Design of combine harvester seat based on anthropometric data of Iranian operators Edris Ghaderi a, 1 , Ali Maleki a, 2 , Iman Dianat b, * a Agricultural Machinery Engineering Department, Shahr-e Kord University, Shahr-e Kord, Iran b Department of Ergonomics, Tabriz University of Medical Sciences, Tabriz 51666, Iran article info Article history: Received 25 January 2014 Received in revised form 24 September 2014 Accepted 22 October 2014 Available online xxx Keywords: Agriculture Match Anthropometry Agricultural combines Farmers abstract Harvesting operation with agricultural combines imposes excessive physical loads on the operators and the poorly designed seats may be an important contributory factor in this regard. This aims of this field study were to evaluate the possible mismatch between seat dimensions of existing harvesting combines and anthropometric characteristics of 200 Iranian operators and to propose seat dimensions based on anthropometric principles. The anthropometric dimensions of each individual operator were compared to the relative seat dimensions using the equations proposed in the literature. The results showed a considerable mismatch for different seat dimensions including upper backrest width (100%), seat height (97%), armrest height (83.7%), seat width (52.8%), lower backrest width (40.6%) and seat depth (39.5%). This meant that the existing combine seats were too high, too narrow and too shallow and had armrests and backrests which did not match with body dimensions of the majority of the operators. It was shown that compared to the existing designs, the new proposed dimensions (including seat height ¼ 400 mm, seat width ¼ 450 mm, seat depth ¼ 410 mm, armrest height ¼ 290 mm, backrest height ¼ 420 mm, upper backrest width ¼ 360 mm and lower backrest width ¼ 400 mm) better matched to the operator's anthropometry, with the match percentages ranging from 77% to 100%. Relevance to industry: The design and manufacturing of agricultural machinery should be made based on the anthropometric characteristics of actual users to avoid unnecessary demands on them. This study provide additional data on the operator's anthropometry that can be used as a starting point for designing more appropriate agricultural machinery or used by other researchers in the field. © 2014 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved. 1. Introduction Although technological advances may lead to reduction of work difficulty as well as improvement in productivity, there may be adverse health and safety consequences associated with using technology in humanemachine interaction. This is the case for agricultural machinery which imposes excessive physical loads on the operators (Mehta et al., 2008). There are a set of too complex and different controls in agricultural machinery, including har- vesting combines, to allow the operator to do all the harvesting operations in a seated working posture. Harvesting operation is a highly repetitive task which requires force to operate pedals and controls and involves frequent trunk twisting and bending move- ments for a long period of time (Donati et al., 1984; Mehta and Tewari, 2000). Such a working condition, together with environ- mental constraints, may results in unacceptable postural loading on the structures of the body and thereby imposing surface pressure and pain in the back, buttocks, thighs and legs (Bovenzi and Betta, 1994; Hostens et al., 2001). The sitting system characteristics may have major impacts on the operating conditions of the agricultural machinery workers (Hostens et al., 2001). Seat, which provides an interface between the human operator and vehicle's mechanical system, may greatly affects the imposed loads on the operator's body and influences the operator's discomfort (Mehta and Tewari, 2000; Hostens et al., 2001). The vehicle's seat should provide the operator with a comfortable and controlling posture, appropriate vision, and safe access to different pedals and controls. Correct sitting posture has been acknowledged as an important factor for the prevention of musculoskeletal problems (Cranz, 2000). Anthropometric mea- surements are one of the important considerations in designing * Corresponding author. Tel.: þ98 411 3357580; fax: þ98 411 3340634. E-mail addresses: edris68gh@gmail.com (E. Ghaderi), drmaleki@iran.ir (A. Maleki), dianati@tbzmed.ac.ir (I. Dianat). 1 Tel.: þ98 936 0930763; fax: þ98 381 4424428. 2 Tel.: þ98 381 4424428; fax: þ98 381 4424428. Contents lists available at ScienceDirect International Journal of Industrial Ergonomics journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/ergon http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.ergon.2014.10.003 0169-8141/© 2014 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved. International Journal of Industrial Ergonomics xxx (2014) 1e7 Please cite this article in press as: Ghaderi, E., et al., Design of combine harvester seat based on anthropometric data of Iranian operators, International Journal of Industrial Ergonomics (2014), http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.ergon.2014.10.003