Physical capability limits for right-angle power tool operation

Abstract

Automotive assembly operations require power tools to secure fasteners and these operations have been linked to increased risk of musculoskeletal disorders. This work was designed to develop physical capability limits for direct current right-angle power tool (RAPT) operations using psychophysics. Forty females fastened joints of different hardness’s using three fastening strategies, at three fastening frequencies. Participants chose to fasten, independent of orientation, joints up to 89 (10.6) Nm using Atlas Copco’s TurboTight^®, compared to 51.8 (8.1) Nm using Atlas Copco’s Quickstep and 48.6 (10.2) Nm using Stanley’s Automatic Tightening Control. The differences between fastening strategies were not as large when fastening soft joints; 59.2 (16.2), 52.3 (14.6), and 53.5 (11.3) Nm, respectively. As fastening frequency increased, participants chose lower target torque magnitudes to fasten. Based on this work, RAPT manufactures can adjust fastening strategies to improve their tool’s ergonomics performance.

Practitioner summary: Fastening tasks was identified as posing an injury risk to workers performing automotive assembly, yet presently there are no published physical capability limits for direct current right-angle power tool operation. Using a psychophysical methodology, physical capability limits for RAPT fastenings were established for different joint hardness, fastening frequencies and RAPT position/orientation.

Keywords:

• Industrial ergonomics
• physical ergonomics
• direct current
• right-angle power tool
• physical capability limits

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Acknowledgements

We would like to acknowledge that this work was based on a master’s thesis completed by Jonathan Valencia, Valencia, Jonathan. (2018). Ergonomics determination of physical capability limits while using right angle power tools. University of Windsor. Electronic Theses and Dissertations. 7483. https://scholar.uwindsor.ca/etd/7483

Additional information

Funding

This research was funded by the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada (APCPJ 459726).