ERGONOMIC STUDIES ON SELF PROPELLED BOOM SPRAYER
Loading...
Date
2013
Authors
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
Punjab Agricultural University, Ludhiana
Abstract
Based upon ergonomic considerations and stability against overturning, an operator’s seat
was developed to convert the boom sprayer into a riding type. Synthetic rubber based vibration
isolators were developed and installed at engine mountings, base of handle bar, chassis-seat interfaces
and handle grips of the boom sprayer. Studies were conducted under field conditions to determine the
effect of provision of operator’s seat with machine (M), provision of vibration isolators (V), forward
speed (F) and subject (S) on vibrations, noise and physiological responses viz. heart rate (HR),
volume of oxygen consumed (VO2), overall discomfort rating (ODR) and body parts discomfort
rating (BPDR). With the provision of vibration isolators (V1), vibration acceleration were reduced by
0-13.9% at engine top, 59.4-74.0% at chassis, 73.5-86.5% at handle bar, 82.0-88.5% at handle, and
67.2-77.2% at seat base. ODR and BPDR of the operators were reduced by 43.0% and 25.7%,
respectively with provision of vibration isolators on the boom sprayer. With the provision of vibration
isolators (V1), mean HR decreased from 99.4 to 89.0 beats/min and mean VO2 from 778.9 to 514.6
ml/min; thereby leading to 51.6% reduction in human workload. Thus; the ‘moderate work’ for the
boom sprayer without vibration isolators (V0) was reduced to ‘light work’ category with the provision
of vibration isolators (V1). Based on the physiological parameters viz. HR and VO2, it was concluded
that there was a reduction in human workload by 9.5-12.7% with the provision of the operator’s seat.
The riding type (M2) boom sprayer also reduced discomfort to the operator by 33.1% as compared to
the walking type (M1). All the dependent parameters increased significantly with increase in forward
speed from 1.50 to 3.00 km/h of the sprayer. The sound pressure level was higher than safe limit of
daily exposure of 8-h at forward speed of 2.25 and 3.00 km/h. Ergonomically it was concluded that a
riding type boom sprayer (M2) provided with vibration isolators (V1) could be used at any of the
forward speed ranging between 1.50 and 3.00 km/h as the combination resulted in the lowest
vibrations, light human workload and lowest discomfort. However, daily noise exposure to the
subjects must be within safe limits as per standards.
Description
Keywords
null