Impact indicator
Method for warning a coach in real-time that a team player suffered head injuries why playing on a sports field with other players present, comprising the steps of: having the player wear a headband with one battery powered multi-axial motion sensor mounted on the rear; measuring with the sensor 3-D (X-Y-Z) accelerations out of which 2-D (X-Y) is in essentially horizontal plane when the player is standing facing forward; establishing head bank, roll and yaw angular acceleration thresholds for mild, moderate and severe head injuries; having an applet calculate the angular accelerations form the linear accelerations or measure angular accelerations directly; comparing measured angular accelerations to threshold angular accelerations; warn the coach about the occurrence of threshold exceedances indicating mild, moderate or severe head injuries; log the time of the threshold exceedances along with the measured values of the angular accelerations. Said warning are yellow, orange or red colors or low, moderate and high frequency beeps or both.
1. A method of using a head injury alert device by a player comprising
wearing a headband by the player, wherein the headband is configured to be worn alone by the player, and wherein the headband comprises two controller-collectors, each of the two controller-collectors having an accelerometer, a transducer and a transmitter;
two conductive wire thread mesh inner pouches in a frontal portion of the headband, the two controller-collectors positioned in a separate pouch of the two conductive wire thread mesh inner pouches;
a left side component;
a right side component; and
a rear component, wherein the left side component, the right side component and the rear component are tethered by bus wiring to the two controller-collectors;
detecting impact acceleration levels in three directions by each of the transducers;
transducing acceleration signals to electronic signals; and
transmitting the electronic signals of the impact acceleration levels to a mobile device,
wherein torque around an ear to ear head axis and around a vertical cranial axis is triangulated by the two controller-collectors.
2. The method of claim 1 , wherein the left side component, the right side component and the rear component are measuring or warning devices selected from the group consisting of an acceleration sensor, a beeper, a buzzer and/or an LED light.
3. The method of claim 2 , wherein each of the two controller-collectors activates the beeper, buzzer and/or light when the impact acceleration levels meet a predetermined threshold.
4. The method of claim 1 , wherein each of the two controller-collectors activates a display on the mobile device when the impact acceleration levels meet a predetermined threshold.
5. The method of claim 1 , wherein each of the two controller-collectors measures frontal acceleration shocks, deviatory acceleration shocks and vertical acceleration shocks.
6. The method of claim 1 , wherein the mobile device is used by a coach of a team, and wherein the mobile device receives the electronic signals of the impact acceleration levels from each of the players on the team.
7. The method of claim 1 , wherein the two controller-collectors are positioned about 3 to about 4 inches apart.