysis of chain saws. The operator was modelled in terms of the driving point mechanical impedance characteristics of humans for input to the hands. A simulator was developed based on the driving point impedance characterization of the operator and evaluated with chain saw vibration measurements.