Design and Product Development

The Effect of Back-Loaded Distribution on Metabolic Energy and Subjective Fatigue: An Ergonomic Evaluation for the Development of a New Personal Protective Respirator

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Abstract

The global pandemic of COVID-19 has made us aware of the importance of personal safety and protection than ever before. Thus, there are growing interests among the public in personal protective equipment(PPE), and powered air purifying respirators(PAPRs), which has been mainly used by medical personnel and first responders. However, wearing PPE and PAPR likely causes increased metabolic energy cost due to additional load and inertia on the human body. In this study, we are ultimately interested in developing a new personal protective respirator, as an alternative to the current medical PAPR (5.89kg). To this end, this study aimed to quantify the amount of metabolizable energy changes by the different load conditions of a PAPR, specifically by the load's position and distribution on the wearer's back in running mode. We also compared subjective fatigue, in order to gauge a psychological stress imposed on the wearer, while wearing a PAPR.

Keywords: Personal protective equipment, PAPR, Mixed-methods, Subjective fatigue

How to Cite:

Hong, Y., Koo, D., Kim, H., Cho, J., Ahn, J. & Park, J., (2022) “The Effect of Back-Loaded Distribution on Metabolic Energy and Subjective Fatigue: An Ergonomic Evaluation for the Development of a New Personal Protective Respirator”, International Textile and Apparel Association Annual Conference Proceedings 78(1). doi: https://doi.org/10.31274/itaa.13762