Quote:
Originally Posted by PANAVIA
David, Lets get technical. -
Ok, so if the axles are enduring abuse, can we "reduce the abuse" >? namely is there a different wheel/tire that we can pull from another line of business I was thinking of a foam filled / airated cast polyurethane tyres with air whipped into the batter of the tire where it would reduce the NVH (noise / vibration / harshness ) on the axle. -- and -- to take the abuse of developing roads etc.
Do you have DWG's of the current units > ? I think an open redesign in Auto CAD/SolidWorks would yield an opportunity to examine stress points and allow improvements in geometry.
In this market, -I am thinking that the frame tubing the current manufacturers are using is "Down -to- a price" as opposed to "up to a standard".
There must be an opportunity to work with the managers, designers and producers of the current product. We could refine that offering in generations ( product update cycles) and with the improvements we ( the royal we) could offer , they could leverage it across their vendor-sphere , and we could leverage if across ours and move them in the right direction.
What we are talking about here is a substantive directional change in HOW these products are designed and constructed. I cant think of anything better some spare brain cycles amongst some cobra guys.
If you need help with this , or want to spread the load of management, part research or prototyping, feel free to call/email.
--Steve
|
We don't have any drawings yet. (We don't use DWG, we use Solidworks). All the drawings right now are in our heads as we discuss how to go about this. I REALLY like the collaborative effort. All of us are smarter than any one of us.
A huge problem with tires is the rolling resistance. The hysteresis sucks up energy as you try to move. If any of you have spent any time in a wheelchair, it is amazing how difficult it actually is to move around at all. Rolling resistance is low in a solid tire--until you hit a bump. Polyurethane tires are heavy and so they have a higher i, or moment of inertia, making them harder to wheel around.
There is a reason inflatable bicycle tires have been around for 100 years, virtually unchanged. They work very well.
The main problem I seem to be having is I haven't been able to REALLY find out what the problems actually are. Darren told me he has a bunch of broken wheelchairs as he fixes them all the time. Maybe we need a few pictures to figure out exactly what is going on.
David
