Evaluation and optimization of vehicle pedal comfort based on biomechanics

Abstract

Existing research on the manipulation comfort of the cab pedal generally focuses on the completion of the pedal movement when a vehicle is at rest, with certain data collected for analysis. This paper, by taking passenger vehicles in China as the study object and in view of the actual road conditions in China and the Chinese body size, attempts to solve the problem of muscle redundancy through the maximum/minimum optimization model of muscle activation. The road test was carried out on a typical pavement in a Chinese city. The parameters of pedal stroke, pedal force, and typical Electromyography signal (EMG) signal of drivers’ lower limbs during driving were obtained, from which muscle activation degree was calculated. The obtained experimental data were used as external driving one to simulate and analyze the pedal comfort under the layout of different human percentile and different pedal parameters in an aim to obtain the optimal value. The results indicate that the difference in pedal strokes, pedal preload, pedal resistance coefficients, seat heights, and H-point distances can have a noticeable effect on muscle activation. Taking a 95th-percentile accelerator pedal as an example, with the optimal values of each parameter selected (pedal preload: 8.2 N, pedal resistance coefficient: 2.55, seat height: 0.45 m and H-point distance: 0.86 m), as the pedal strokes increase, muscle activation shows a trend of increase after initial decrease. In the common stroke of a pedal after optimization, the degree of muscle activation is significantly lower than that before optimization, indicating a decrease in muscle fatigue.

Research on comfortable driving posture of car drivers based on muscle biomechanics

“…The muscular mechanical properties are characterized by muscle activation. [26][27][28] Firstly, according to the process in Figure 7, the noise reduction of the EMG signal was processed, 29,30 and the root mean square amplitude of EMG signal was measured. Then, equation (3) was used to measure the degree of muscle activation.…”

Design and Experiments of a Real-Time Bale Density Monitoring System Based on Dynamic Weighing

“…To verify the accuracy of the mathematical model for the dynamic weighing of straw bales, the model was simulated in this research based on ADAMS software [ 15 ], using SolidWorks software to build a 3D model of the dynamic weighing table, and then imported into ADAMS software to generate a dynamics model [ 16 ]. To simplify the model and to ensure that the height of the center of the bearing table spindle corresponds to the actual dimensions, and to realize the movement of the model of the bearing table, a stationary base was used instead of a round baler which was coaxially connected to the dynamic weighing bearing table spindle.…”

Ergonomic Design of Cab Structure for Wheeled Combine Harvester

“…At present, many scholars take ergonomics as the theoretical basis to optimize the design of the cab. For example, theoretical knowledge of ergonomics exists in the design of cabs, evaluating the comfort level of the cab, and the research on the vibration comfort of the harvester under different road excitation conditions (Jiang et al, 2019;Tang et al, 2020 a;Chen et al, 2020).…”