Safety and ergonomics enhancement of the foldable rollover protective structures

For the agricultural tractors, the risk of loss of stability is limited when passive safety devices, the so-called rollover protective structures (ROPSs), are installed. In the case of limited height coltures, such as vineyards or orchards, the tractor is often equipped with a two-posts foldable and front-monuted roll-bar ROPS (FRB). The main advantage of FRBs consists in the possibility to use the tractor with a low operative overall height, keeping the rollbar folded down. However, FRB’s conventional solutions underestimate the operators’ risk-taking behavior and their widespread misuse due to the efforts needed to operate them. This study aims at reducing the problem by providing the FRB with aided systems to facilitate the FRB raising and locking. In particular, the ergonomics issues related to the raising and lowering phase were investigated and the technical characteristics of aided systems were detected. This led to the development of a novel automatic system to lock the FRB in a safety configuration to support the tractor’s operator.