ERGONOMICS OF MOTORBIKE

SUBMITTED BY:-
AMRITA KHATRI
PURNIMA VATS
INTRODUCTION

 Ergonomics is a systematic use of the knowledge concern to relevant

human characteristics in order to achieve compatibility in the design of
interactive systems of people, machines, environments, and devices of
all kinds to ensure specific goals
 Aesthetics takes care of customer attraction and ergonomics is
responsible for customer’s safety and human comfort by reducing
stress during working or driving an automobile.
 Rider posture is an important factor which is to be considered in the
ergonomic design process of motorcycle
 Most decisions during motorcycle design and manufacture are
informed by studying the intricate biomechanical components of
human musculoskeletal systems to insure maximum comfort, safety
and well-being during riding the motorcycle.
OBJECTIVE

 Identify problems in riding a motorbike

 Measure the anthropometric measurements
 Identify musculoskeletal disorders that riders might have because of
the bike
 Identify the probable solutions for the same
PROBLEMS IDENTIFIED

 While riding a motorcycle, factors that affect comfortable sitting

posture are:
How rider sits while riding?
What are his / her body dimensions?
What is the quality of seat cushion?
How is weight and pressure distributed while riding?
For how long does the rider would sit in same position?
How comfortable the rider is while operating various controls?
SEATING COMFORT

 The motorcycle seat is characterized by having multiple shape that

provide a balance between the static seating comfort and the comfort
required for the various riding positions of the motorcycle model
concept.
 The seat design should be such that it should provide for a distribution
of the weight over the entire buttocks, with the pressure decreasing
from these bones to the periphery of the buttocks
 A major portion of the vibration experienced by the rider and pillion of
a motorcycle enters the body through the seat.
 In new generation the trend is to select the motorcycle according to
power and its aesthetics look. But the seats are not designed according
to ergonomics which plays a vital role in human comforts
SOLUTION

 To avoid the problem related to backache and testicle pain which is

observed during survey of motorcycle riders, the seat design needs to
be improved from the ergonomics point of view
 Considering the severity of pain factor the seat of motorcycle is
redesigned according to anthropometry of riding populations, rider’s
problems and their opinions about comfort
 While riding the motorcycle, there is continuous change in body
position due to acceleration and braking of motorcycle. This results
pain in testicles of riders but this factor is not considered while
designing the seat of the motorcycle. In new design cushion is extended
on the fuel tank upto 100 mm. so that movement of the body will not
cause problem to the testicle.
 The backrest attached to the seat is having height of 100 mm. above
seat surface which will give comfortable riding posture of the rider and
the rider will not face any problem during long distance traveling in
motorcycle.
VIBRATION & ITS EFFECT ON THE HEALTH
OF RIDER

 The drivers of automobiles are subjected to different magnitude of the

vibrations while driving/riding
 These vibrations are transmitted to the buttocks and back along the
vertical axis via the base a of the seat.
 During motorcycle riding, due to its unbalancing nature, it creates
enormous vibration and affects the bioelectric levels of vibration
energy
 The vibration also depends on the type of automobile, engine size,
footrests and steering handle transmit additional vibration to the
phenomenon
SOLUTION

 Individual factors like operator’s control, automobile speed and skill of

driving and individual susceptibility to vibration also leads to the
effect.
 A Fiber-Reinforced Polymer sheet is used to attach the helical
compression spring designed to quench the vibrations.
 There are two basic equations for the design of the helical springs
which are, the load-stress and the load-deflection
 A helical spring has round wire of diameter 1.5 mm, are attached to
the FRP sheet of 3 mm thickness
 Such 20 springs are attached to the same sheet.
ANTHROPOMETRIC APPROACH

 Anthropometry simply means "measurement of people". The word is

derived from the Greek ‘anthros’ meaning man, and ‘metron’ meaning
measure.
 Anthropometrics is the practice of anthropometry and involves the
collection, analysis and application of anthropometric data
 Anthropometric data was collected for the dimensions identified as
relevant to comfort sitting on motorcycle.
 Following dimensions were recorded for the purpose of identifying
variance between anthropometric dimensions
SERIAL NUMBER DIMENSION PERCENTILE & MEAN STANDARD
VALUES DEVIATION

1 ACROMIAL HEIGHT 95TH , 1448 1325 80

2 CROTCH HEIGHT 50TH , 760 762 63

3 BALL OF FOOT 50TH , 244 244 17

LENGTH

4 FOOT BREADTH 50TH , 92 93 9

5 BUTTOCK HEIGHT 95TH , 911 832 51

6 BUTTOCK KNEE 95TH , 911 832 51

LENGTH
BUTTOCK-
POPLITIEAL
7 LENGTH 50TH , 451 453 35
ELBOW REST
8 HEIGHT 50TH , 210 211 36
FOREARM-
FOREARM BREADTH
9 (CLOSED) 95TH , 479 398 52
FOREARM-
FOREARM BREADTH
10 (RELAXED) 95TH , 632 501 74
FOREARM HAND
11 LENGTH 50TH , 239 261 26
SHOULDER-
12 FOREARM LENGTH 50TH ,309 311 24
13 HAND LENGTH 50TH , 184 178 12
KNEE HEIGHT
14 (SITTING) 75TH ,534 511 33
15 POPLITIEAL HEIGHT 75TH , 439 420 33
SOLUTION

 Little variations in dimensions of motorcycle should be made possible

to facilitate rider adjust the riding position according to his needs.
 Machines designed with American anthropometric dimensions are not
comfortable of Indian population and hence need to design motorcycle
with Indian anthropometric dimensions.
 Some humans are short and fat, while some are tall and slim, but it
cannot be generalized as there are slim and short person.
MUSCULOSKELETAL DISORDERS

 The musculoskeletal system (also known as the locomotor system) is

an organ system that gives animals the ability to physically move using
the muscles and skeletal system
 The human musculoskeletal system consists of the human skeleton,
made by bones attached to other bones with joints, and skeletal muscle
attached to the skeleton by tendons.
 Driving related musculoskeletal disorders for Indian motor bike riders
were evaluated using Quick Exposure Check
 QEC, an observational tool to evaluates the risk of exposure to various
vehicle impacts on the routine drivers for back, shoulder/arm,
wrist/hand and neck
 MSD Available MSD Not available
Age N N % N %
18-28 136 45 33.08 91 66.91
29-39 128 56 43.75 72 56.25
40-50 16 10 62.5 6 37.5
51-60 6 6 100 --- ---

The age of the subject is an important factor for DMSD. The age
group between 51-60 are more exposed to musculoskeletal disorders
than the lower age groups. The subjects between the ages of 40-50,
29-39 and 18-28 have 62.5%, 43.75% and 32.83% of occurrence of
DMSD respectively. It shows that the increase in age results very high
possibility of musculoskeletal disorders for motorbike riders.
 The scores for shoulder/arm are found to be high for motorbike A and
B, moderate for C and E and low for D. The seat height plays a role in
risk assessment in back and shoulder/arm. The seat height for
motorbike D is 800 mm which is higher compared to the other four
vehicles considered under this study. The evaluation reports that the
higher seat gives better comfort for the riders. Hence motorbike D
results minimum exposure of driving related musculoskeletal
disorders. The reasons might also be due to the use of twin gas charged
shock absorber rear suspension in motorbike D. Also the dimensions of
wheel base, brake, length and width are slightly higher for motorbike
D compared to the other four vehicles considered under this study
CONCLUSION

 As per ergonomic consideration seat with back rest is prepared by

using Pro-E software which may give positive results and provide good
riding comfort to the operator of the motorcycle
 To check the amplitude of vibration at different frequency of excitation
first off all, original seat of the motorcycle excited from 50Hz. to
500Hz
 The results also indicated that the motorcyclist mainly experienced
discomfort on their upper body parts (neck or head, shoulder, upper
back, arm and hand, low back and buttock) and whereas majority
expressed no discomfort in their lower body part (knee, calf leg below
knee and ankle and feet).
 Risks related to DMSD are due to restricted seating and driving
posture, vehicle vibration and stress while driving