• Journal of Biomedical Engineering Research
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• v.44 no.2
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• pp.157-165
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• 2023

The purpose of this study was to evaluate the importance of developing slim seats with ergonomic design to improve seat comfort and expand the interior space. Two seats were used for the experiment: a sample seat designed based on hip shape and spinal alignment and a normal seat with a flat design without curves. Subjects sat in both the sample seat and a normal seat applied to the vehicle simulator and the experiment was conducted. The next part of the experiment was conducted in two different postures: a driving posture and a relaxed posture. The subjects filled out a comfort questionnaire immediately after sitting and after 30 minutes. The results showed that the comfort in the sample seat was found to be more comfortable than the normal seat. However, no significant difference was noted for the relaxation posture. Pressure distribution was also recorded immediately after sitting and after 30 minutes. In the case of pressure distribution, it was confirmed that the pressure in the sample seat was more evenly distributed in both the driving and relaxed postures than in the normal seat. The results showed that the ergonomically designed sample seat greatly improved seating comfort and pressure distribution compared to the normal seat, which is a general vehicle seat design.

• Proceedings of the Korean Society of Precision Engineering Conference
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• 2011.06a
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• pp.831-832
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• 2011

• Journal of the Korean Society of Manufacturing Technology Engineers
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• v.7 no.3
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• pp.7-13
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• 1998

This paper presents a new concept of a commercial vehicle seat suspension system. The proposed suspension system features an ER(electro-rheological)damper which can produce continuously tunable damping forces by control elecric fields. A dynamic model of the ER damper is first achieved by incorporating Bingham property of the ER fluid, followed by the formulation of governing equations of motion for the suspension system The effectiveness of the proposed ER seat suspension system is evaluated by investigating vibration with respect to sinusoidal inputs.

• Journal of Auto-vehicle Safety Association
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• v.3 no.2
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• pp.5-10
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• 2011

Under the full frontal crash event, seatbelt system is the most typical and primary restraint device that prevents the second impact between an occupant and vehicle interior parts by limiting the forward motion of an occupant in the vehicle occupant packaging space. Today's restraint systems typically include the three-point seat belt with the pretensioner and the load limiter. A pretensioner preemptively tightens the seat belts removing any slack between a passenger and belt webbing which leads to early restraint of a passenger. After that a load limiter controls level of belt load by releasing the belt webbing to reduce occupant injurys. In this study, load characteristics of load limiters are optimized by the computer simulation with a MADYMO model for a frontal impact against the rigid wall at 56kph and then we suggest performance requirements. We derived optimum load characteristic from the results using four vehicle simulation models represented by the vehicle. Based on the results, we suggest the performance from the results of the second optimization using the simulation considering the design and the standardization. Finally, the performance requirements is verified by the sled tests including the load limiter device for the full vehicle condition.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Manufacturing Technology Engineers
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• v.26 no.1
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• pp.59-65
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• 2017

A seat track product is a car seat part that provides a base for vehicle seats. An ultra-high strength steel sheet is used to reduce the weight of vehicle body parts. However, the formability of an ultra-high strength steel sheet is poor because of its very low elongation and very high elastic deformation. For this reason, a new forming technology of an ultra-high strength steel sheet is required. The influence of spring-back of seat track parts on the shape freeze in forming processes was investigated to be solved by adjusting the appropriate tool design such as minus clearance between punch and die, and punch angle. This paper describes how to apply the spring-back prevention technique for improving shape freeze by using the ultra-high strength steel sheet with 980MPa to develop lightweight seat tract parts.

• Transactions of the Korean Society of Automotive Engineers
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• v.14 no.5
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• pp.107-114
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• 2006

This paper investigates the radiating source of electro-magnetic waves in the cabin of automobile with spark ignition engine. Front seats are very close to the engine room where electro-magnetic waves are expected to be radiating. But front seat area is believed to be a blind zone, which is not affected by radiating electro-magnetic waves, because a bulk board and floor board shield the front seat area. The level and frequency spectrum of electro-magnetic waves are measured at the passenger seat and the engine room. The measured frequency range is $145{\sim}365MHz$. As a results, the level of the electro-magnetic waves of automatic transmission vehicle is greater than -82dBm. The shapes of frequency spectrum of both engine room and passenger seat are look alike. But the level of electro-magnetic waves of manual transmission vehicle is less than -82dBm and the shapes of frequency spectrum of engine room and passenger seat are different to each other. From these results, we can say that any mal-function caused by electro-magnetic waves in the automobile cabin are only possible for automatic transmission vehicle. Also, it is believed that the radiating source of electro-magnetic waves is inside the vehicle. Thus, based on the transmission line theory, this paper presumably concludes that the cables which connect all the components inside a automatic transmission vehicle must be a radiating source of electro-magnetic waves in the cabin.

• Transactions of the Korean Society of Automotive Engineers
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• v.22 no.6
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• pp.104-112
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• 2014

Generally, numerical approaches of evaluation for vehicle seat comfort have been studied without considering time-dependent characteristics and the only seating moment have been considered in seat design. However, the comfort not only at the seating moment but also in the long-term should be evaluated because the passengers are sitting repeatedly on the seat to drive the vehicle for hours. So, the aim of this paper is to carry out a quantitative evaluation of the time-dependent mechanical characteristics of seat foams and to suggest a process for predicting the viscoelastic deformation of seat foam in response to long-term driving. To characterize the seat materials, uniaxial compression and tension tests were carried out for the seat foam and stress relaxation tests were performed for evaluating the viscoelastic behavior of the seat foam. A unit solid element model was used to verify the reliability of the material model with respect to the compression behavior of the seat foam. It is not straightforward to evaluate the time-dependent compression of foams using the explicit solver because the viscoelastic material model is limited. To use the explicit solver, the material model must be modified using stress-degradation data. Normalized stress relaxation moduli were added to the stress-strain curves obtained under static conditions to achieve a time-dependent set of stress-strain relations that were compatible with the implicit solver. There was good agreement between the analysis results and experimental data.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Manufacturing Technology Engineers
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• v.9 no.5
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• pp.127-134
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• 2000

This paper presents the development of a semi-active seat damper using MR fluids and the performance analysis of seat suspension system with a MR seat damper. An annular orifice type MR seat damper is proposed for a seat suspension of a commercial vehicle. After formulating the governing equation of motion, then an appropriate size of the seat damper is designed and manufactured. Following the evaluation of field-dependant damping force characteristics, the controllability of the damping force is experimentally demonstrated in time domain by adopting PID controller. A semi-active seat suspension with the proposed MR damper is constructed and its dynamic model is established. Subsequently, vibration control capability of the semi-active suspension system is investigated by employing the sky-hook controller.

• Proceedings of the Korean Society of Precision Engineering Conference
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• 2013.05a
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• pp.1167-1168
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• 2013

• Transactions of the Korean Society of Mechanical Engineers A
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• v.32 no.7
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• pp.549-555
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• 2008

Analytical method to analyze the tolerance effect on the vehicle ride comfort is suggested in this paper. Ride comfort is one of the most important performance indices which decide the vehicle design quality. In general, the ride comfort is affected by the variations of parameters of a vehicle model. Therefore, the effects of the parameters on the ride comfort need to be evaluated statistically based on the whole-body vibration of the vehicle. In this paper, weighted RMS values of the acceleration PSD of a seat position are used to define the ride comfort. The equations of motion and the sensitivity equations are derived based on a 5-DOF vehicle model. By employing the sensitivity information of the acceleration at the seat position, the tolerance effect on the vehicle ride comfort could be effectively analyzed.