Research On Optimization Of Armored Vehicle Cab’s Layout Design Based On Ergonomics

At present,the application of armored vehicles is more and more widely.Limited by various conditions,the ergonomics theories had failed to be introduced in or be used in vehicle cab’s layout,therefore,some problems are caused,such as the drivers’ comfort is not high,the driving vision is poor,etc.The driver’s fatigue level is high when driving,over time,the driver’s physical and mental health will be damaged and the driving safety will also be effected seriously.Due to the differences of the human body size parameters and the vehicle using environment,the design methods and standards of the cab in foreign countries are not fully applicable to the armored vehicle cab.For this reason,it’s very necessary to use the vehicle ergonomics theories and methods to optimize the armored vehicle cab’s layout and design,which can highly improve the cab’s ergonomic performance.Firstly,to make the optimizing of the armored vehicle cab’s layout more targeted,this paper obtains the size parameters of cab’s parts by the method of questionnaire and measurement of the real vehicle.By analysing and summarizing the measured size parameters combining with the results of the questionnaire,we obtain the key size parameters which influence the cab’s man-machine performance.Then,this paper studies the function and building theory of cab’s layout design tools,such as manikin,H point,eyellipse,reach envelop and knee envelope.Aiming at the limitation of SAE recommended H point location line is not fully applicable in Chinese human body,this paper optimize the H point location line on the basis of the driving posture comfortable joint angle and the Chinese human body characteristics,then the MATLAB programming is used to calculate the optimized comfortable H point location line.Secondly,the mathematical models about H point and drivers eyellipse.H point and steering wheel midpoint are established based on the optimized H point location line.Refer to some relevant design standards and design experience,the layout design of driving pedal,seat,steering wheel,instrument panel are ergonomic optimized by the use of established mathematical models,then the above parts’ 3d models are established in CATIA software.Finally,we set up some corresponding constraints to establish virtual simulation environment in RAMSIS,then select appropriate manikin to simulate and check the optimized cab’s layout design scheme,mainly about the driving posture comfort,reach envelops and the drivers’ visual areas.The simulation results show that,compared with the original cab’s layout design scheme,the optimized cab’s comfort level is significantly improved,overall discomfort feeling decreased from 5.9 to 4.5,the discomfort levels of drivers’ overall body parts are in the ideal or acceptable range.The cab’s parts reach envelops also meet the requirements,instrument panel’s field of view meet the requirements of vision,thus we can conclude that optimized cab layout design scheme is feasible.When checking the drivers’ front view with the original cab layout design scheme,it can be found that armored vehicle cab’s vertical and horizontal visual areas do not meet the requirements.This paper optimize the front window size parameters according to the driver’s optimal visual areas,the upper beam height above the floor surface is improved to 1308 mm and the lower beam height above the floor surface is reduced to 870 mm,the front window width is improved to 590 mm,the front window length is improved to 534 mm,as a result,the front visual areas can meet the requirements.