Team 4: wheels on anything

1. Team 4: wheels on anything Team 4: wheels on anything Abstract The purpose of this project is to design a device for emerging markets that enables the user to essentially move anything with relative ease and efficiency. The device needs to be relatively cheap, lightweight, and offer an incentive over methods which in some cases have been used for more than millennia. We started our design process by gathering information on current third world transportation means. We were relatively restricted with our research capabilities as direct customer surveying was not realistic, instead we researched current methods and conditions of our target market: small business and agriculture of East Asia and India. From our research we then determined our customer needs and constructed Pugh charts. From these Pugh charts we finalized our customer needs into a hierarchy and began to develop concepts by relating our hierarchy to current models and techniques. We then proceeded to test our concepts with various physical strength experiments. Creativity methods such as Triz and scamper were subsequently applied, and we began to develop our final design. Finally after much deliberation we completed the final details of the design, and formatted the final models. • Current methods • Current transportation methods involve makeshift carts, and designs that have been used for centuries. Our intention is to offer an incentive over these methods • Many of these carts consist of simply of an axel and wheels connected to a wooden base • These designs are relatively inefficient, required to be hand loaded, and are limited in their weight capacity Photos from pinayinpakistan.blogspot.com (bottom) and huffingtonpost.com (top) Hierarchy of customer needs based on Pugh charts Results of scamper and Triz • Early concept selection • We drew up several sketches based on our research and Ideas. • We first drew various parts and components • Our best ideas were selected through morphological charts. • Final design concepts were also generated at this point. The picture to the right was a sketch of the early design demonstrating the devices lifting capabilities • From the implementation of scamper and Triz, we determined the following • Our design was too heavy with stainless steel, so hollow aluminum 2024 bars were selected instead. • The user would have had difficulty in using the device as a lever since there were no optimal lifting positions, a bar made of hollow aluminum 2024 was placed on the end to correct this • We discovered that the user may in some cases have difficulties in tiling up the device to load items, a rotating axel was added to increase ease of tilt and serve as another point of contact with the ground for the trailer • The hazard problem do to weight has also been eliminated with efficient low weight aluminum. Design breakdown • Aluminum 2024 frame • Approximate weight: 350lbs total • The user will need only 60 pounds of lifting force to adequately operate this design without load • Shelled frame to reduce weight yet still retain major strength properties • Geometrically sound design to reduce damage risk • Handle bar near end of trailer to create comfortable lifting positions when using the device as a leaver • Fixed gate to act as a fulcrum and loading device Bill of materials • In regards to sustainability and economic feasibility our design meets the necessary standards required to engage in a third world market • Almost all of our device is recyclable as seen on left, with 90% of the metal used available for recycling. Conclusion We believe that through our design process, that we have adequately met the necessary steps to ensure a successful product in our target market. We have taken careful consideration of our customer needs and sufficiently developed them into coherent hierarchies. Our concepts were re-evaluated through multiple design creativity methods to ensure all details of the design were accounted for. Our design has also been shown to be both economically and environmentally feasible. Our team is satisfied with our design, and believes it will undoubtedly be a useful device. • The materials used in the manufacturing of aluminum 2024 mainly bauxite, are readily available for third world markets . The major deposits of bauxite are shown on bottom left. The planned manufacturing area china, already is a large supplier of the ore By: Macklin Elder, Rui Liu, Yousef Alhosani World map (worldofmaps.net)