Technical Paper
RAMSIS - A New CAD-Tool for Ergonomic Analysis of Vehicles Developed for the German Automotive Industry
1997-02-24
970088
In past decades, 2D-templates have been in use for ergonomic evaluations of the interior of vehicles. While the designing process of cars has been considerably improved by the employment of 3D-CAD systems, the development of templates has mainly remained on the 2D-level. In addition to the basic discrepancy in the dimensionality of the templates and the workplaces to be designed there is a considerable lack of possibilities to analyse body postures and comfort feelings in the process of ergonomic design. To overcome these deficiencies FAT and the automobile firms AUDI, BMW, FORD, MERCEDES-BENZ, OPEL, PORSCHE, VW as well as the manufacturers of seats KEIPER RECARO and NAUE/JOHNSON CONTROLS initiated the research project of a new CAD man model, the 3D-softdummy RAMSIS. Apart from recording new anthropometric data, ergonomic research concentrated on two points: Measuring of body postures and movements as well as analysis of postural comfort.