Designing and Simulation Assessment of a Chair Attachment Air Blowing Methods to Enhance the Safety of Prolonged Sitting

Abstract

Musculoskeletal disorders and the stagnation of sitting are among the side effects of excessive sitting in awkward sitting positions. In this study, a developed chair attachment cushion design with an optimal air blowing technique is proposed to eliminate the negative side effects of prolonged sitting. Instantaneously reducing the contact area between the chair and its occupant is the fundamental goal of the proposed design. The fuzzy multi-criteria decision-making approaches represented by FAHP and FTOPSIS were integrated to evaluate and select the optimal proposed design. An ergonomic and biomechanics assessment of the occupant’s seating position while employing the novel safety cushion design was validated using simulation software (CATIA). Sensitivity analysis was also used to confirm the design’s robustness. Results show that the manual blowing system using an accordion blower was the optimal design concept based on the selected evaluation criteria. In fact, the proposed design provides an acceptable RULA index value for the examined sitting postures and performed very safely in the biomechanics single action analysis.