Automotive Seat Comfort and Vibration Performance Evaluation in Dynamic Settings
Source abstract
Abstract
An automotive seat is a key component which not only provides restraint and support for its occupant, but also mitigates vibration. Since an automotive seat is in constant contact with the vehicle occupant, its dynamic comfort is of great importance in automotive seat designs. In this study, three automotive seats with different foam firmnesses were evaluated to understand how the foam firmness, through different foam formulations, affected the seat vibration performance and perceived dynamic comfort in a laboratory (study 1) and field setting (study 2). In a repeated-measures laboratory based study, whole-body vibration (per ISO 2631-1), self-reported body discomfort, and seating comfort were measured and compared among the three automotive seats while participants were exposed to tri-axial, field-measured, automotive vibration and X-Y-Z axis 1–30 Hz sine sweeps. In a subsequent ride-and-drive field study, the two seats that received the highest comfort ratings from the laboratory study were installed in two identical vehicles and whole body vibration (WBV) and self-reported seating comfort were evaluated by the participants. The results showed that the foam firmness significantly affected WBV measures and self-reported comfort (p < 0.05). This study demonstrated that altering foam formulation can be an effective way of further improving dynamic vibration and seat comfort performance.
Source: crossref · Quality: baseline
Research context
OpenAlex topics: Effects of Vibration on Health · Ergonomics and Musculoskeletal Disorders · Musculoskeletal pain and rehabilitation
SciVX discovery tags are terminology-based. OpenAlex topics are source-provided classifications.
Affiliations
Seat Comfort Engineering, Lear Corporation, Southfield, MI 48033, USA
Department of Envrionmental and Occupational Health Science, University of Washington, Seattle, WA 98105, USA
School of Biological and Population Health Science, Oregon State University, Corvallis, OR 97331, USA
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