Abstract
Sit-to-stand is regarded as one of the most mechanically demanding daily tasks. Because of body weakness or disability of some Muslims, they cannot assume all the required physical motions of prayers without relying on a conventional chair. However, using a conventional chair when praying in mosques may lead to two main problems: (1) Disturbing the worshipers in the row behind the chair and/or (2) causing the user of the chair to be misaligned with the row of prayer. In the present paper, a novel conceptual design for a congregational prayer chair that alleviates such disturbances and misalignment problems is addressed. First of all, the existing causes and patterns of using conventional chairs while praying in mosques are outlined. Secondly, design criteria for congregational prayer chairs are established. After that, a novel conceptual design for a congregational prayer chair is explained. The obtained results identified 15 existing causes and 18 patterns of using chairs while praying and 2 patterns of chair placement in the row of prayer. In addition, the results show that the most praying position chairs are used for prostration. This study reveals a key feature concept considered in the conceptual design of the chair to solve the aforementioned problems through constructing a predetermined moving seat pan and a seat back so that the user can attain whatever praying positions without changing the placement of the chair. (C) 2016 Jordan Journal of Mechanical and Industrial Engineering. All rights reserved