ppt slides

The Excellence Wheel

Project Proposal

for

ENGT 4050 Senior Technology Capstone Prof. Richard Springman

Project Team A-10 Mohammed Alyousif, Team Leader Mahmoud Zeitoun Randy Knapschaefer Abdeen Alqassab Mustafa Alsheryawi

February-14-2018 The University of Toledo College of Engineering Engineering Technology Department

Introduction

The Excellence Wheel is an attachment that can turn any wheelchair into an electric power wheelchair. Millions of people depend on wheelchairs to assist with mobility everyday.This proposal will present the motivation behind this idea, give a summary of our project, dive into some technical details, and summarize the contributions that this project can have for society.

Motivation

According to the National Institutes of Health, 2.2 million people depend on wheelchairs to assist with mobility every day. While simple tasks like walking through a store may not seem like an issue to most people, it can be a huge issue for disabled people who do not have the strength to get around. While there are options to improve the mobility of disabled people, such as electric scooters and other wheelchair assisting devices, they are all extremely expensive. To combat this issue The Excellence wheel can help improve mobility.

The creation of the wheelchair has helped countless people improve their limited mobility. While it works great for people with strong arms or someone to help push them around, it still limits the mobility of people with weaker upper bodies who do not have any assistance. The advancements of electronics in the past few decades have allowed for great advancements in wheelchair assistance, including electric powered wheelchairs and other electrically driven devices. As time goes by these devices continue to get less expensive, however, many people still would not be able to afford them at modern prices. In addition, while many stores have electric scooters for disabled people to use, that person still must get out of their chair and into the scooter. The goal for this project is to create an assistance device that is affordable and convenient to use.

The Excellence Wheel seeks to be a wheelchair assistance device that is affordable and convenient to use. The goal is to create a device that is lightweight, portable and easy to use. The device will be able to lock on to any wheelchair making them electric powered in an instant. Creating The Excellence Wheel can assist millions of people who use wheelchairs for mobility every day.

Project Details

Project Scope and Elements

The project scope is to provide a fast attaching mobility device for wheelchair users. There will be a base bracket attached to the wheel chair. This bracket will enable The Excellent Wheel to quickly and easily attach and detach from the wheelchair. When attached, The Excellent Wheel will provide battery powered assistance to the user.

Implementation Issues and Challenges

Several issues must be resolved by The Excellent Wheel project. First and foremost is the issue of weight. To make this a practical device, it must be easy to use and easy to transport. As with other industries, making this product light weight will be expensive.

Another challenge to this project is battery life. Lithium ion batteries have made lightweight, long lasting power more attainable. These batteries are very expensive though, and since this is a self-funded project, lithium ion batteries may not be an option. Standard lead-acid batteries may need to be utilized, which may lead to issues with weight.

The final challenge presented to this project will be tooling availability. Metal working requires expensive tools. Members of the project will be required to source these tools.

Budget and Materials

The budget and materials list for this project are itemized in Table 1. The funding for this project will be provided by the members of The Excellent Wheel project.

Table 1- Bill of Materials and Budget

Timeline

The Excellent Wheel Project started up on January 17th, 2018 and is expected to be complete on April 18th, 2018. This gives some room for unexpected setbacks at towards the end of the project. A detailed timeline of The Excellent Wheel project can be seen in Table 2.

Table 2- Project Timeline

Deliverables

This project will produce a working prototype for a mobility assistance device. This device will be easily attachable and detachable. It will allow the user to simply twist the throttle once attached, and easily move wherever they need to go.

Conclusion

To summarize, The Excellent Wheel will provide an affordable mobility assistance device. It will provide users with inexpensive mobility assistance to allow them the freedom to move around on their own. Simple controls, similar to what bicycles use, will allow anyone to easily operate this device. Light weight construction will allow the device to be highly mobile and efficient.

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