Date Available
12-7-2011
Year of Publication
2004
Document Type
Thesis
College
Engineering
Department
Mechanical Engineering
First Advisor
O. J. Hahn
Abstract
Standup forklift trucks are extensively used primarily for material handling in high density warehouses. These forklifts over the years have been involved in severe accidents causing injuries and taking lives of the operator and that of people on the floor. The major accidents involving these trucks are tip-over, off the dock accidents, compartment intrusions and under the rack injuries. The objective of the work is to analyze the accident data and to provide a conceptual design to ensure safety of the operator riding the standup forklift trucks. The operator is assumed to be safe when retained within the compartment similar to that of the safe space environment of a sit down forklift truck or tractors. Thus a door on the standup forklift would provide a safer compartment. This design would help in preventing severe injuries to the operator in case of any accidents. The important criterion of this design is to provide a door with latch and slide mechanism to ensure easy egress and ingress of the operator. The compartment is designed ergonomically for 95th percentile industrial male population. The accident data is studied by performing statistical and failure analysis. Weibull plots are fitted for life time distribution data and are found to be of increasing rate. This suggests that present safety precautions are increasingly ineffective.
Recommended Citation
Jagarlamudi, Srinivas, "FAILURE RATE STUDIES AND DESIGN ALTERNATIVES FOR STANDUP FORKLIFT TRUCKS" (2004). University of Kentucky Master's Theses. 328.
https://uknowledge.uky.edu/gradschool_theses/328
