COMMITTENTE Sanmiro s.r.l.

Via Raffaello, 4
23861 Cesana Brianza
(LC)

RELAZIONE PROVA SU COMMISSIONE

Sanmiro s.r.l.
P.75/2009

Valutazione meccanica ed ergonomica di un innovativo

manico per padelle

Data: 08/01/2010

REDATTO DA IL RESPONSABILE DEL CONTRATTO IL DIRETTORE DI DIPARTIMENTO

Ing. Emanuele Zappa Ing. Emanuele Zappa Prof. Ferruccio Resta
Ing. Giorgio Busca Prof. Alfredo Cigada
Ing. Paolo Mazzoleni
Prova su Commissione– Relazione Politecnico di Milano e Sanmiro s.r.l.

INDICE

1. Ergonomic considerations.......................................................................................... 3
2. Mechanical Evaluation............................................................................................... 7
3. References ................................................................................................................ 10

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Prova su commissione
tra
Politecnico di Milano
e
Sanmiro srl

Valutazione meccanica ed ergonomica di un innovativo

manico per padelle

1. ERGONOMIC CONSIDERATIONS
The correct design of hand tools is a widespread issue; it plays a crucial role in the safe and effective
handling of a number of devices.

It is estimated that approximately one tenth of all industrial injuries in the U.S.A. are caused by the use of
hand tools [1] , [2] . The most injured body parts by both non-powered and powered hand tools are the
upper extremities (59 e 51 %, respectively) and fingers account for more than one half of upper extremity
injuries.

The problem of over-stresses in the upper-limbs appears to be widely study.

Figure 1 Ergonomics of the upper limb: examples of patents [3] ,[4] ]

For example in Figure 1 we find two examples of patent ([3] , [4] from the fishing world, where the
authors of the patents proposed the re-design of common hand tools in order to reduce the user tiredness.

Sanmiro s.r.l. gets into this problem with the release of a new design for pan handles: the G-zero type
(Figure 2).

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Figure 2 New G-zero Sanmiro handle

There are two aspects that appear to be critic in the hand tool design ([5] , [6] ): the elbow inclination e
the wrist one for the end user.

When the tool forces the user to work with extended elbow, it may results in soreness of the forearm, loss
of strength and decrease of sensitivity. If the task requires force to the user, an inclination of 90° is
described in literature as the optimal one and re-design not only of the tool but also of the working
environment is suggested to reach this condition.

Figure 3 Optimum working posture with elbow bent at 90° [5]

The new Sanmiro design allows the user to rise the centre of the handle of about 60 mm respect to a
classic one (Figure 4), resulting, for a typical cooking environment, in a working position characterized
by less open elbow.

Figure 4 Comparison between quote of vertical handling point of Sanmiro and

classical handle

However the most important fact appears to be the effect of the new proposed handle on the wrist
inclination: working with the wrist moved from its neutral position leads to articulation fatigue, resulting
in loss of sensitivity, strength (and consequently grip) and, if repeated for a long time, appearance of
Work-Related Musculoskeletal Disorders [5] ,[6] .

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It has been estimated that the innovative handle proposed by Sanmiro s.r.l. can reduce of about 20° the
wrist tilt, bringing it back to its natural position (see Figure 5).

Figure 5 Wrist posture with classical handle (left) and with Sanmiro handle (right)

This estimation has been done using an upper limb geometric model built starting from the
anthropometric surveys of Chandler et al [7] , in which the arm is modelled as shown in
Figure 6.

Figure 6 Anthropometric model of the human upper limb

The wrist tilt has been estimated rotating the hand so that one of its main diagonals would become tangent
to the handle in the contact point.

Many previous patents tried to limit the problem of the wrist inclination in cooking tools (two examples
in Figure 7)

Figure 7 Examples of patents related to the wrist tilt problem (left[8] , right[9] )

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The new Sanmiro design can reach analogous results limiting the dimensions of the handle.

In addition the approaching of the handling point to the centre of the load reduces the arm to the torque.
Let’s hypothesize the whole load applied in the centre of the pan (this is a reasonable assumption, since
the centre of gravity of the food in the pan is usually in the centre of the pan) and maintain the same
model describe previously (Figure 8).

Figure 8 Conventions for the estimation of the torque acting on the limb

To compare the forces acting on the arm of the operator it is possible to normalise the results, i.e. to
express the results in terms of forces and moments for each newton applied to the centre of the pan (the
results are therefore expressed in (N*mm)/N). This procedure corresponds to apply a load equal to 1N
and estimate the results; the generality of the solution is however not lost, since the results for a load
value of X newton correspond to X times the results for 1N.
We can derive directly from the geometric sketch the resultant torques acting on
the arm joints. The main results are shown in
Table 1:

Torque in a classical Torque in a Sanmiro

handle G-zero handle Percentage variation
[(N*mm)/N] [(N*mm)/N]
Elbow 537 477 - 17 %
Wrist 292 221 - 24 %
Handle point 260 180 -31 %

Table 1 Comparison of the resultant torques

Table 1 show a decreasing of the torques in all the three considered points (elbow, wrist and handle
point). Although the reduction are of different magnitude in each point, it can be concluded that the stress
reduction seems to be non negligible.

Furthermore the variable curvature configuration of the new Sanmiro G-zero handle allows the user to
adapt the handle to his feeling.

The new Sanmiro product appears to be able, in addiction, to distribute more uniformly that a classical
one the pressures in the handling area, reducing a typical problem linked to the hand tools [5] : the
localized over-pressure, in particular on the forefinger.

Finally, the equivalent cross section diameter in the handling area is close to 30 mm: this is, correctly, in
the optimal range for handles that favour the dexterity of the user with respect to the strength in the grip
[5] .

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2. MECHANICAL EVALUATION

The mechanical evaluation is performed by means of a comparison between the new pan handle G-zero
and a previous version. The analysis is based on a FEM simulation of the static loading test described in
standard EN12983-1:2000/A1.

According to the standard EN12983-1:2000/A1, the mechanical test has to be done after a thermal
process is applied to the handle. Since the thermal process alters the mechanical resistance of the material,
it is not possible to assume the nominal values of the mechanical properties for the numerical simulation.
Due to this reason, after an agreement with Sanmiro s.r.l., we decided to perform a comparative test,
meaning that the static test imposed by the standard EN12983-1:2000/A1 was simulated for both a
traditional handle produced by Sanmiro s.r.l. and the innovative G-Zero handle. Since that in previous
tests done by Sanmiro s.r.l. the traditional handle passed the mechanical tests after the thermal process, it
can be supposed that, if the maximum strain in the G-Zero handle would be smaller than the ones in the
traditional handle, also the G-Zero handle would be able to pass the same mechanical test.

Because the analysis is a comparison between the two shapes, the choice of the material used during the
simulation is not important. The software used for the testing is Abacus 6.5.

First of all a CAD model of the two pan handles was imported in the computation environment. Then the
boundary and load conditions was imposed. About the static load test, the standard EN12983-1:2000/A1
requires to constrain one extremity of the handle with a clamp. Then a vertical force of 100N has to be
applied in correspondence of a point 10 mm far from the free extremity. Figure 9 summaries the setup for
the simulation regarding both the two types of handles.

Figure 9 Simulation setup

Figure 10 and Figure 11 show the result obtained from the FEM simulation applied to the old type of pan
handle. The map reports the distribution of the Von Mises strain calculated in MPa.

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Figure 10 FEM simulation for the old shape handle

Figure 11 FEM simulation for the old shape handle

Figure 12 and Figure 13 show the result obtained from the FEM simulation applied to the new type of pan
handle. Obviously the Von Mises strain is reported in this case too.

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Figure 12 FEM simulation for the G-zero handle

Figure 13 FEM simulation for the G-zero handle

Table 2 reports the maximum and minimum values of the Von Mises strain for the two handles. The
positive values are in correspondence of the tense fibres, whereas the negative values are in
correspondence of the compressed fibres. The tense fibres are on the upper surface for the old type handle
and on the internal surface of the G-zero handle. The compressed fibres are on the lower surface for the
old type handle and on the external surface of the G-zero handle.

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Handle σVM min [MPa] σVM max [MPa]

Classic -14.50 13.25
G-zero -5.25 10.25

Table 2
The results show that the new handle G-Zero has a lower Von Mises strain values in both the area of
tense fibres and area of compressed fibres and for this reason it is expected that it can pass the static
mechanical test imposed by the standard EN12983-1: 2000/A1.

3. REFERENCES

[1] Aghazadeh, Mital, “Injuries due to hand tool”, Applied ergonomics, 1987.
[2] Mital, Sanghavi, “Comparison of maximum volitional torque exertion capabilities of individual
of males and females using common hand tool”, Human Factors, 1986.
[3] Patent US 5313735, 05/24/1994.
[4] Patent US 4822087, 04/18/1989.
[5] Freivalds, “Biomechanics of the upper limb”, CRC Press, 2004.
[6] Strasser, “Assessment of the Ergonomic Quality of Hand-Held Tools and Computer Input
Devices”, IOS Press, 2007.
[7] Chandler et al,“Investigation of Inertial Properties of the Human Body”, AMRL TR 74–137
Wright-Patterson Air Force Base, Ohio,1975
[8] Patent US 00D382768S, 08/26/1997.
[9] Patent US 5802960, 9/8/1998.

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