160 



PANEL DESIGN 



fortable and permit the easiest operation of 

 the equipment. The Air Force studies are 

 good models, but studies of other types of 

 equipment and other types of operator posi- 

 tion problems are necessary. For example, 

 it may be desirable, as has been found the 

 case in industry, to have the operator shift 

 from seated to standing positions when re- 



Fig. 6. Suggested types of vertical working sur- 

 faces that might increase the area an operator can 

 reach on a panel. (From Lipschultz and Sand- 

 burg, 24) 



quired to operate equipment for long ses- 

 sions (1). In this case, it has been found 

 possible to arrange seat height and work 

 space dimensions so that the operator may 

 always be within practical working distance 

 of his equipment and perform his duties 

 equally well in either position. In other 

 instances, special problems may arise with 

 certain equipment that will require some 

 departure from the conventional positions 

 of the operator. One extreme example of 



this type is the investigation of flying in 

 the prone position. So far it has been shown 

 that subjects may use the best designed 

 prone bed for as long as two hours without 

 notable discomfort (10). Of course, the 

 Umits of reach and vision are seriously 

 altered by the assumption of the prone posi- 

 tion. Controls and displays above the head 

 and toward the rear of the operator are 

 extremely difficult to use; forward locations 

 and those on the floor are the best (5). 



The Orientation of the Panel 



What position the operator will assume 

 in the use of equipment and what limits 

 of reach and vision he will have will, of 

 course, depend a great deal upon how the 

 panel or panels he is operating are oriented 

 in space. A panel may be a single surface 

 or a group of surfaces and may be oriented 

 horizontally, vertically or obUquely. Which 

 type of orientation will be used in any 

 specific situation will depend to a large ex- 

 tent upon the amount of space available for 

 the equipment. Certain conditions will de- 

 mand a vertical panel, others will permit 

 horizontal or oblique panels. Very fittle in- 

 formation is available at the present time to 

 indicate which type of orientation best suits 

 human capacity in different types of tasks. 

 One study of the VJ radar mounted at 0, 

 15, 30, 45, 60, 75, and 90 degrees showed 

 that the speed and accuracy of target 

 indication was not affected by angle of in- 

 clination (23). Interestingly enough, how- 

 ever, a survey of the opinion of the ex- 

 perienced operators used as subjects showed 

 that 15, 45, 30, 60, 0, 75, and 90 degrees 

 were preferred, in that order, even though 

 zero degrees is the normal working angle 

 for that radar equipment. Another study 

 of the limits of reach on a vertical panel 

 suggests that a greater percentage of the 

 possible reach of an operator can be utilized 

 if panels are flanged outward toward the 

 operator or curved or bowl-shaped (24). 

 Some of the advantages achieved by these 

 innovations are illustrated geometrically in 

 Fig. 6. At the present time, however, there 



