Comfort and pressure distribution in a human contour shaped aircraft seat (developed with 3D scans of the human body)

BACKGROUND: The concept of comfort is one way for the growing airline market to differentiate and build customer loyalty. This work follows the idea that increasing the contact area between human and seat can have a positive effect on comfort [5, 6, 7]. OBJECTIVE: To improve comfort, reduce weight and optimise space used, a human contour...

Investigating car passenger well-being related to a seat imposing continuous posture variation

Static sitting when travelling by car is known to cause physical fatigue. It is generally encouraged to periodically engage in non-sedentary activities, but this is not possible when traveling by car. The present study aims to investigate the influence of moving the vehicle occupant’s body passively. This posture variation is realized by...

Beyond Comfort in Built Environments

Every person on the planet lives a significant portion of his or her life in a built indoor environment. Ideally, the built environment serves as protection from the extremes of the outdoor environment and is preferably comfortable. The first ‘built environment’ was a painted cave. The cave served as a shelter and the wall paintings represented...

Comfortable passenger seats: Recommendations for design and research

This thesis provides new knowledge on how to design comfortable passenger seats and provides recommendations for design and research. Although the first studies on passenger seat comfort appeared already 40 years ago, the activities and context have changed since then. In this thesis, relationships have been mapped out between activities ...

Patterns of Discomfort

A review of literature on comfort and discomfort indicates an increase in physical discomfort during the workday. In this paper, three different types of occupations were studied to identify whether a similar discomfort pattern exists in these occupations while participants perform work throughout the work day and workweek. Results are that...

Comfortable car interiors: Experiments as a basis for car interior design contributing to the pleasure of the driver and passengers

One of the main challenges for car manufacturers is complying with the stringent environmental regulations without compromising driving comfort and pleasure. Reducing the overall weight of a car reduces fuel consumption and increases acceleration. However weight reduction seems in contradiction with another important aspect of car-sales; comfort...

Comfort, experience, physiology and car seat innovation: Theory, Design and Evaluation

The development process of car seats is very complex and many factors have to be considered in the development, such as anthropometry, physiology, safety, design and comfort. A factor making it more complex is the fact that future cars should be more sustainable, making the need for weight reduction more prominent. Improving comfort and at the...

Comfort in using hand tools: Theory, design and evaluation

Everyone uses hand tools in their daily life, like knife and fork. Moreover, many people use hand tools in their profession as well as during leisure time. It is important that they can work with hand tools that provide comfort. Until now, the avoidance of discomfort was emphasized during the design process of hand tools, like screwdrivers, hand...

Fit for washing; Human factors and ergonomic evaluations of washing machines

People do the laundry all over the world. About 500 million washing machines are in use at the moment. To reduce the heavy workload, washing machines were invented about 100 years ago. 50 years of innovations led to a reduction in water, energy and detergent consumption and the interface became easier to use. However, the overall usage of the...