Division of Biomedical Engineering, Jeonbuk National University, Jeonju, Korea.
Center for Healthcare Technology Development, Jeonbuk National University, Jeonju, Korea.
Technol Health Care. 2024;32(S1):115-124. doi: 10.3233/THC-248010.
Elevator-type evacuation devices have proven to be feasible in high-rise buildings through studies on safety performance and evacuation time. However, there is a lack of research on safety using biosignal analysis in the elderly population.
A carbon material is used in this study to reduce the weight of an evacuation elevator. The impact on the human body is evaluated by conducting a satisfaction survey involving elderly and youth groups and quantitatively analyzing biological signals, including electromyography (EMG) and plantar pressure, during five repeated uses of the proposed device.
The study involves 12 healthy adults in their 20s and 20 elderly individuals with no experience in using an evacuation elevator. The EMG and left and right plantar pressures are analyzed to evaluate the physical factors affected by repeated use.
The experiment results showed that the normalization of EMG to maximum voluntary contraction showed a significant decrease with repeated use, especially in the right tibialis anterior muscle. Moreover, plantar pressure shows a significant difference, which decreased with repetition, and the left and right balance gradually tilted to the left.
This suggests that with more repeated use, muscle tension decreases owing to adaptation, resulting in lower muscle activity and plantar pressure. Particularly, the tibialis anterior muscle experiences significant muscle activity, indicating increased load, but without any apparent danger. In the future, it will be necessary to evaluate elevators for disabled individuals.
通过对安全性能和疏散时间的研究，已经证明电梯式疏散装置在高层建筑中是可行的。然而，对于老年人使用生物信号分析的安全性研究还比较缺乏。
本研究使用碳材料来减轻疏散电梯的重量。通过对老年人和青年人群体进行满意度调查，并对提出的设备进行五次重复使用时的肌电图（EMG）和足底压力等生物信号进行定量分析，评估对人体的影响。
研究涉及 12 名 20 多岁的健康成年人和 20 名没有使用过疏散电梯经验的老年人。分析 EMG 和左右足底压力，以评估受重复使用影响的身体因素。
实验结果表明，随着重复使用次数的增加，EMG 与最大随意收缩的归一化值呈显著下降趋势，特别是在右侧胫骨前肌。此外，足底压力也呈现出显著差异，随着重复使用次数的增加而减小，左右平衡逐渐向左侧倾斜。
这表明，随着更多的重复使用，肌肉张力由于适应而降低，导致肌肉活动和足底压力降低。特别是胫骨前肌的肌肉活动显著增加，表明负荷增加，但没有明显的危险。未来有必要对残疾人用电梯进行评估。
