ERGONOMIC ANALYSIS OF THE DRIVER POSITION FOCUSED ON THE CLUTCH PEDAL

Abstract

Nowadays there are several ways to interact with a vehicle due to all the different components that are installed on it. From the ergonomic point of view, control of objects can be divided depending on if they are controlled with the lower part of the body or with the upper part. Refer to the vehicle use, an element that can be actively handled can be separated in two groups: those that are driven by hand, for instance, steering wheel, gearbox, etc.; and those that are driven by the lower body, such as the clutch or brake pedal. A good design of those controls could make possible a better and more comfortable drivability, therefore the security of the system would be increased. In addition, it is important to highlight that getting better all these factors, the pedestrian safety is going to be improved in a non-directly way. Pedals of a vehicle are one of the elements that can influence the most in the driving posture. Also, they are an essential part of the ergonomic position and it depends largely on the driver. Taking into account all this information, it is known that a non-proper decision of the design and selection of the components could generate some negative effects, not only muscle fatigue in long-term but also discomfort. In order to evaluate ergonomics, many different methods of analysis are usually used, such as: OWAS, RULA, REBA u OCRA, among others. This article focuses on employing one of these methods (REBA). With the purpose of achieving this goal, a series of test were carried out. A test-vehicle was sensorized to obtain the force and postures of the volunteers, who have different constitution, ages and experience driving. After that in collected data was analysed and compared to bring a new insight in this field. Keywords: Vehicle, ergonomics, biomechanics, REBA, clutch pedal