Settling down time following initial sitting and its relationship with comfort and discomfort

Ergonomic guidelines for the design interfaces of additive modules for manual wheelchairs: sagittal plane

When designing wheelchair propulsion systems operated with the upper limb, there is a noticeable lack of ergonomic analyses informing about the areas on the wheelchair frame where hand-operated controls can be installed. With that in mind, a research goal was set to measure the areas of human hand reach within the area defined by the structural elements of a manual wheelchair. An ergonomic analysis was performed on a group of ten patients representing 50% of anthropometric dimensions. Motion capture and image analysis software based on the openCV library were used for the measurement. The conducted research resulted in the development of a map of the hands range in the lateral plane of the wheelchair, parallel to the sagittal plane. In addition, the map was divided into three zones of hand reach, taking into account various levels of comfort of hand manipulation. The total hand reach area was 1269 mm long and 731 mm high, while the most comfortable manipulation area was 352 mm long and 649 mm high. The plotted hands reach areas act as a map informing the designer where on the sagittal plane additional accessories operated by the user can be installed.

Comfort Evaluation of Slow-Recovery Ejection Seat Cushions Based on Sitting Pressure Distribution

Sitting discomfort not only affects the health of pilots carrying out long-endurance missions but also affects operational performance. The experimental objects included four ejection seat cushions: N1 was a fast-recovery foam as the comparison group, and the experimental groups were slow-recovery foams with different indentation force deflection (IFD), named N2 (hard), N3 (mid), and N4 (soft). The sitting comfort of 20 participants was tested on the four cushions by using subjective rating and sitting pressure distribution analysis. The results showed that compared with fast-recovery cushion N3 and N4 slow-recovery cushions have lower contact pressure and more uniform pressure distribution. Slow-recovery cushions that were too soft or too hard would reduce the comfort. No matter from the subjective rating or the analysis of the contact pressure data, the N3 cushion with a thickness of 3 cm and 65% IFD of 280 N had the highest comfort. In addition, the seat pressure distribution (SPD%) has a significant correlation with the subjective rating (p = 0.019, R = −0.98), which is more suitable for evaluating the comfort of the cushions. However, the slow-recovery cushions would show a decrease in support after a period of sitting, while the fast-recovery cushion could always maintain constant support.

Thermal comfort of seats as visualized by infrared thermography

Published studies that deal with the question of how the temperature of chair seats influences human activities are few, but the studies considering such a factor, a function of the type of material, could contribute to improvements in the design of chairs. This study evaluates seat temperatures of 8 types of chairs made of different materials. The parts of the furniture that people come into contact with, and the thermal response of the material to heating and cooling have been evaluated. Infrared thermography was used for this, as it is a non-contact technique that does not present any type of risk in the measurement of temperatures. Seats made of synthetic leather (leatherette), wood and polyester fabric were found to have the highest temperatures, and the plywood seat showed the lowest. The study has also revealed that thermography can contribute to studies of thermal comfort of chair seats in addition to determining the most suitable material.

A methodology using in-chair movements as an objective measure of discomfort for the purpose of statistically distinguishing between similar seat surfaces

This study presents a method for objectively measuring in-chair movement (ICM) that shows correlation with subjective ratings of comfort and discomfort. Employing a cross-over controlled, single blind design, healthy young subjects (n = 21) sat for 18 min on each of the following surfaces: contoured foam, straight foam and wood. Force sensitive resistors attached to the sitting interface measured the relative movements of the subjects during sitting. The purpose of this study was to determine whether ICM could statistically distinguish between each seat material, including two with subtle design differences. In addition, this study investigated methodological considerations, in particular appropriate threshold selection and sitting duration, when analysing objective movement data. ICM appears to be able to statistically distinguish between similar foam surfaces, as long as appropriate ICM thresholds and sufficient sitting durations are present. A relationship between greater ICM and increased discomfort, and lesser ICM and increased comfort was also found.

The effect of biomechanical variables on force sensitive resistor error: Implications for calibration and improved accuracy

Force Sensitive Resistors (FSRs) are commercially available thin film polymer sensors commonly employed in a multitude of biomechanical measurement environments. Reasons for such wide spread usage lie in the versatility, small profile, and low cost of these sensors. Yet FSRs have limitations. It is commonly accepted that temperature, curvature and biological tissue compliance may impact sensor conductance and resulting force readings. The effect of these variables and degree to which they interact has yet to be comprehensively investigated and quantified. This work systematically assesses varying levels of temperature, sensor curvature and surface compliance using a full factorial design-of-experiments approach. Three models of Interlink FSRs were evaluated. Calibration equations under 12 unique combinations of temperature, curvature and compliance were determined for each sensor. Root mean squared error, mean absolute error, and maximum error were quantified as measures of the impact these thermo/mechanical factors have on sensor performance. It was found that all three variables have the potential to affect FSR calibration curves. The FSR model and corresponding sensor geometry are sensitive to these three mechanical factors at varying levels. Experimental results suggest that reducing sensor error requires calibration of each sensor in an environment as close to its intended use as possible and if multiple FSRs are used in a system, they must be calibrated independently.