Expandable Wheelchair Final Report Sponsor: Industry Advisor: Facility Advisor: Team: Keen Mobility Rick Klein Faryar Etesami Meagan Pischel Robb Sparks Joshua Hatch Aleksey Synkov Spring, 2005 PSU / Keen Mobility PSU / Keen Mobility
Mission Statement Develop a low-cost manual wheelchair with adjustable width and depth for skilled care facilities. PSU / Keen Mobility
Need for Expandable Wheelchair Reduce size of chair fleet in nursing homes Reduce wide (20”) chair rentals Free up Medicare money for other patient needs Provide a better fitting chair to patients PSU / Keen Mobility
Main Design Objectives Adjust width 16” to 20” Increase chair capacity to 300 lbs Allow quick, tool free adjustment Adjust depth 16” to 18” PSU / Keen Mobility
Additional Requirements Allow use of normal doorways Ability to fold instantly Standard service life Easy maintenance Manageable chair weight Safety Reliability PSU / Keen Mobility
Final Design Standard Adult Wheelchair Folded pinned attached Crossbar design allows wheelchair to fold PSU / Keen Mobility
Final Design Double Crossbar for added weight capacity Width Adjust PSU / Keen Mobility
Final Design Handle Re-designed for Depth Adjustment Original Design Sliding Fixed Original Design Re-design PSU / Keen Mobility
Analysis F Finite Element Analysis (FEA) for Handle PSU / Keen Mobility
Analysis FEA Result Yield Strength = 57 kpsi max. stress = 30 kpsi FOS = 1.9 Safe for designed load max PSU / Keen Mobility
Testing Broken into quantitative and qualitative characteristics Width and depth adjustability meet project requirements Width adjusts in less than 3 minutes, depth in less than 1 minute Chair still folds easily PSU / Keen Mobility
Patenting Grant funds available for patenting Draft patent application sent to lawyer PSU / Keen Mobility
Conclusions and Recommendations The wheelchair meets all main design objectives and the majority of other PDS requirements Only aesthetics need serious help Some areas for refinement were identified PSU / Keen Mobility
Special Thanks Rick, Jerry, Brandon and entire Keen Mobility Team Professor Etesami Vancouver Skilled Care Facility nurses and staff PSU / Keen Mobility