Effect of lifting device and biomechanical force assessment during lifting in steel rolling mill

Abstract

This paper reports on the investigation of the effect of lifting parameters on compressive and shear forces at the lower back (about the L5/S1 region of the spine). The experimental study is conducted under varying load weights, horizontal location of load from L5/S1 and lifting technique (stoop, full squat and lifting device). For this, the design of experiments approach using Taguchi’s orthogonal array is used. The level of importance of the parameters on compressive and shear force is determined using analysis of variance. In the study 8% to 18% reduction in spinal disc compression and 25% to 28% reduction in shear force is observed after applying lifting device.

Keywords:

• Lifting parameters
• compressive force
• shear force
• L5/S1 disc

Additional information

Notes on contributors

S Singh

Dr Sarbjeet Singh is working in the Department of Mechanical Engineering at Government College of Engineering & Technology, Jammu, India. He has 13 years of teaching and research experience in mechanical engineering. His broad area of specialisation is industrial and production engineering, and research areas are engineering maintenance, human factors and biomechanics analysis. Sarbjeet is life member of the Indian Society of Technical Education (ISTE), Indian Institution of Engineers and Indian Ergonomic Association (IEA).

S Kumar

Prof Sunand Kumar has 28 years of teaching experience in mechanical engineering. He is supervising four PhD scholars at the Department of Mechanical Engineering, National Institute of Technology, Hamirpur, Himachal Pradesh, India. His broad area of specialisation is industrial engineering, and areas of interest are reliability and system modelling, total quality management, ergonomics, supply chain management. He has more than 80 research publications to his credit in international and national journals and conferences. Apart from teaching, he has been the Head of the Department of Mechanical Engineering and part of the administration of the institute having worked as Dean of Students Welfare, Chief Warden (Hostels), and Coordinator of International Affairs (collaboration with the academic institutions outside India).