Suspended Free Body Lifting Systems and Rigid Body Systems: A Comparison of Hand Forces During Pushing Activities
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Date
2007-03
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The Ohio State University
Abstract
Manual Material Handling has been associated with an alarmingly high rate of back injuries in modern industry. This situation has resulted in the implementation of many manual material handling interventions, such as carts and overhead lifting devices in an effort to minimize the load imposed on the worker. More and more industrial operations are incorporating overhead hanging interventions such as balancers that employ a pendulum style system for support. However, most of the quantitative analysis of pushing and pulling activities has evaluated rigid body push-pull systems such as carts and rigid body suspensions from a bridge. Free hanging balancers, on the other hand, create a pendulum-style interface between the worker and the hoist. To compare these two systems different tasks this study looks at hand forces using both systems during pushing tasks involving three handle heights, two loads, two speeds and performing a straight push and a precision push. This study found that there are significant differences between rigid body systems and overhead lifting systems in the Y-direction but little significant difference in other directions.
Advisor: William Marras
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Keywords
Pushing, Hand Forces, Free hanging balancers, Carts