Development of an Active Spinal Support System for Reducing Lumbar Loading from Body Borne Equipment

The weight of equipment bearing on the upper torso of soldiers and aviators has increased substantially over the past several decades. This increased weight of torso-supported equipment can significantly increase the chances of acute injuries during extreme events (i.e., crashes and hard landings), as well as long-term chronic injuries from normal flight operations. In this study, a novel seat subsystem (the "ActiveSpine") was developed with the goal of off-loading a seated occupant's spine and lower back from occupant-borne equipment while maintaining full mobility. By doing so, the ActiveSpine is intended to reduce pilot fatigue and risk of chronic injury during normal flight conditions, while also significantly reducing risk of injury during a crash event. In this paper, the ActiveSpine concept and initial design is summarized, and an overview of the system's active control system is provided. Following this, results of both laboratory static off-loading evaluations and full-scale dynamic crash tests are presented. Through these tests, the ActiveSpine is shown to effectively off-load the occupant borne gear mass across a range of positions, while also reducing lumbar loads in a crash by up to 35% for a range of occupant sizes. In addition to this, measured test data showed that the ActiveSpine can significantly reduce occupant head motion in a crash, thereby significantly reducing the risk of a fatal head strike.