Estudio de la incidencia del sistema de climatización automotriz en el confort del operario dentro del habitáculo de una excavadora

Abstract

The target of this research was to demonstrate how the automotive air conditioning system affects the comfort of the operator working inside the excavator cabin. It was considered a sector where the climate is hot, so the study was applied in the Piedrafina sector, located 45 minutes from the Chaco Canton belonging to the province of Napo. Through the company, CVA (Constructora Villacreces Andrade) was possible to use its machinery and operators to carry out the study. The Fanger method was applied to evaluate thermal comfort in work fields. The level of activity, clothing characteristics, dry temperature, relative humidity, mean radiant temperature, and air speed, based on the estimated mean vote and the percentage of dissatisfied people, were taken into account to determine the thermal sensation that a person presents in their work environment. Results showed a median value of 14.33% as a percentage of operators dissatisfied in the A/C condition, which allowed us to understand that the satisfaction of the operators when working with A/C is 85.67%, a value of 29.54% of dissatisfied operators under the condition of without A/C. It determined 70.46% dissatisfaction of the operators when working in this condition. It is concluded that the activation of the automotive air conditioning system inside the cabin of the machinery used proposes a solution for the operators, so in the study carried out, the thermal comfort levels were verified within the closed environment during their workday. It is recommended to continue with studies and evaluations on the comfort not only of heavy machinery operators but of all professional drivers and fleets of machinery in companies.