Hand arm vibration measurement using micro-accelerometer in different brick structures

Hand-Arm Vibration Syndrome (HAVS) is a group of diseases caused by exposure of the hands to vibration while operating the hand held power tools such as road breaker, drilling machine, demolition hammer in construction works. In this paper, area-changed capacitive micro-accelerometer is designed to measure the vibration exposure on worker\'s hand when operating a drilling machine on various blocks such as clay block, paver block and solid cement block. The design process includes mathematical modelling of micro-accelerometer and simulations are done using INTELLISUITE 8.6. Experimental results are taken for various blocks surfaces using conventional and micro-accelerometer. Comparisons show that usage of area-changed micro-accelerometer for Hand-arm vibration monitoring provides better sensitivity, which in turn reduces the risk of HAVS in workers.