Investigations pertaining to continuous and intermittent cranking motion

Crank radius, frictional torque, plane angle and direction of turning (viz. clockwise and anti-clockwise) are known to affect the cranking time. Adequate prediction models incorporating these factors are not available to the designers of man-machine systems. Consequently a set of experiments were conducted using three different radii, three levels of torque, three different plane angles, and two turning directions for continuous as well as intermittent cranking. Five male and five female right handed subjects performed these experiments. The results indicated the superiority of a clockwise turning direction. The effect of radius, torque, and plane angle were found to be significant. Furthermore, prediction models for the turning rate for continuous and intermittent cranking were developed.