• Journal of the Ergonomics Society of Korea
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• v.33 no.2
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• pp.155-165
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• 2014

Objective: The aim of this study is to develop an office chair enabling to keep working at reclined sitting posture. Background: Sedentary workers are supposed to change the posture frequently during long hours of sitting. A reclined sitting position has been recommended to reduce disc pressure. But slumped sitting posture caused by the buttock sliding forward without any adjustment of back reclining is commonly observed. The worker seems to have tendency to change the sitting posture maintaining working condition. We assumed the reason to be their hands movement away from the working space when tilting backward. Method: Slide mechanism allowing seat to move forward was designed to maintain the hand position in working space during reclining. A prototype was manufactured and tilting motion was analyzed using motion capture system. Four experiment chairs were tested including the manufactured prototype chair and three other commercial chairs. Results: A backward movements of the hand position were 13.0mm, 101.7mm, 156.1mm and 139.3mm at the prototype chair, compared to chair B, chair C and chair D, respectively. And the movement was remarkably small at the prototype chair. Conclusion: The developed seat sliding chair allows back tilting maintaining hand position at working space. We expect the user tilting back more often than normal tilting chair during seated work. But further investigation is required to figure out the effectiveness of the developed chair using prolonged working hours. Application: The developed office chair directly affects commercialization.

• Journal of Auto-vehicle Safety Association
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• v.15 no.4
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• pp.95-101
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• 2023

As the popularization of autonomous vehicles is anticipated, it is expected that the variety of passenger postures will diversify. However, the current vehicle safety system is expected to be inadequate for accommodating these diverse passenger postures, particularly in reclined positions where severe injuries have been reported in frontal collisions. Therefore, it is necessary to investigate the biomechanical responses and tolerances of occupants in reclined postures. In this study, the behavior and injuries of a Hybrid-III dummy model in a reclined position are analyzed through frontal collision sled simulations equipped with the semi-rigid seat provided by the previous study, three-point safety belt with pretensioner and load limiter, and airbag models. The results are evaluated by comparing thouse reponses with post-mortem human surrogate (PMHS) data, and the findings are expected to be applicable to the basic design of a new restraint system suitable for various postures in autonomous vehicles.

• Journal of Auto-vehicle Safety Association
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• v.15 no.3
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• pp.59-65
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• 2023

As advanced driving assistance system (ADAS) and autonomous driving performance continue to improve, existing crash accidents and crash types are changing. Accordingly, the collision angle and the seating posture of the occupant are changed. It is necessary to study how the occupant injury mechanism changes according to these different crash types. In this regard, a representative crash test mode was derived when the automatic emergency braking system (AEB), one of the autonomous driving performance, was applied to the representative car-to-car crash scenario in Korea. The derived crash test mode was used to analyse the mechanisms of collision injuries according to both impact angle and the occupant seating posture (reclined seat-back angle). The results obtained through this study can be utilized as reference data for the development of new crash evaluation methods and improvements in crash restraint systems for enhancing crash safety.

• Journal of Korean Society of Industrial and Systems Engineering
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• v.22 no.52
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• pp.1-8
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• 1999

This study was conducted to collect data concerning the preferred driving postures and adopted seat adjustment levels and to grasp relationships among drivers' body sizes, postural angles, and adopted seat positions and angles. Also optimum driving posture and seat adjustment level estimation models were constructed. An experiment was conducted to investigate observed optimum driving posture, and seat adjustment level. Thirty-six subjects (male=20, female=16) was selected to include a wide range of percentiles in the dimensions important for automotive driving workstation design and to be representative of the automotive driving population in Korea. New guidelines and estimation models for optimum postural comfort were developed. There were significant differences between male and female in postural angles but not in seat adjustment levels. Taller subjects preferred a more open and reclined posture. Estimation models enable us to estimate the quantitative optimum driving posture and seat adjustment level with some drivers' physical dimensions.

• Journal of the Ergonomics Society of Korea
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• v.33 no.2
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• pp.87-96
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• 2014

Objective: The present study is intended to objectively classify upper- & lower-body sitting strategies and identify the effects of gender and OPL type on the sitting strategies. Background: A sitting strategy which statistically represents comfortable driving posture can be used as a reference posture of a humanoid in virtual design and evaluation of a driver's seat. Although previous research has classified sitting strategies for driving postures in various occupant package layout (OPL) types, the existing classification methods are not objective and the factors affecting sitting strategies have not been identified. Method: Forty drivers' preferred driving postures in three different OPL types (coupe, sedan, and SUV) were measured by a motion capture system. Next, the measured driving postures were classified by K-means cluster method. Results: Sitting strategies of upper-body were classified as erect (33%), slouched (41%), and reclined (26%) postures, and those of lower-body were classified as knee bent (42%), knee extended (32%), and upper-leg lifted (26%) postures. Significant differences at ${\alpha}$ = 0.05 in the upper-body sitting strategy by gender and lower-body sitting strategy by OPL type were found. Application: Both the classified sitting strategies and the identified factors would be of use in ergonomic seat design and evaluation.

• Physical Therapy Korea
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• v.12 no.2
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• pp.1-10
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• 2005

Pressure ulcers are serious complications of tissue damage that can develop in patients with diminished pain sensation and diminished mobility. Pressure ulcers can result in irreversible tissue damage caused by ischemia resulting from external loading. There are many intrinsic and extrinsic contributors to the problem, including interface tissue pressure, shear, temperature, moisture, hygiene, nutrition, tissue tolerance, sensory and motor dysfunction, disease and infection, posture, and body support systems. The purposes of this study were to investigate the relationship between buttock interface pressure and seating position, wheelchair propulsion speed. Seated-interface pressure was measured using the Force Sensing Array pressure mapping system. Twenty subjects propelled wheelchair handrim on a motor-driven treadmill at different velocities (40, 60, 80 m/min) and seating position used recline ($100^{\circ}$, $110^{\circ}$, $120^{\circ}$) with a wheelchair simulator. Interface pressure consists of average (mean of the pressure sensor values) and maximum pressure (highest individual sensor value). The results of this study were as follows; No significant correlation in maximum/average pressure was found between a static position and a 40 m/min wheelchair propulsion (p>.05). However, a significant increase in maximum/average pressure were identified between conditions of a static position and 60 m/min, and 80 m/min wheelchair propulsion (p<.05). No significant correlation in maximum pressure were found between a $90^{\circ}$ recline (neutral position) and a $100^{\circ}$, $110^{\circ}$, or $120^{\circ}$ recline of the wheelchair back (p>.05). No significant difference in average pressure was found between conditions of a $90^{\circ}$ recline and both a $100^{\circ}$ and $110^{\circ}$ recline of wheelchair back. However, a significant reduction in average pressure was identified between conditions of a $90^{\circ}$ and $120^{\circ}$ recline of wheelchair back (p<.05). This study has shown some interesting results that reclining the seat by $120^{\circ}$ reduced average interface pressure, including the reduction or prevention in edema. And interface pressure was greater during dynamic wheelchair propulsion compared with static seating. Therefore, the optimal seating position and seating system ought to provide postural control and pressure relief. We need an education on optimal seating position and a suitable propulsion speeds for wheelchair users.