Testing seats for more comfortable travelling
Apart from discomfort, transmission of vibrations in vehicles often limit the working efficiency and cause health problems to operators of on-road and off-road, rail vehicles and marine crafts. The careful design of suspension seating in vehicles can alleviate these problems considerably. Urged by this, VIBSEAT focused on the provision of methods of assessing suspension seat performance in the horizontal and rotational axes. Furthermore, suitable technology and tools were also developed for the design of marketable seats that allow isolation of vibration in both axes. One of the key project results involved the development of a new laboratory test protocol for assessing the vibration performance of seats equipped with horizontal suspensions. A detailed understanding of the performance of seats in horizontal directions offered valuable information for the protocol's realisation. Important sections of the protocol include test rig, seats, persons and posture as well as excitation signals. Other sections involve criteria, test progress, report content, measurements, uncertainty estimation in measurements and seat behaviour analysis guide. The protocol was extensively tested to ensure it is clear and valid as well as repeatable in its use. This protocol led to an advanced understanding of the performance of seats in horizontal directions contributing to future studies. Such studies include shock excitations, rotational vibrations, multi-axis excitations and analysis, continuous solicitations ergonomics criteria, test persons and posture, as well as range of signal. For further information click at: http://www.humanvibration.com/EU/vibseat.htm
