Section H
CONSTRUCTION OF A TESTABLE PROTOTYPE
VIII.1 Usage Test
Criteria Involved:
-Criteria 1 (Mobility)
-Criteria 2 (Weight Distribution)
-Criteria 3 (Flexibility)
-Criteria 8 (Durability)
-Criteria 9 (Snugness)
-Criteria 11 (No Additional Dangers)?
Overview:
The purpose of this test is to determine that the prototype is suitable for day to day use by a police officer. Many precincts require officers to wear vests full time, so it is important to ensure that the prototype will not cause discomfort while being worn for extended periods of time. This test will be conducted using both the prototype vest and a standard assault vest used by School Resource Officers. The results of this test will be qualitative, and the standard vest will serve as a baseline comparison to the prototype vest. The only personnel required will be the SRO, as he will both wear the vests and write down any complaints or issues that he has experienced while wearing the vest and write down any other information pertinent to the criteria being tested. There are no safety concerns with this test.
Conduct:
First, our SRO will wear the standard assault vest for two consecutive days while on the job. After this, he will wear our prototype test for another two day period while on the job. This will give the SRO enough time to get used to wearing each vest. During the tests, the SRO will keep a journal of any issues or problems that arise while wearing the vest and will also provide feedback about the different aspects of the vests. The test, therefore, will largely be qualitative and will based entirely on the feedback of the SRO.
After the tests have concluded, we will discuss the results of the test with the SRO. The SRO will give honest feedback about the pros and cons of each vest, how well each vest meets the criteria, and provide any additional concerns involving our design. To be considered successful, the prototype must meet the minimum requirements for each criteria and outperform the standard assault vest for the majority of criteria. For any criteria that the control vest outperforms the prototype in, the SRO will give a reasoning as to why. With this information, adjustments can be made to the prototype to improve it.
Limitations:
We would have liked to conduct the test over a significantly longer period of time (e.g. a week per vest as opposed to only two days), and we would have liked to compare our vest to more than one model. Unfortunately, due to time and resource constraints, we were unable to do either of these things. In an ideal test, a much larger sample size of officers would be given the opportunity to wear the prototype vest for several days and compare each aspect of the prototype to their own vest that they use regularly. The qualitative feedback would then be analyzed by criteria and by vest type to determine where the prototype excelled or underperformed when compared to the different brands of vests.
VIII.2 Fit and Function Test
Criteria Involved:
-Criteria 3 (Flexibility)
-Criteria 9 (Snugness)
Overview:
The purpose of this test is to determine that the prototype vest does not inhibit range-of-motion any more than current, similar vests, such as an assault vest that would be used by a School Resource Officer. Inadequate range of motion may expose the user to risk in situations requiring quick reactions and fluid movement, such as drawing a firearm from a holster. The prototype will also be tested to ensure it remains close to the body even if the user is bending or twisting the torso. It is imperative the prototype remains close to the chest, even while the user is moving, so as to avoid creating openings between the body and the armor.
Three tests will be conducted: one with no body armor, one with a standard assault vest used by a School Resource Officer, and one with the prototype.This will give two controls with which to compare the prototype to: a comparison between a competing body armor, and a comparison to how much range-of-motion the user initially has.
Materials needed include the prototype, the competing brand of vest, and measuring tape. Personnel required will include an SRO to wear the vests and someone to take measurements. The only safety concerns that are present are potential strains from bending or twisting while conducting the test. To address these issues, the SRO will be advised to stretch before participating in the test.
Conduct:
First the SRO will bend down to touch his toes. A distance of how far his fingers are from the floor will be measured across all tests, this will determine the range of motion while bending down. Next a measurement of how far the vest (if applicable) moves away from the torso will be found. This will be measured from the chest to the interior face of the vest.
Next, the SRO will twist 90 degrees to the left (and if he can not due to wearing a vest, this will be recorded) and the spacing between the chest and the interior of the face of the vest will be measured from both the left and the right sides (if applicable). The test will then be repeated with the SRO twisting to the right.
Next a baseline measurement will be taken between the top of the belt and the bottom of the vest (if applicable) and then the SRO will reach as high into the air as possible. The distance between the ground and the fingertips will be recorded as well as the the distance between the belt and the bottom of the vest. This exercise will determine if either of the vests ride up and expose more of the torso while the wearer is reaching upwards and will also determine if the vests inhibit range of motion with the arms.
Finally the SRO will be asked to simulate the motions of drawing a firearm from its holster as well as removing an item from the duty belt. This test will largely be qualitative and the SRO will give honest feedback about the difficulty of performing these actions while wearing a vest compared to when he wasn’t wearing a vest. The SRO will also be asked to present any other concerns of issues that may arise when trying to access something on the belt while wearing a vest.
The test will conclude once all four sub-tests have been conducted and the empirical measurements will be compared. The qualitative test will be compared separately and a superior vest will be chosen for each sub-test. To be considered successful, the prototype must be demonstrated to be superior to the control vest in the measurements testing for flexibility, as well as measurements that show snugness of vest. If the control vest is deemed superior in any category of measurements, this implies that the prototype has not fulfilled a criterion entirely and therefore should be redesigned to fit the criteria, perhaps using the control vest as an example.
Limitations:
The limitations to this test were primarily resource based. As the prototype was tailored to fit the SRO, the test could only be conducted with the SRO and the one vest he uses regularly. In a more professional test, the sample size of officers would be much broader in order to determine how the prototype compares to other vests when being worn by officers of varying body types, sizes, shapes, etc. as well as how the prototype compares to a larger sample size of brand-name vests.
VIII.3 Ballistic Resistance Test
Criteria Involved:
-Criteria 4 (Bullet Resistance)
Overview:
A kevlar panel, taken from a ballistic vest rated as a type IIA, was treated with a shear thickening fluid made from Polyethylene Glycol 200 and colloidal silica, which was obtained from rice husks. Because the panel has already been rated for a certain level or bullet resistance, the purpose of this test is not to determine if the panel will stop bullets, but rather if the Shear-Thickening Fluid provides any additional bullet resistance. The test will be conducted by an SRO at a gun range, and no team member will be present when the panels is being shot due to safety concerns expressed by the SRO. However, the SRO will return the panels to the team after the test has been conducted so that we may examine and document the results.
There are obvious safety concerns of potential injury and death present due to handling firearms, which is why the team will not be present when the panels are being shot. It is up to the SRO to exercise caution when conducting this test. Materials needed include the control panel, the treated panel, and a 22 mm round.
Conduct:
The panels will be taken to a shooting range, where testing conditions can be consistent. Two tests will be conducted, one with the treated panel of Kevlar, and one with neat, or untreated, Kevlar. The panels were both taken from the same ballistic vest and were both rated as type IIA as per NIJ standards. Therefore, the neat panel will serve as the control test. Each panel will be shot 5 times in an ‘X’ pattern by a .22. The panels will then be returned to the team where they can be examined. The team will examine the extent of the damage at each impact location, including how many layers of Kevlar were penetrated, how deep an indentation was created, whether or not the bullet punctured through the vest, and how wide the hole is, if applicable.
The SRO will provide oversight and a professional input on the data collected from the test and the meaning of the results. To determine if the Shear-Thickening Fluid increased the bullet resistance of the Kevlar, it must be evident that the treated panel consistently sustained less damage than the untreated panel.
Limitations:
There were many limitations present in this test and many times the scope of this test had to be narrowed. At first, the team wanted to conduct a ballistics est following the setup and procedure that are outline by the NIJ. It soon became apparent however that the team did not have the resources, time, or expertise to conduct the NIJ ballistics test in a highly controlled and accurate manner. The team did not have multiple test panels to shoot nor did it have the sensors or equipment to measure muzzle and impact velocities of the bullet. Eventually the scope of this test was reduced to a simple comparison test between a panel of Kevlar treated with a shear thickening fluid and a control panel consisting of untreated Kevlar. Due to the safety concerns inherent in the test, the team was also unable to be present for the testing of the panels.
Given more time, resources, and funding, the team would have liked to create several test panels and tested with bullets of varying calibers and perform more detailed comparisons between test panels and control panels. We may have even liked to submit panels for professional testing by the NIJ and have them rated by NIJ standards. While this test did not provide a method for determining the armor rating of the test panel, it did allow for a comparison between a control panel and a treated panel, which is more relevant to the purpose of this project,
VIII.4 Coverage Test
Criteria Involved:
-Criteria 5 (Coverage)
-Criteria 11 (No Additional Dangers)
Overview:
The purpose of this test is to determine if the prototype provides coverage of all vital areas in addition to providing a greater area of coverage than a standard assault vest. The team must also verify that the large size of the prototype does not create any additional dangers. Two tests will be conducted, one with the prototype, and one with a standard assault vest for comparison. The test will consist of quantitative measurements of the extend of coverage each vest provides.
Materials needed include the prototype, the standard assault vest, and a measuring tape. Personnel required include someone to take measurements and record the data. There are no safety concerns associated with this test.
Conduct:
First the SRO will put on the standard assault vest to serve as a baseline. The team will measure the distance between the top of the duty belt and the bottom of the vest, the distance between the sides of each panel, and the distance between the top of the collar of the vest and the clavicle. Next, the SRO will put on the prototype and and the same measurements will be taken. Finally, the team will calculate the area of coverage when the vests are not being worn. These measurements will then be compared to determine how much additional coverage the prototype provides.
To be considered successful, the area that the prototype covers must be larger than the area covered by the standard assault vest. The measurements taken while the SRO was wearing the prototype must also all be smaller than the measurements taken from the standard assault vest, because these measurements indicate the size of the gaps between the armor.
Limitations:
This test only examines the coverage of this particular prototype, which was tailored to fit a specific SRO. This test does not consider how coverage of the user compared to a control vest would vary across different sizes of the prototype that would be made to fit different sized officers. police officers.
VIII.5 Weight Test
Criteria Involved:
-Criteria 10 (Weight)
Overview:
The purpose of this test is to determine if the vest is light enough to considered as a viable solution (i.e. less than eight pounds). If the solution is too heavy it will be uncomfortable to wear all day and may put the wearer at risk of injury. The criterion involved is Weight.
Only one test will be performed. The materials needed include the prototype and an accurate scale. Personnel required include someone to conduct the test and collect the data. There are no safety concerns for this test.
Conduct:
First the scale will be calibrated to show accurate weights. Then the prototype vest will be weighed three times to ensure consistency among measurements. After the vest has been weighed, the measurements will be averaged together. If the weight is less than eight pounds, then the prototype will be considered successful.
Limitations:
The only significant limitation to this test was that only the weight of this particular prototype was measured. This prototype was tailored to fit a particular SRO, and therefore does not represent the weight of other vests of this design. Naturally a prototype tailored to fit a smaller officer would be lighter, and a larger vest would be heavier. Due to the height and build of the SRO, the results of this test would represent a vest weight towards the higher end of the spectrum.
VIII.6 Criteria
1. The solution will not hinder mobility any more than any current, similar vests.
2. The solution will distribute its weight across multiple parts of the body so that the shoulders do not solely support the weight of the solution.
3. The solution will be flexible, meaning it will be able to bend to match the shape of a human torso.
4. The solution will be bullet resistant, at least type II, as according to the National Institute of Justice Standard 0101.06.
5. The solution will provide coverage of all vital areas of the torso (from the waist up to the clavicle), both on the front and the back.
6. The technology and materials needed or used to create the solution must exist.
7. The solution will maintain structural integrity while being worn in a wide range of temperatures that it is likely to be used in; between negative twenty degrees Fahrenheit (-20℉) and one hundred thirty degrees Fahrenheit (130℉).
8. The solution will be made of durable materials that will maintain their integrity while the solution is being used and will not rip or otherwise tear while the user is moving, bending, or twisting.
9. The solution will fit snugly to its wearer, meaning will not slide around while running or moving, and will not ride up when bending or sitting.
10. The solution will not exceed eight (8) pounds.
11. Solution will not create additional dangers that are not already present in current, similar body armors.
12. The solution will consist of no more than three (3) separate sections (harness, plate carrier, and ballistic panels) to prevent equipping, wearing, and taking off the solution from being difficult; prevent tangling; or prevent equipping, wearing, or taking off from being time consuming.
Criteria Involved:
-Criteria 1 (Mobility)
-Criteria 2 (Weight Distribution)
-Criteria 3 (Flexibility)
-Criteria 8 (Durability)
-Criteria 9 (Snugness)
-Criteria 11 (No Additional Dangers)?
Overview:
The purpose of this test is to determine that the prototype is suitable for day to day use by a police officer. Many precincts require officers to wear vests full time, so it is important to ensure that the prototype will not cause discomfort while being worn for extended periods of time. This test will be conducted using both the prototype vest and a standard assault vest used by School Resource Officers. The results of this test will be qualitative, and the standard vest will serve as a baseline comparison to the prototype vest. The only personnel required will be the SRO, as he will both wear the vests and write down any complaints or issues that he has experienced while wearing the vest and write down any other information pertinent to the criteria being tested. There are no safety concerns with this test.
Conduct:
First, our SRO will wear the standard assault vest for two consecutive days while on the job. After this, he will wear our prototype test for another two day period while on the job. This will give the SRO enough time to get used to wearing each vest. During the tests, the SRO will keep a journal of any issues or problems that arise while wearing the vest and will also provide feedback about the different aspects of the vests. The test, therefore, will largely be qualitative and will based entirely on the feedback of the SRO.
After the tests have concluded, we will discuss the results of the test with the SRO. The SRO will give honest feedback about the pros and cons of each vest, how well each vest meets the criteria, and provide any additional concerns involving our design. To be considered successful, the prototype must meet the minimum requirements for each criteria and outperform the standard assault vest for the majority of criteria. For any criteria that the control vest outperforms the prototype in, the SRO will give a reasoning as to why. With this information, adjustments can be made to the prototype to improve it.
Limitations:
We would have liked to conduct the test over a significantly longer period of time (e.g. a week per vest as opposed to only two days), and we would have liked to compare our vest to more than one model. Unfortunately, due to time and resource constraints, we were unable to do either of these things. In an ideal test, a much larger sample size of officers would be given the opportunity to wear the prototype vest for several days and compare each aspect of the prototype to their own vest that they use regularly. The qualitative feedback would then be analyzed by criteria and by vest type to determine where the prototype excelled or underperformed when compared to the different brands of vests.
VIII.2 Fit and Function Test
Criteria Involved:
-Criteria 3 (Flexibility)
-Criteria 9 (Snugness)
Overview:
The purpose of this test is to determine that the prototype vest does not inhibit range-of-motion any more than current, similar vests, such as an assault vest that would be used by a School Resource Officer. Inadequate range of motion may expose the user to risk in situations requiring quick reactions and fluid movement, such as drawing a firearm from a holster. The prototype will also be tested to ensure it remains close to the body even if the user is bending or twisting the torso. It is imperative the prototype remains close to the chest, even while the user is moving, so as to avoid creating openings between the body and the armor.
Three tests will be conducted: one with no body armor, one with a standard assault vest used by a School Resource Officer, and one with the prototype.This will give two controls with which to compare the prototype to: a comparison between a competing body armor, and a comparison to how much range-of-motion the user initially has.
Materials needed include the prototype, the competing brand of vest, and measuring tape. Personnel required will include an SRO to wear the vests and someone to take measurements. The only safety concerns that are present are potential strains from bending or twisting while conducting the test. To address these issues, the SRO will be advised to stretch before participating in the test.
Conduct:
First the SRO will bend down to touch his toes. A distance of how far his fingers are from the floor will be measured across all tests, this will determine the range of motion while bending down. Next a measurement of how far the vest (if applicable) moves away from the torso will be found. This will be measured from the chest to the interior face of the vest.
Next, the SRO will twist 90 degrees to the left (and if he can not due to wearing a vest, this will be recorded) and the spacing between the chest and the interior of the face of the vest will be measured from both the left and the right sides (if applicable). The test will then be repeated with the SRO twisting to the right.
Next a baseline measurement will be taken between the top of the belt and the bottom of the vest (if applicable) and then the SRO will reach as high into the air as possible. The distance between the ground and the fingertips will be recorded as well as the the distance between the belt and the bottom of the vest. This exercise will determine if either of the vests ride up and expose more of the torso while the wearer is reaching upwards and will also determine if the vests inhibit range of motion with the arms.
Finally the SRO will be asked to simulate the motions of drawing a firearm from its holster as well as removing an item from the duty belt. This test will largely be qualitative and the SRO will give honest feedback about the difficulty of performing these actions while wearing a vest compared to when he wasn’t wearing a vest. The SRO will also be asked to present any other concerns of issues that may arise when trying to access something on the belt while wearing a vest.
The test will conclude once all four sub-tests have been conducted and the empirical measurements will be compared. The qualitative test will be compared separately and a superior vest will be chosen for each sub-test. To be considered successful, the prototype must be demonstrated to be superior to the control vest in the measurements testing for flexibility, as well as measurements that show snugness of vest. If the control vest is deemed superior in any category of measurements, this implies that the prototype has not fulfilled a criterion entirely and therefore should be redesigned to fit the criteria, perhaps using the control vest as an example.
Limitations:
The limitations to this test were primarily resource based. As the prototype was tailored to fit the SRO, the test could only be conducted with the SRO and the one vest he uses regularly. In a more professional test, the sample size of officers would be much broader in order to determine how the prototype compares to other vests when being worn by officers of varying body types, sizes, shapes, etc. as well as how the prototype compares to a larger sample size of brand-name vests.
VIII.3 Ballistic Resistance Test
Criteria Involved:
-Criteria 4 (Bullet Resistance)
Overview:
A kevlar panel, taken from a ballistic vest rated as a type IIA, was treated with a shear thickening fluid made from Polyethylene Glycol 200 and colloidal silica, which was obtained from rice husks. Because the panel has already been rated for a certain level or bullet resistance, the purpose of this test is not to determine if the panel will stop bullets, but rather if the Shear-Thickening Fluid provides any additional bullet resistance. The test will be conducted by an SRO at a gun range, and no team member will be present when the panels is being shot due to safety concerns expressed by the SRO. However, the SRO will return the panels to the team after the test has been conducted so that we may examine and document the results.
There are obvious safety concerns of potential injury and death present due to handling firearms, which is why the team will not be present when the panels are being shot. It is up to the SRO to exercise caution when conducting this test. Materials needed include the control panel, the treated panel, and a 22 mm round.
Conduct:
The panels will be taken to a shooting range, where testing conditions can be consistent. Two tests will be conducted, one with the treated panel of Kevlar, and one with neat, or untreated, Kevlar. The panels were both taken from the same ballistic vest and were both rated as type IIA as per NIJ standards. Therefore, the neat panel will serve as the control test. Each panel will be shot 5 times in an ‘X’ pattern by a .22. The panels will then be returned to the team where they can be examined. The team will examine the extent of the damage at each impact location, including how many layers of Kevlar were penetrated, how deep an indentation was created, whether or not the bullet punctured through the vest, and how wide the hole is, if applicable.
The SRO will provide oversight and a professional input on the data collected from the test and the meaning of the results. To determine if the Shear-Thickening Fluid increased the bullet resistance of the Kevlar, it must be evident that the treated panel consistently sustained less damage than the untreated panel.
Limitations:
There were many limitations present in this test and many times the scope of this test had to be narrowed. At first, the team wanted to conduct a ballistics est following the setup and procedure that are outline by the NIJ. It soon became apparent however that the team did not have the resources, time, or expertise to conduct the NIJ ballistics test in a highly controlled and accurate manner. The team did not have multiple test panels to shoot nor did it have the sensors or equipment to measure muzzle and impact velocities of the bullet. Eventually the scope of this test was reduced to a simple comparison test between a panel of Kevlar treated with a shear thickening fluid and a control panel consisting of untreated Kevlar. Due to the safety concerns inherent in the test, the team was also unable to be present for the testing of the panels.
Given more time, resources, and funding, the team would have liked to create several test panels and tested with bullets of varying calibers and perform more detailed comparisons between test panels and control panels. We may have even liked to submit panels for professional testing by the NIJ and have them rated by NIJ standards. While this test did not provide a method for determining the armor rating of the test panel, it did allow for a comparison between a control panel and a treated panel, which is more relevant to the purpose of this project,
VIII.4 Coverage Test
Criteria Involved:
-Criteria 5 (Coverage)
-Criteria 11 (No Additional Dangers)
Overview:
The purpose of this test is to determine if the prototype provides coverage of all vital areas in addition to providing a greater area of coverage than a standard assault vest. The team must also verify that the large size of the prototype does not create any additional dangers. Two tests will be conducted, one with the prototype, and one with a standard assault vest for comparison. The test will consist of quantitative measurements of the extend of coverage each vest provides.
Materials needed include the prototype, the standard assault vest, and a measuring tape. Personnel required include someone to take measurements and record the data. There are no safety concerns associated with this test.
Conduct:
First the SRO will put on the standard assault vest to serve as a baseline. The team will measure the distance between the top of the duty belt and the bottom of the vest, the distance between the sides of each panel, and the distance between the top of the collar of the vest and the clavicle. Next, the SRO will put on the prototype and and the same measurements will be taken. Finally, the team will calculate the area of coverage when the vests are not being worn. These measurements will then be compared to determine how much additional coverage the prototype provides.
To be considered successful, the area that the prototype covers must be larger than the area covered by the standard assault vest. The measurements taken while the SRO was wearing the prototype must also all be smaller than the measurements taken from the standard assault vest, because these measurements indicate the size of the gaps between the armor.
Limitations:
This test only examines the coverage of this particular prototype, which was tailored to fit a specific SRO. This test does not consider how coverage of the user compared to a control vest would vary across different sizes of the prototype that would be made to fit different sized officers. police officers.
VIII.5 Weight Test
Criteria Involved:
-Criteria 10 (Weight)
Overview:
The purpose of this test is to determine if the vest is light enough to considered as a viable solution (i.e. less than eight pounds). If the solution is too heavy it will be uncomfortable to wear all day and may put the wearer at risk of injury. The criterion involved is Weight.
Only one test will be performed. The materials needed include the prototype and an accurate scale. Personnel required include someone to conduct the test and collect the data. There are no safety concerns for this test.
Conduct:
First the scale will be calibrated to show accurate weights. Then the prototype vest will be weighed three times to ensure consistency among measurements. After the vest has been weighed, the measurements will be averaged together. If the weight is less than eight pounds, then the prototype will be considered successful.
Limitations:
The only significant limitation to this test was that only the weight of this particular prototype was measured. This prototype was tailored to fit a particular SRO, and therefore does not represent the weight of other vests of this design. Naturally a prototype tailored to fit a smaller officer would be lighter, and a larger vest would be heavier. Due to the height and build of the SRO, the results of this test would represent a vest weight towards the higher end of the spectrum.
VIII.6 Criteria
1. The solution will not hinder mobility any more than any current, similar vests.
2. The solution will distribute its weight across multiple parts of the body so that the shoulders do not solely support the weight of the solution.
3. The solution will be flexible, meaning it will be able to bend to match the shape of a human torso.
4. The solution will be bullet resistant, at least type II, as according to the National Institute of Justice Standard 0101.06.
5. The solution will provide coverage of all vital areas of the torso (from the waist up to the clavicle), both on the front and the back.
6. The technology and materials needed or used to create the solution must exist.
7. The solution will maintain structural integrity while being worn in a wide range of temperatures that it is likely to be used in; between negative twenty degrees Fahrenheit (-20℉) and one hundred thirty degrees Fahrenheit (130℉).
8. The solution will be made of durable materials that will maintain their integrity while the solution is being used and will not rip or otherwise tear while the user is moving, bending, or twisting.
9. The solution will fit snugly to its wearer, meaning will not slide around while running or moving, and will not ride up when bending or sitting.
10. The solution will not exceed eight (8) pounds.
11. Solution will not create additional dangers that are not already present in current, similar body armors.
12. The solution will consist of no more than three (3) separate sections (harness, plate carrier, and ballistic panels) to prevent equipping, wearing, and taking off the solution from being difficult; prevent tangling; or prevent equipping, wearing, or taking off from being time consuming.