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DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURAL ENGINEERING

FACULTY OF ENGINEERING
AHMADU BELLO UNIVERSITY, ZARIA
PRINCIPLE AND APPLICATION OF ERGONOMIC
LAB REPORT
(AGE 734)
BY
IDRIS SUNUSI IDRIS
M.Sc/ENG/!3"/!#$$%!#$!
SUBMITTED TO&
D'. M.A. G(ARZO
DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURAL ENGINEERING
FACULTY OF ENGINEERING
AHMADU BELLO UNIVERSITY, ZARIA
1
st
AUGUST, 2012
INTRODUCTION
The word ergonomics is derived from the Greek words ergon (work)
and nomos (law). n several co!ntries, the term h!man factor is also !sed.
A s!ccinct de"nition wo!ld #e that ergonomics aims to design a$$liances,
technical s%stems and tasks in s!ch a wa% as to im$rove h!man safet%,
health, comfort and $erformance. The formal de"nition of ergonomics,
a$$roved #% the &A, reads as follows' &rgonomics (or h!man factors) is
the scienti"c disci$line concerned with !nderstanding of the interactions
among h!mans and other elements of a s%stem, and the $rofession that
a$$lies theor%, $rinci$les, data and methods to design, in order to
o$timi(e h!man well)#eing and overall s%stem $erformance.
n the design of work and ever%da%)life sit!ations, the foc!s of
ergonomics is man. Unsafe, !nhealth%, !ncomforta#le or ine*cient
sit!ations at work or in ever%da% life are avoided #% taking acco!nt of the
$h%sical and $s%chological ca$a#ilities and limitations of h!mans. A large
n!m#er of factors $la% a role in ergonomics+ these incl!de #od% $ost!re
and movement (sitting, standing, lifting, $!lling and $!shing),
environmental factors (noise, vi#ration, ill!mination, climate, chemical
s!#stances), information and o$eration (information gained vis!all% or
thro!gh other senses, controls, relation #etween dis$la%s and control), as
well as work organi(ation (a$$ro$riate tasks, interesting ,o#s). &rgonomics
draws knowledge from vario!s "elds in the h!man sciences and
technolog%, incl!ding anthro$ometrics, #iomechanics, $h%siolog%,
$s%cholog%, to-icolog%, mechanical engineering, ind!strial design,
information technolog% and management.
ENERGY MEASUREMENT
Several methods for meas!rement of energ% e-$endit!re are
availa#le. .ne method is the direct calometr%. This involves $!tting a
s!#,ect in a s$ecial cham#er called calorimeter. /eat li#erated is a#sor#ed
#% water circ!lating ro!nd the cham#er. 0or known amo!nt of water, and
if the tem$erat!re of the water is known when entering and leaving the
s%stem, total heat li#erated #% a s!#,ect can #e calc!lated (kar$ovich,
1121). This method is often not feasi#le, es$eciall% for task of short
d!ration. /ence other methods have #een devised for h!man energ%
meas!rement. These methods are #ased on the relationshi$s #etween
energ% e-$endit!re and certain $h%siological inde-, which have #een
esta#lished thro!gh n!mero!s st!dies. These $h%siological inde-es
incl!de' o-%gen cons!m$tion, $!lmonar% ventilation, heart rate, sweet
rate, and rectal tem$erat!re.
AIMS AND OBJECTIVE:
To measure the anthropometric data of the subject
To measure the physiological index of the individual subject (heart rate)
To calculate the energy expenditure of the individual subject (work done)
To correlate the work done to the rate of heart beat, so that energy expended by the
individual on certain field work can be assess from the calibrated graph.
MATERIALS AND METHOD
Materials
Bicycle ergometer: the bicycle ergometer is basically like an ordinary bicycle in
which one of it wheel is turned into flywheel a friction belt is fixed around the
flywheel. ne end of the belt is attached to a scale while the other end is attached to a
weight hanger. !t has a speedometer for displaying the pedalling speed and a
tachometer for measuring the number of revolution per unit time.
Set of standard weight: these are ", #$, #", %$, %", and &$kg respectively.
Stethoscope: for measuring the rate of heart beat
Stopwatch: for recording time
Method
The experiment was conducted by attaching a "kg weight on the hanger and recording the
initial reading on the tachometer scale. !nitial rate of heart beat of the subject was then
recorded and the ergometer was pedalled for one minute at constant speed. 'nd the final rate
of heart beat was measured and recorded. The experiment was repeated with a mass of #$, #",
%$, %" and &$kg respectively. The data was recorded as shown in table # below.
'nalysis of data
Table1: (xperimental )ata
*ass
(+g)
,ounter reading
(-ev.min)
/eart rate
(0eat.min)
!nitial final !nitial 1inal
" 234 #$53 54 "$
#$ #$53 ##$6 "$ "#
#" ##$6 ##6% "# "5
%$ ##6% #%%& "5 "6
%" #%%& #%4" "6 "3
&$ #%4" #&"$ "3 "4
Table#: heart beat and number of revolution
7here 89 number of revolution
19 1orce applied
-9 -adius of the wheel
7
#
9 %:(%%.3):":#$:$.#":(#$53;234).#$$$ 9 &.%"
7
%.......
7
6
,an be found in the same manner
Table2: 7ork rate and /eart beat
/eart -ate 7ork -ate (+<.*in)
(0eats.min)
30 4.23
31 3.35
36 2.12
35 11.30
32 16.51
Fig.1: =raph of work rate against heart rate
Conl!"ion
The anthropometric data has been measure. The physiological index (/eart rate) has been
measured and correlated with the energy expenditure (7ork rate). The correlation coefficient
is $.2&6 which shows good relationship between the heart rate and work rate. Therefore the
work rate of an actual field task can be asses from the graph.
Re#e$ene
#. >(rgonomics for beginner? (%$$4), <an )ul and 0ernard weerdmeester
%. @ecture note prepared by )r. *.'. =warAo.
&. >Bhysiology of muscular activity?, 3
th
edition, (#23#), Beter C. +arpovich, 7ayne (.
Dinning, Dunders (7.0.) ,o. @T)

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