Development of a Quantitative Ergonomic Assessment Method for Helicopter Cockpit Design in a Digital Environment

摘要

For the development of a better product which fits to the target user population, physical workloads such as reach and visibility are evaluated using digital human simulation in the early stage of product development; however, ergonomic workload assessment mainly relies on visual observation of reach envelopes and view cones generated in a 3D graphic environment. The present study developed a quantitative assessment method of physical workloads in a digital environment and applied to the evaluation of a Korean utility helicopter (KUH) cockpit under development. The proposed assessment method quantified physical workloads for the target user population by applying a 3-step process and identified design features requiring improvement based on the quantified workload evaluation. The scores of physical workloads were quantified in terms of posture, reach, visibility, and clearance, and the 5-point scales were defined by referring existing studies. The postures of digital humanoids for a given task were estimated to have the minimal score of postural workload by finding all feasible postures satisfying task constraints such as the contact between the tip of index finger and target point. The proposed assessment method was applied to evaluate the KUH cockpit in the stage of preliminary design and identified design features requiring improvement. The assessment method of the present study can be utilized in ergonomic evaluation of products using digital human simulation.