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ThesisItem Restricted Ergonomic evaluation of walk behind type self propelled paddy transplanter(Punjab Agricultural University, Ludhiana, 2016) Goyal, Gagandeep; Chhuneja, N. K.The self propelled walk behind type paddy transplanters are gaining popularity as they require comparatively lesser initial investment and are easy to operate and maintain as compared to riding type. The ergonomic aspects of walk behind paddy transplanter are of great importance as the operator has to walk behind the machine for a distance of about 10-20 km for 8-hours a day and that also under puddled field conditions. Besides walking in field, stress due to mechanical vibrations, human workload, noise, etc. also affect performance of the operator. The research was planned to study the effect of operational parameters of walk behind self propelled paddy transplanter on physiological parameters, noise, vibrations and work-rest schedule. Hand-arm vibrations were the maximum along x-axis (vertical) and the minimum along y-axis (lateral). Soil type had non-significant effect on vibrations acceleration. However, vibrations increased with increase in forward speed of the paddy transplanter. The mean values of vibrations total value varied from 8.6 to 14.0 m/s2 among all the treatments. The equivalent 8-hours vibrations exposure was found to be ranging between 7.4 and 12.0 m/s2, which was very much higher than the limiting value of 2.8 m/s2 for safe operation of machine. The mean values of sound pressure level varied from 74.0 to 85.7 dB(A) among all the treatments. The mean values of oxygen consumption varied between 607.6 and 1052.6 ml/min with corresponding relative load between 18.1 and 37.3% among all the treatments. The mean values of energy expenditure rate varied between 12.7 and 22.0 kJ/min. The physiological workload was found to be in the category of light work at 1.3 and 1.8 km/h of forward speed of paddy transplanter; but, as moderate work at a forward speed of 2.3 km/h. The physiological responses viz. heart rate, volume of oxygen consumption, discomfort ratings and noise were within the desired limits at the maximum available forward speed of 2.3 km/h of the machine, which also gives the maximum possible field capacity. At this forward speed, a work schedule of about 45 minutes of operating the paddy transplanter followed by a rest of about 15 minutes is desired, which can be easily achieved if the two workers interchange their work after every 45 minutes.