Design and realization of a swivelling seat for a Paralympic racing boat

Abstract

In the past few decades, an increased interest in physical disability studies has developed. However, there is a lack of devices and innovations that allow disabled athletes to properly participate in Paralympic sports. In this work, a new, ergonomic swiveling seat used for Paralympic sailing boats has been developed and is compared to the traditional seating system. To increase the performance of the improved seat during a regatta race, a variety of innovative modifications have been introduced; the structural seat design has been developed through 3D simulation; a FEM (finite element method) analysis has also been presented to calculate the real stress and deformation ranges on the structure. Results show significant reduction in the weight of the seating structure, as well as an increase in the seat’s movement accuracy, in relation to the design and selection of the actuator. Furthermore, structural modifications make the swiveling system more ergonomic for most disabled users during sailing.