Seat Comfort Objectification: A new approach to objectify the seat comfort

Abstract

The seat is the largest contact area between a human and the car. Optimizing this contact area is therefore highly relevant for long termcustomer satisfaction. The share of the total production costs for the interior can be between 20% - 30% of which almost 40% is for the seats. The current literature of seat research ismostly on the properties of foam related to comfort and discomfort. In this PhD a study is done to prove that the perception and the (dis-)comfort of an automotive seat is not only influenced by the foam properties and contour. Other seat components like the seat cover, lamination and the seat suspension might play a role as well. To study the effect of different elements a measurement tool was developed which records properties that are relevant for some sensors in the skin. These mechanoreceptors in the skin are shear forces, elongation, friction and pressure. A tool was developed, which is a stamp in the formof a half sphere. The half sphere is equipped with pressure and elongation sensors. This makes it possible to measure pressure and pressure distribution, elongation and shear forces. With the tool 648 samples of seats with different seat components were tested. Additionally 98 participants tested various seats with properties comparable to the 648 samples. The tests showed that it was able to measure differences in elongation, pressure and shear force.