International Journal of Vehicle Structures and Systems

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Ride Comfort of Urban Minibus Driver through Optimization of Seating Parameters and Vehicle Speed


Affiliations
1 Dept. of Mech., Engg., National Institute of Tech., Tiruchirappalli, India
2 Ashok Leyland, Chennai, India
 

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The current research details the urban minibus drivers comfort levels. These buses are used for shuttle services within the city as well as school services. Long seating is a vibrant risk factor for back pain for minibus driver’s exposed to whole body vibration (WBV). In this paper, effects of seat inclination, speed and seat distance from the ABC pedal on seat acceleration are investigated by the statistical methods of analysis of variance (ANOVA), Taguchi’s orthogonal array, regression analysis. Process parameters are prioritized by Taguchi’s L27 orthogonal array. ANOVA determines the significance and percentage contribution of each parameter. Seat inclination has a greater contribution on ride comfort followed by the speed and seat horizontal distance. To optimize the human comfort vibration in minibus, genetic algorithms and multiple regression models were used. The values predicted from experimental, regression model and genetic algorithms values are found to be in good correlation.

Keywords

Minibus, Whole Body Vibration, Taguchi Method, Genetic Algorithm, Multiple Regression Models.
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  • Ride Comfort of Urban Minibus Driver through Optimization of Seating Parameters and Vehicle Speed

Abstract Views: 232  |  PDF Views: 103

Authors

M. Jaganmohan Rao
Dept. of Mech., Engg., National Institute of Tech., Tiruchirappalli, India
S. P. Sivaprakasam
Dept. of Mech., Engg., National Institute of Tech., Tiruchirappalli, India
G. Yan Arora
Ashok Leyland, Chennai, India

Abstract


The current research details the urban minibus drivers comfort levels. These buses are used for shuttle services within the city as well as school services. Long seating is a vibrant risk factor for back pain for minibus driver’s exposed to whole body vibration (WBV). In this paper, effects of seat inclination, speed and seat distance from the ABC pedal on seat acceleration are investigated by the statistical methods of analysis of variance (ANOVA), Taguchi’s orthogonal array, regression analysis. Process parameters are prioritized by Taguchi’s L27 orthogonal array. ANOVA determines the significance and percentage contribution of each parameter. Seat inclination has a greater contribution on ride comfort followed by the speed and seat horizontal distance. To optimize the human comfort vibration in minibus, genetic algorithms and multiple regression models were used. The values predicted from experimental, regression model and genetic algorithms values are found to be in good correlation.

Keywords


Minibus, Whole Body Vibration, Taguchi Method, Genetic Algorithm, Multiple Regression Models.

References





DOI: https://doi.org/10.4273/ijvss.10.6.07