• Industrial Engineering and Management Systems
• /
• v.10 no.3
• /
• pp.185-190
• /
• 2011

A driver interacts directly with the car seat at all times. There are ergonomic characteristics that have to be followed to produce comfortable seats. However, most of previous researches focused on either static or dynamic condition only. In addition, research on car seat development is critically lacking although Malaysia herself manufactures its own car. Hence, this paper integrates objective measurements and subjective evaluation to predict seat discomfort. The objective measurements consider both static and dynamic conditions. Steven's psychophysics power law has been used in which after expansion; ${\psi}\;=\;a+b{\varphi}_s^{\alpha}+c{\varphi}_v^{\beta}$ where ${\psi}$ is discomfort sensation, ${\varphi}_s^{\alpha}$ is static modality with exponent ${\alpha}$ and ${\varphi}_v^{\beta}$ is dynamic modality with exponent ${\beta}$. The subjects in this study were local and the cars used were Malaysian made compact car. Static objective measurement was the seat pressure distribution measurement. The experiment was carried out on the driver's seat in a real car with the engine turned off. Meanwhile, the dynamic objective measurement was carried out in a moving car on real roads. During pressure distribution and vibration transmissibility experiments, subjects were requested to evaluate their discomfort levels using vehicle seat discomfort survey questionnaire together with body map diagram. From subjective evaluations, seat pressure and vibration dose values exponent for static modality ${\alpha}$ = 1.51 and exponent for dynamic modality ${\beta}$ = 1.24 were produced. The curves produced from the $E_{q.s}$ showed better $R_{-sq}$ values (99%) when both static and dynamic modalities were considered together as compared to Eq. with single modality only (static or dynamic only R-Sq = 95%). In conclusion, car seat discomfort prediction gives better result when seat development considered both static and dynamic modalities; and using ergonomic approach.

• Proceedings of the Korean Society for Noise and Vibration Engineering Conference
• /
• 2014.10a
• /
• pp.994-995
• /
• 2014

Supporting stiffness of seats is an important component affecting dynamic characteristics cognized by a passenger. To analyze dynamic characteristic of a seat for vehicles operating on various road conditions, the seat vibration from road irregularity should be understood and compared. In this study, the seat is analyzed as distributed supporting system. The dynamic stiffness is measured using masses. The characteristic of the seats is analyzed by measuring distributed dynamic stiffness. The distributed dynamic stiffness of the seat is estimated on various locations and the effects of each component such as spatial distribution, compression level and vibration amplitude are analyzed. The influence of seat cover, elastic support and flexible polyurethane foam on the measured stiffness was analyzed.

• International Journal of Automotive Technology
• /
• v.6 no.4
• /
• pp.383-390
• /
• 2005

This study proposes an innovative design guideline to assist the evaluation and improvement of the dynamic comfort of vehicle seating. The existing evaluation method for the comfort of vehicle seating was investigated to broach problems in evaluation. It was found that the currently existing evaluation method employs the resonance frequency of the vibration system composed of the seat and the human body and the maximum vibration transmissibility. This study proposes a design guideline aimed at the enhancement of vibration transmission characteristics above the resonance range, particularly within the range of 10-18 Hz. In order to meet this guideline, a seat was constructed out of foam having a low damping coefficient. It was then installed in a vehicle for a driving test. The driving test confirmed the improvement of the dynamic comfort of the seat. The result of evaluation of the improved seat using the SEAT index, an industry standard widely used to evaluate the dynamic comfort of a seat considering the perceptivity characteristics of the human body, showed that the perceptive vibration transmission had reduced by more than $11\%$. The effect of the modification of seat foam was also verified through a subjective assessment of dynamic comfort of the seats.

• Journal of KSNVE
• /
• v.10 no.5
• /
• pp.811-818
• /
• 2000

This paper deals with the design of a car seat for enhancing dynamic ride quality using a Biomechanical Model that was developed from the measured whole-body vibration characteristic. For evaluation of seat ride quality, the z-axis acceleration of floor as an input of biomechanical model was measured on a driving passenger car at highway and national road. Form the floor signal and the estimated biomechanical model, overall ride value evaluated by parameter study of seat stiffness and damping. The result shows that overall ride value decreases as the seat damping increases and the sear stiffness decreases. A lot of polyurethane foams were manufactured and tried to evaluate dynamic ride quality of a seat. It is found that stiffness and damping of a seat show a linear relationship, which means the stiffness and damping are not independent each other, So the optimal seat parameters within practically achievable space are determined.

• Proceedings of the Korean Society for Noise and Vibration Engineering Conference
• /
• 2001.11a
• /
• pp.444-449
• /
• 2001

The purpose of the work is to improve comfort of a car seat, especially dynamic comfort which affects driver's discomfort during the long time driving. Definition of dynamic comfort was made before the investigation of which parameter affects seat comfort. In order to optimize design parameters so as to maximize seat comfort as well as to know the cause of discomfort, benchmarking on a target vehicle and competitive vehicles was performed, which showed both the vibration transmission characteristics and the compression set due to dynamic loading should be reduced. As a solution ball rebounds was increased by about 10％ of the original foam, which showed reduction of S.E.A.T. value by 10％ and of compression set by 60％.

• Journal of Biosystems Engineering
• /
• v.24 no.3
• /
• pp.183-194
• /
• 1999

Using the dynamic model and simulation program TDA developed in the previous paper, effects of design parameters of an agricultural tractor-trailer system on its vertical seat vibrations were investigated. The tractor-trailer system was excited by traversing over a half-sine bump. The excitation frequencies were determined by traveling velocity of the tractor and a half-sine bump selected appropriately. TDA predicted the autospectra of the vertical seat accelerations with different values of design parameters and compared them to analyze their effects. The design parameters included positions of engine, cab, and seat mountings as well as their dynamic properties. The results of this study suggested guidelines with which an improved structure of tractor may be developed in the early stage of design for a better ride quality.

• Transactions of the Korean Society for Noise and Vibration Engineering
• /
• v.23 no.7
• /
• pp.631-639
• /
• 2013

Virtual seat method(VSM) which is an evaluation method combined objective and subjective process is used in this study in order to determine seat comfort index of idle vibration of passenger vehicle. The VSM is implemented by two steps which are for objective index in the first step and for subjective estimation in the second step. In the study, two seats mounted on passenger vehicle was compared in terms of dynamic seat comfort by six subjects employed for the VSM method as well as SEAT value which is a conventional objective method. It is concluded that the dynamic comfort index by the VSM is more reliable than the SEAT value thanks to adding subjective evaluation on top of the objective result.

• Proceedings of the Korean Society for Noise and Vibration Engineering Conference
• /
• 2014.10a
• /
• pp.1004-1006
• /
• 2014

This study was conducted to improve the understanding of factors affecting an automobile seat cushion in dynamic conditions. When there are two dummies on the seat to measure each places respectively at once, the shape of the transfer function changes because the dummies affect each other as if they are linked with some kind of a spring when under excitation. A simple two-degree-of-freedom linear model is used to define a translational stiffness of dynamic coupling phenomenon. The cushion deflection model was created to find the relation between dynamic coupling and distance. Experimental set-up was made to compare with the two-degree-of-freedom linear model. The dynamic coupling factor could be utilized to improve the dynamic comfort of automobile seats.

• Journal of the Korea Academia-Industrial cooperation Society
• /
• v.13 no.12
• /
• pp.5689-5695
• /
• 2012

In this study, vibration properties of seat and human body are analyzed through test and numerical analysis methods by taking into account the viscoelastic characteristics of polyurethane foam as seat material which is applied for vehicle. These viscoelastic characteristics which show nonlinear and quasi-static behavior are obtained by compression test. In addition, the viscous elastic property of polyurethane foam is modelled mathematically by using convolution integral and nonlinear stiffness model. In order to analyze the performance on ride comfort of seat, vertical vibration model is established by using dynamic model of seat and vertical vibration model of human body at ISO5982, and so the related motion equations are derived. A numerical analysis simulation is applied by using the nonlinear motion equation with Runge-Kutta integral method. The dynamic responses of seat and human body on the input of vibration acceleration measured at the floor of the railway vehicle are examined. The variation of the index value at ride comfort on seat design parameters is analyzed and the methodology on seat design is suggested.

• Proceedings of the Korean Society for Noise and Vibration Engineering Conference
• /
• 2005.05a
• /
• pp.138-145
• /
• 2005