Suspending loads decreases load stability but may slightly improve body stability

Ackerman, Jeffrey; Potwar, Karna

doi:10.1016/j.jbiomech.2016.12.001

Cited by 7 publications

(3 citation statements)

References 43 publications

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“…During the experiments, the participants reported that it was harder for them to maintain body balance under the two harvesting conditions. This was in line with the findings of [43], which showed that the suspended load could affect the dynamic stability of human walking. When compared to normal backpack, the suspended-load backpacks were still limited to their additional mass and uncomfortable subjective feelings to the participants due to the relative motion of the human body, resulting in additional metabolic consumption.…”

Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 92%

“…This awkward subject feeling could be improved by increasing the damping ratio of the load suspension to reduce oscillations and damp perturbations more quickly. However, it represented a design tradeoff because the generated electrical power and potential energetic benefits, which were offered by the suspension, would be compromised if the damping ratio was too high [43].…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Energy Harvesting Backpacks for Human Load Carriage: Modelling and Performance Evaluation

et al. 2020

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In recent years, there has been an increasing demand for portable power sources as people are required to carry more equipment for occupational, military, or recreational purposes. The energy harvesting backpack that moves relative to the human body, could capture kinetic energy from human walking and convert vertical oscillation into the rotational motion of the generators to generate electricity. In our previous work, a light-weight tube-like energy harvester (TL harvester) and a traditional frequency-tuneable backpack-based energy harvester (FT harvester) were proposed. In this paper, we discuss the power generation performance of the two types of energy harvesters and the energy performance of human loaded walking, while carrying energy harvesting backpacks, based on two different spring-mass-damper models. Testing revealed that the electrical power in the experiments showed similar trends to the simulation results, but the calculated electrical power and the net metabolic power were higher than that of the experiments. Moreover, the total cost of harvesting (TCOH), defined as additional metabolic power in watt required to generate 1 W of electrical power, could be negative, which indicated that there is a chance to generate 6.11 W of electricity without increasing the metabolic cost while carrying energy harvesting backpacks.

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Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 92%

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Energy Harvesting Backpacks for Human Load Carriage: Modelling and Performance Evaluation

et al. 2020

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“…Allowing the load to swing has similar effects to the elastically suspended backpacks in the reduction of the mechanical energy of the stance leg and improvement of stability [59]. We will discuss some advantages of swinging loads over the suspended backpacks.…”

Section: E Advantages Over Elastically Suspended Backpacksmentioning

confidence: 99%

Allowing the Load to Swing Reduces the Mechanical Energy of the Stance Leg and Improves the Lateral Stability of Human Walking

Yang

Zhang

et al. 2021

IEEE Trans. Neural Syst. Rehabil. Eng.

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Loaded walking with typical rigid backpack results in a significant increase in the mechanical energy of the stance leg and a decrease in lateral stability. Allowing the load to swing, which has been applied in shoulder pole, a tool widely used in Asia for load carriage assistance, may attenuate these effects. This paper theoretically analyzes and experimentally validates the biomechanical and energetic effects of the swinging loads. When walking with a 30 kg load, allowing the load to swing reduces the fore-aft leg impulses by over 19% and further reduces the mechanical energy of the stance leg by 12.9% compared to the typical rigid backpack. The whole-body metabolic cost has no significant change, which may be attributed to the increase in the muscle work of the upper body and the leg swing. Moreover, the load movement out of phase to the human in the lateral direction reduces the lateral excursion of extrapolated center-of-mass by 27.2%, indicating an increase in the lateral margin of stability and implying an improvement in lateral stability. The results demonstrate that allowing the load to swing reduces the horizontal leg impulses and the mechanical energy of the stance leg, and improves the lateral stability of human walking.

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Backpack with a nonlinear suspension system designed for low walking speeds

2023

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Suspending loads decreases load stability but may slightly improve body stability

Cited by 7 publications

References 43 publications

Energy Harvesting Backpacks for Human Load Carriage: Modelling and Performance Evaluation

Energy Harvesting Backpacks for Human Load Carriage: Modelling and Performance Evaluation

Allowing the Load to Swing Reduces the Mechanical Energy of the Stance Leg and Improves the Lateral Stability of Human Walking

Backpack with a nonlinear suspension system designed for low walking speeds

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