Hutchinson, Francis Williams, B.G.S., Louisiana State University, 1989
Master of Science in Industrial Engineering, Summer Commencement, 2012
Major: Industrial Engineering
Evaluation Of Methods To Operate Gate Valves Using Elapsed Time, Rating Of Perceived Exertion, And Electromyography
Thesis directed by Professor Fereydoun Aghazadeh, Ph.D., PE
Pages in thesis, 86. Words in abstract, 253.
ABSTRACT
Industrial valve handwheels are in common use in many industries to block, allow, or regulate the flow of materials within a system. Significant numbers of musculoskeletal disorders have been attributed to turning valve handwheels. The torques encountered to break and/or turn these handwheels often exceeds 100 Nm and therefore necessitate the use of special wrenches or other aids. The literature reveals that most of the research has been done to determine the operators capabilities for developing the breaking forces. After breaking, the continuous muscular effort for as much as five to fifteen minutes required to fully open or close some valves is believed to place greater demands physically and physiologically on the operator than the initial breaking torque requirement. This study used electromyographic data taken from two different locations, the elapsed time to fully open a valve, and Borgs subjective Ratings of Perceived Exertion (RPE) obtained from the participants to determine the optimum method for opening the valve. The data was obtained from a group of 10 participants who fully opened the valve by using their hands only, using a conventional valve wrench, and using a modified valve wrench. The tasks were repeated with the valve wheel set at two different torque requirements: 25Nm and 50Nm. The data gathered was then analyzed and evaluated to determine if the modified wrench was the optimum method to open the valve. Although the modified wrench was demonstrated to be the most efficient under some conditions, advantages from further testing and modifications to the wrench were indicated.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:LSU/oai:etd.lsu.edu:etd-07272012-180852 |
| Date | 02 August 2012 |
| Creators | Hutchinson, Francis Williams |
| Contributors | Aghazadeh, Fereydoun, Ikuma, Laura, Mann, Laurence |
| Publisher | LSU |
| Source Sets | Louisiana State University |
| Language | English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | text |
| Format | application/pdf |
| Source | http://etd.lsu.edu/docs/available/etd-07272012-180852/ |
| Rights | unrestricted, I hereby certify that, if appropriate, I have obtained and attached herein a written permission statement from the owner(s) of each third party copyrighted matter to be included in my thesis, dissertation, or project report, allowing distribution as specified below. I certify that the version I submitted is the same as that approved by my advisory committee. I hereby grant to LSU or its agents the non-exclusive license to archive and make accessible, under the conditions specified below and in appropriate University policies, my thesis, dissertation, or project report in whole or in part in all forms of media, now or hereafter known. I retain all other ownership rights to the copyright of the thesis, dissertation or project report. I also retain the right to use in future works (such as articles or books) all or part of this thesis, dissertation, or project report. |
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