TITLE:
Design and Structural Analysis of Flexible Wearable Chair Using Finite Element Method
AUTHORS:
Ashutosh Bijalwan, Anadi Misra
KEYWORDS:
Assembly Line, Musculoskeletal Disorder (MSD), Flexible Wearable Chair, Equilibrium and Constraint Equations, Finite Element Analysis (FEA)
JOURNAL NAME:
Open Journal of Applied Sciences,
Vol.6 No.7,
July
29,
2016
ABSTRACT: The flexible wearable chair is like a light weight mobile exoskeleton that allows people to sit any-where in any working position. The traditional chair is difficult to move to different working locations due to its large size, heavy weight (~5 - 7 kg) and rigid structure and thus, they are inappropriate for workplaces where enough space is not available. Flexible wearable chair has a gross weight of 3 kg as it utilizes light-weight aluminium alloy members. Unlike the traditional chair, it consists of kinematic pairs which enable taking halts between continuous movements at any working position and thus, it is capable of reducing the risk of the physical musculoskeletal disorder substantially among workers. The objective of this paper is to focus on the mechanical design and finite element analysis (FEA) of the mechanism using ANSYS® software. In the present work, all the parts of the mechanism are designed under static load condition. The results of the analysis indicate that flexible wearable chair satisfies equilibrium and stability criterion and is capable of reducing fatigue during working in an assembly line/factory.