Effectiveness of Balance Seat on Vibration Comfort

People who spend a significant amount of time on driving are concerned about seating comfort. Seat cushion is considered as one of the important factors affecting the comfort of your seat. In automotive seat cushions, flexible polyurethane foam has been widely used for vibration isolation and cushioning purpose. More recently, car seat designers are paying more attention to improving car seat cushion for ride comfort of drivers and passengers. This study introduces the new type of balance seat where cushion is designed with a 2-layered honeycomb structure made of a high elastic polymer, Vetagel. The purpose of this study is to analyze seating comfort of car seat with honeycomb structured balance seat and compare with car seat without balance seat. For experiment, the honeycomb structured balance seat was placed on the car seat. Vibration experiments have been performed on the Buzz Squeak and Rattle (BSR) simulator with random vibration to verify the effectiveness of the balance seat for vibration comfort. Tri-axial accelerometers were used to record vibration at the foot and hip. All vibration parameters measured in the vertical direction (z-axis). The whole-body vibration exposure parameters such as weighted root-mean-square (RMS), transmissibility (SEAT value) calculated as per ISO 2631-1 standard. Ten healthy participants attended that experiment and grouped according to body weight. In result, the measured vibration satisfied the ISO 2631-1 standard in case of without a balance seat but was in close margin. When the balance seat was used, the vibration met the ISO 2631-1 standard and was in safe limit from vibration discomfort. The SEAT value had a reduction of vibration when using the balance seat as compared with the absence of it in all of groups.