An Ergonomic Design Method for Surface Mapped by Body Pressure Distribution Based on Subjective Comfort Rating

摘要

This paper presents a method of ergonomic design based on subjective comfort rating for the purpose of modeling seat contact surface mapped by body pressure distribution (BPD) test data. A sitting comfort evaluation scale was designed to collect subjective comfort perception. Forty-eight subjects participated in experiments of BPD and subjective comfort on a trial seat. Optimal BPD test data were selected by comparing comfort rating. A data mapping model was established between point clouds in three dimensional coordinate and BPD test data, which can be recognized and transferred in CAD system. According to design demands, designers were able to edit the point clouds in CAD system, and reconstructed seat contact surface. In this context, an ergonomic-aided system was developed in practical application to demonstrate the viability of the method. Two designers tried out the system to design a seat cushion, and compared it with conventional method in Rhino software. Results show that the system is more interactive to designers, which can save time of surface modeling by about 50%.