Title :
Electrical parameters of projectile stun guns
Author :
McDaniel, Wayne C. ; Benwell, Andrew ; Kovaleski, Scott
Author_Institution :
Coll. of Eng., Univ. of Missouri, Columbia, MO, USA
Abstract :
Projectile stun guns have been developed as less-lethal devices that law enforcement officers can use to control potentially violent subjects, as an alternative to using firearms. These devices apply high voltage, low amperage, pulsatile electric shocks to the subject, which causes involuntary skeletal muscle contraction and renders the subject unable to further resist. In field use of these devices, the electric shock is often applied to the thorax, which raises the issue of cardiac safety of these devices. An important determinant of the cardiac safety of these devices is their electrical output. Here the outputs of three commercially available projectile stun guns were evaluated with a resistive load and in a human-sized animal model (a 72 kg pig).
Keywords :
bioelectric phenomena; biological effects of fields; biomechanics; cardiology; electric shocks; health and safety; muscle; projectiles; weapons; cardiac safety; electrical parameters; human-sized animal model; involuntary skeletal muscle contraction; mass 72 kg; projectile stun gun; pulsatile electric shock; resistive load; Animals; Electric Injuries; Electric Stimulation; Electricity; Electrophysiology; Electroshock; Equipment Design; Equipment Safety; Firearms; Humans; Law Enforcement; Swine;
Conference_Titel :
Engineering in Medicine and Biology Society, 2009. EMBC 2009. Annual International Conference of the IEEE
Conference_Location :
Minneapolis, MN
Print_ISBN :
978-1-4244-3296-7
Electronic_ISBN :
1557-170X
DOI :
10.1109/IEMBS.2009.5334541