Design and Calibration of an Instrumented Seat Post to Measure Sitting Loads while Cycling.

Dieltiens Sien,Marc Juwet,Keivan Shariatmadar,D’Hondt Jordi,Mark Versteyhe

doi:10.3390/s20051384

Abstract

Traditional instrumented seat posts determine context-induced seat loads to analyze damping properties. This paper presents an enhanced instrumented seat post able to measure all six load components to resolve user-induced seat loads. User-induced cycling loads consist of all loads the user applies to the bicycle during cycling and is measured at the steer stem, the seat post, and the pedals. Seat loads are essentially uncharted territory, as most studies only address pedal loading to study cycling technique. In this paper, a conventional seat post is redesigned by equipping it with a u-shaped component and strain gauges. The instrumented seat post is straightforward thanks to (i) the simple design, (ii) the gravitational calibration method, and (iii) the permitted clearance on the strain gauge alignment. Analyzing mean seat loading in function of the pedal cycle can provide extra insights into cycling technique and the related injuries. It is an interesting addition to the universally adopted method of utilizing singular pedal loads.

Highlights

Initial instrumented seat posts are developed to analyze the damping characteristics of different bicycle configurations based on the amount of energy that is exchanged between the vibrating bicycle and the cyclist [1,2] Loading due to unsmooth pavement and accelerations are measured in the normal and the anterior directions, and the absorbed power is calculated to analyze the level of comfort [3].Cycling sore related to the seat is the most frequently reported discomfort amongst cyclists [4,5].Skin injuries of the groin and soreness of the ischial tuberosities and the pelvis are frequently reported by recreation cyclists [4,6]
The normal axis represents the seat load expressed in Newton, and the horizontal axis represents the phase of the pedal cycle, wherein the right pedal starts (0%) and ends (100%) in the upper normal position
The Anderson–Darling Test for a Normal Distribution fails to reject the null hypothesis, which states that the data comes from a normal distribution at a 5% significance level; it can be concluded that 95% of the data are situated in the gray area

Summary

Introduction

Initial instrumented seat posts are developed to analyze the damping characteristics of different bicycle configurations based on the amount of energy that is exchanged between the vibrating bicycle and the cyclist [1,2] Loading due to unsmooth pavement (context-induced cycling loads) and accelerations are measured in the normal and the anterior directions, and the absorbed power is calculated to analyze the level of comfort [3].Cycling sore related to the seat is the most frequently reported discomfort amongst cyclists [4,5].Skin injuries of the groin (e.g., ulceration, bruising, chafing, boils) and soreness of the ischial tuberosities and the pelvis are frequently reported by recreation cyclists [4,6]. Initial instrumented seat posts are developed to analyze the damping characteristics of different bicycle configurations based on the amount of energy that is exchanged between the vibrating bicycle and the cyclist [1,2] Loading due to unsmooth pavement (context-induced cycling loads) and accelerations are measured in the normal and the anterior directions, and the absorbed power is calculated to analyze the level of comfort [3]. Cycling sore related to the seat is the most frequently reported discomfort amongst cyclists [4,5]. Other researchers point out the necessity of shear loading for skin tissue breakdown during cycling [4,8,9]. For this reason, analyzing context-induced sitting loads is not sufficient to analyze the sitting comfort while cycling.

Methods

Results

Discussion

Conclusion