Development of the Evaluating System for Ride Comfort and Fatigue in Vehicle 2001-01-0388

The ride comfort in road vehicles and the drivers' fatigue are dependent on a complex combination of variables, including the vibration. In many study, ride comfort and driving fatigue are studied as an independent research area respectively. A subjective measures, as a general method, are used in evaluating them. Therefore, it is necessary to investigate the factors affecting drivers' ride comfort and fatigue in a scientific and systematic manner in order to provide the drivers with more safely operated automobiles and to prevent the traffic accidents due to fatigue. An evaluating system for ride quality and fatigue in vehicle is constructed. This system consists of a 12 axis vibration measurement module, an electromyography(EMG) measurement module and an ultrasonic 3D motion analyzer. In this study, we investigated the overall ride value of seven types of vehicle so as to choose the two vehicles which have a good or bad ride quality. Then using these two vehicles, we investigated the influences for the degree of ride quality on fatigue. Experimental results about both the ride quality based on the root mean square acceleration and fatigue based on the EMG signal and the motion of driver are provided to show the effectiveness of the constructed system.