Nwaigwe, Adaeze
(2006)
Ergonomics Considerations in IT-Enabled Computer-Aided Design for Discrete Manufactured Products.
Doctoral Dissertation, University of Pittsburgh.
(Unpublished)
Abstract
Despite great advances in the field of ergonomics, its integration into computer-aided product design remains a great need, especially during conceptual design. In order that a product be designed for safety and comfort, it is essential that pertinent ergonomic principles be imposed as design constraints during design conceptualization. Further, it is vital that these constraints be propagated to downstream design activities so that they can be considered along with other design constraints such as manufacturing and assembly, in deriving design alternatives and subsequently in determining the outcome of the final product. This should enable the design of safer and more comfortable products, minimize design iterations that often result from ergonomic violations, reduce design cycle time and hence minimize product lifecycle cost. The objective of this dissertation was to provide an efficient and effective method for integrating ergonomics into computer aided product design. To achieve this objective, first, the principles of ergonomics in relation to product design were stated and then represented algebraically so that these principles can easily be integrated into computer aided design. Next, discrete products were categorized into twelve classes on the basis of the function(s) users would perform on them. Ergonomic principles constraining each product class were then provided. As such, by means of this categorization a designer should easily acquire ergonomic rules that constrain a design within a product category. Thirdly, to make ergonomic constraints available to downstream design activities for the generation of design alternatives and subsequently, the derivation of the final product, a means, based on Extensible Markup Language technology, was provided for ergonomic constraints propagation. This work was implemented in a Java-based software application and demonstrated in the design of a wheelchair seat cushion. For validation, the results obtained were compared to those of an existing product.
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Details
| Item Type: |
University of Pittsburgh ETD
|
| Status: |
Unpublished |
| Creators/Authors: |
|
| ETD Committee: |
| Title | Member | Email Address | Pitt Username | ORCID |
|---|
| Committee Chair | Nnaji, Bart | | | | | Committee Member | Wolfe, Harvey | | | | | Committee Member | Sacre, Mary | | | | | Committee Member | Cham, Rakie | | | | | Committee Member | Cooper, Rory | | | |
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| Date: |
1 February 2006 |
| Date Type: |
Completion |
| Defense Date: |
15 April 2005 |
| Approval Date: |
1 February 2006 |
| Submission Date: |
10 April 2005 |
| Access Restriction: |
No restriction; Release the ETD for access worldwide immediately. |
| Institution: |
University of Pittsburgh |
| Schools and Programs: |
Swanson School of Engineering > Industrial Engineering |
| Degree: |
PhD - Doctor of Philosophy |
| Thesis Type: |
Doctoral Dissertation |
| Refereed: |
Yes |
| Uncontrolled Keywords: |
Algebraic Constraint Representation; CAD; Computer-Aided Design; Computer-Aided Product Design; Conceptual design; Design; Ergonomic Rules; Ergonomics; Ergonomics Principles; Extensible Markup Language; Wheelchair Seat Cushion; XML |
| Other ID: |
http://etd.library.pitt.edu/ETD/available/etd-04102005-135304/, etd-04102005-135304 |
| Date Deposited: |
10 Nov 2011 19:35 |
| Last Modified: |
15 Nov 2016 13:39 |
| URI: |
http://d-scholarship.pitt.edu/id/eprint/6940 |
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