Foldable rollover protective structures: Universal lift-assist design

Details

• Alternative Title:
  Biosyst Eng
• Personal Author:
  Ayers, Paul D. ; Khorsandi, Farzaneh K. ; Poland, Matthew J. ; Hilliard, Cameron T.
• Description:
  The numbers of agricultural tractor rollover fatalities occurring with foldable rollover protective structures (FROPS) in their lowered position are significant. Raising and lowering the FROPS is a time consuming and strenuous process, and operators often leave the FROPS in the folded-down position providing no protection during a rollover. The purpose of this project is to design, manufacture, and test a lift-assist mechanism to raise and lower the FROPS from the operator's seat. The lift-assist design is based on the FROPS actuation forces, FROPS and tractor dimensions, and ergonomics engineering standards [SAE J898/ISO 6682 and SAE J1814]. The design considered can be retrofitted and will not modify or compromise the FROPS structure. A universal lift-assist lever design has been constructed and successfully tested for three FROPS of different sizes meeting appropriate ergonomics engineering standards. The operator actuation forces were less than the 75 N allowable maximum, and within the zones of comfort and reach for the operator. The lift-assist design uses an energy absorbing torsional spring to accommodate heavier FROPS designs.
• Subjects:
  Accidents, Occupational/prevention & Control Agricultural Workers' Diseases/mortality Agricultural Workers' Diseases/prevention & Control Equipment Design Off-Road Motor Vehicles
• Keywords:
  Actuation Force Folding Handle Force Torsion Spring
• Source:
  Biosyst Eng. 185:116-125
• Pubmed ID:
  32327938
• Pubmed Central ID:
  PMC7177207
• Document Type:
  Journal Article
• Funding:
  R01 OH003612/OH/NIOSH CDC HHSUnited States/ ; U54 OH008085/OH/NIOSH CDC HHSUnited States/ ; U54OH008085/ACL/ACL HHSUnited States/
• Volume:
  185
• Collection(s):
  CDC Public Access
• Main Document Checksum:
  urn:sha256:27f81cfd81ae08a185c479857653146ef16e8e8e9697b6691e37ddf6d62a5136
• Download URL:
  https://stacks.cdc.gov/view/cdc/87602/cdc_87602_DS1.pdf
• File Type:
  [PDF - 1.29 MB ]