Kirkham Wheelchairs

[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

[Dwight]

has anyone look at this site?


http://www.switched.com/2010/03/19/d...-wheelchair%2F

Dwight

[David Kirkham]

Originally Posted by Dwight

has anyone look at this site?


http://www.switched.com/2010/03/19/d...-wheelchair%2F

Dwight

Yes, I was PM'd with that very site! Great minds must think alike. This really is a great group of guys.

David

[David Kirkham]

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