SwimOne. New Device for Determining Instantaneous Power and Propulsive Forces in Swimming.

Francisco Hermosilla,Daniel Juárez Santos-García,José M González-Ravé,David Rodríguez-Rosa,Sergio Juárez-Pérez,Fernando J Castillo-Garcia,Lis Corral-Gómez

doi:10.3390/s20247169

Francisco Hermosilla, Daniel Juárez Santos-García + Show 5 more

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https://doi.org/10.3390/s20247169

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Abstract

The propulsive forces and instantaneous power that are generated by a swimmer have a great influence on the swimming performance. This works presents a new device, called SwimOne, for measuring propulsive force and estimating the instantaneous power of the swimmer. In addition, the detailed prototype is able to exert a customizable opposition force to the swimmer for training purpose. The conceptual idea is presented by describing the differential equation of the swimmer and the protocol for a factible estimation of the instantaneous power. The variables that are to be measured and estimated are identified and, consequently, the sensor and actuator systems can be selected. The high-level and detailed designs of the prototype are presented together with the protocol that is carried out in order to validate the sensor and actuation systems. The device is able to monitor the variables of interest of the swimmer together with the propulsive force and instant power. Finally, some experiments are carried out providing the results of several participants swimming in crawl, backstroke, butterfly, and breaststroke styles in the presence of different opposition force. The preliminary results show that SwimOne is valid for measuring instantaneous force and power with different loads in swimming.

Highlights

The estimation of propulsive forces is still an open problem for determining swimming performance
One additional reason for these low values of Fa could be the fact that the swimmers are not breaststroke specialist. These intracycle variations are accentuated as the brake force increased in force and power exerted by a swimmer, showing a greater amplitude between the intracycle peaks, especially in breaststroke
This paper presents a new device for estimating instantaneous propulsive force and the power of swimmers

Summary

Introduction

The estimation of propulsive forces is still an open problem for determining swimming performance. The propulsive forces that are applied by a swimmer affect swimming performance and are, among the key variables of interest in swimming research [1,2,3]. The direct measurement of propulsive forces during swimming has not been solved and, in practice, researchers have attempted to measure them during tethered swimming [4,5]. With no forward swimming movement during such tests and, no active drag, it is assumed that the forces recorded represent the propulsive forces of the swimmers. Some of the most reliable methods for assessing propulsive forces in swimming in the last years have been developed under tethered and semi-tethered scenearios [4,6,7]

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