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Chapter-1

INTRODUCTION

A civilized society must guarantee fair living conditions for all its members, including
physically challenged people. Over the past few years, changing attitudes have made society
more sensitive to this issue. Mobility is the most frequent problem for physically challenged
people, a problem that the introduction of power wheelchairs has done much to alleviate.
However, a power wheelchair is useless when confronted with an architectural barrier.
Wheelchair is a device used by physically challenged people to enhance their personal mobility.
For this reason, several wheelchairs with stair climbing ability have been developed. Some of
them use tracks, as in these power wheelchairs consume a great deal of energy, compared to
power wheelchairs.
In addition, they are heavy, approaching and leaving stairs are quite dangerous and
slippage, when steering, is unavoidable. Some other solutions adopt a wheel-track locomotion
system, as in or in the top chair these designs use a track system only for off road and stair
climbing operations, using wheels on ground. Though approaching and leaving continue to be a
problem, these wheelchairs are more efficient than previous solutions, in terms of energy
consumption. Other solutions, such as the iBot adopt a hybrid locomotion system whose major
drawback is the excessive cost required to achieve reasonable safety standards. A more highly
evolved device, presented in uses a specific climbing mechanism for step climbing operations
and wheels for on-road motion: this solution is lighter than wheel-track wheelchairs and has no
problems in approaching and leaving stairs, but still requires many actuators. At present, no
commercial device has conquered the market and climbing over barriers continues to be a major
problem for the disabled. There are many types of wheelchairs available in the market like
manual or powered wheelchair and the choice of wheelchair depends upon the physical and
mental ability of the user.
Wheelchair has limitations against architectural barriers on its way. Although as per
PWD 1995 act it is mandatory to provide an accessible environment in every public building but
numerous buildings in India are designed without considering accessibility for physically
challenged and wheel chair users. Many urban cities of India have addressed the problem by

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providing alternatives for the architectural barriers like providing ramps at the entrance
thresholds, lowering curbs, wheeler chair ramps lift etc., but still a wheelchair user must
negotiate few architectural barriers.

1.2 Problem Statement :

The main problem is to find the tools and equipment needed to manufacturing chair which
climb the stairs without any assistance.

The Mechanism which are available as :

1. Conveyor Belt Mechanism
2. Lobe Type Mechanism
3. Tri-Wheel Type Mechanism
* We are going to used Conveyor Belt Mechanism for Manufacturing of Stair Climbing wheel
Chair

1.3 Objective :
The main of project is to design the prototype and it is as follow :
a) Propose a design of wheelchair that will increase the mobility and functionality in climbing of
stairs.
b) Making the total prototype as cost-effective and as less expensive as possible.
c) Forming of a wheelchair structure that would Made up of conveyor attachment

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Chapter-2
LITERATURE REVIEW

M.R. Kushte1,O.S.Dalvi, R.R.Date [1], describes the motorized wheelchairs dates back
in time with several scientists and researchers evaluating the stair climbing mechanism. This
paper evaluates different stair climbing mechanisms viz crawler type, leg type, hybrid type and
wheeled type. Various forces and torques acting on the wheelchair while climbing the stairs are
evaluated. Preferably the outer support assembly comprises wheels on either side of the chair. An
inner support assembly, closer to the center line of the chair, also supports the seat assembly.
Murray and Takakazu [2], the rear wheels are autonomously driven and front wheels are
freewheeling castors. This proposed concept is numerically modeled and power calculations for
linear actuator are made. Stair ascent and stair descent operations are described along with
figures and equations. The control system and the stair edge sensor system are also investigated.
The stepping algorithm is discussed in detail. The influence of external factors like cost, weight,
aesthetics, range of operation, safety, operational efficiency, comfort is evaluated.
Maruti Khot, Anurag Gumaste [3], presented that, the stairs will most likely always be a
reality in the real world, because of the high level of spatial efficiency they provide when
connecting areas of differing vertical elevations. Stairs do present an increased degree of danger
compared to such as gentle slopes but this must to some degree by necessity be simply
considered. For example, in the planning of any new buildings the target users should be
considered. Clearly for public amenities, such as wheelchair users should be considered, but for
example in the case of say a private home in Japan where land space is at a premium (more
specifically very expensive) multilevel construction is unavoidable and stairs will most likely
continue to be used. A compromise situation in the case of families caring for aging parents is
often providing all the essential amenities at ground level (barrier free) and using the upper
levels for the younger families’ respective bedrooms etc.
A S Shriwaskar And S K Choudhary [4], describes the mechanical devices, the
movements and the trajectory generation of a novel wheelchair prototype capable of climbing
staircases. The key features of the design are the use of two decoupled mechanisms for each
axle, one used to negotiate steps, and the other position the axle with respect to the chair to
accommodate the overall slope. This decoupling makes many different climbing strategies

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possible, the overall mechanism becoming extraordinarily versatile from a control point of view.
A control system is necessary to synchronize the movements of all the actuators of the
wheelchair so that its center of mass can follow arbitrary spatial trajectories.
Harshvadan S Modia, Krunal V Patel, Jimikumar R Patel, Jignesh M Patel [5], described
The user is reclined almost parallel to the ground in a very uncomfortable and unsafe position.
One can imagine the difficulty, strength and coordination required to bring the user to a rolling
position (upright) after climbing or descending a staircase. The two clusters of four wheels on the
back are powered by chains and pedals for the user to control with his/her hands.
This completes the summary of manual stair-climbing wheelchairs found in the literature.
Unfortunately, very few scientists and scholars have taken the subject seriously and research and
development of manual stair-climbing wheelchairs lags in development. Since little information
was derived from the limited literature on manual stair-climbing wheelchairs, the focus is
changed to power wheelchairs with stair-climbing capabilities.

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CHAPTER-3
METHODOLOGY AND MODEL

3.1 Working Methodology :

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3.2 CAD Model of Wheelchair :

Fig. 1 CAD Model of Wheelchair

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CHAPTER - 4

Experimental Analysis

4.1 Equipment-
1) Frame/Chasis

4.1.1 Chasis
It is made from the hollow rectangular section of mild steel. The mild steel is low in
cost and the avaibillity of this in market is also high. As to fulfill our objective we choose
mild steel material for chassis.

 Material Used : Carbon Steel

 Composition : Carbon→ 0.20 % - 0.30% , Manganese→ 0.30% - 0.60%
 Properties : Tensile strength 44.54 kgf/mm² , Yield stress 28 kgf/mm²
 Hardness : 170 BHN

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2) Gripped Conveyor Belt:

4.1.2 Gripped Conveyor Belt

The second important component for our design is gripped conveyor belt. The pulleys
will be connected using a pair of conveyer belts. The conveyer belt will be having grips to
provide friction force and tractive force will be generated by the motors driving the pulleys. This
combination of mechanism will help the chair to traverse and hold the inclined plane easily. A
pair of pulleys is projected few a inches higher than rest to provide assistance in the climbing of
stairs. We used Rubber material for this belt.

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3) Chair :

The chair is one of the main parts of the wheelchair. The chair is fitted on to the frame of
the wheelchair. There is a tilting mechanism which connects the chair to the frame. There is need
for the tilting mechanism because the person sitting on the wheelchair may feel like slipping
from the seat because of the inclination of the stairs. Hence we have used actuators for tilting
mechanism.

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4) Geared dc motor:

4.1.4 Gear DC Motor

The geared dc motor as shown in Fig. 4 is works over a fair range of voltage. The higher
the input voltage more is the rpm (rotations per minute) of the motor. For example, if the motor
works in the range of 6-12V, it will have the least rpm at 6V and maximum at 12 V.

Specification of geared dc motor:

 30rpm 12V dc motors with Gearbox

 4mm shaft diameter with internal hole
 125gm weight
 Same size motor available in various rpm
 2kgcm torque
 No-load current = 60 mA(Max), Load current = 300 mA(Max)

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5) Battery :

The batteries in which a reversible reaction is responsible for the generation of electricity
such that they can be reverted to the original reactant state fall under the category of secondary
batteries. Recharging is effected by passing electric current through the battery. The oldest form
of rechargeable battery is the Lead-Acid battery. Lead Acid battery market is dominating
primarily because of the unavailability of any able competitive solution in the market and that
they offer lowest cost per watt-hour despite of their low specific energy. The desire to make
these batteries maintenance free, the flooded battery type evolved into two variants: Sealed Lead
Acid or Gel cells and valve regulated lead acid (VRLA) Batteries. The flooded battery types are
still seen in automobiles ups etc. But due to this evolution, the lead acid batteries now cannot
charge to their true potential where gassing and water depletion in the acid may take place.
Further, these must be stored in fully charged state or else salvation may cause the degradation of
the battery performance. The amount of electric power that can be delivered is often a function
of amount of lead present. Here we use lead acid battery as shown in following figure.

4.1.5 Lead acid Battery

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CHAPTER - 5

Working Procedure

This project designed and built robots capable of moving on and off road in structured
and unstructured environments, going up and down stairs and climbing over obstacles. The
moving unit is implemented, has now been adapted to the stair climbing wheelchair, thus
providing an effective alternative to existing solutions that can improve physically challenged
mobility, as described in the paper presents an evolved version of motorized wheelchair with
climbing ability. It investigates a linkage mechanism, and provides a description of the moving
unit and the various kinds of movements. The whole component of the wheel chairs is fabricated
using mild steel material due to its high strength and low cost. The components used are wheel
arrangement, frame of the chair, mini wheels and fasteners. For the frame of the wheel chair
have been used mild steel and for wheel arrangement rollers are used in wheel chair. The mini
wheels are of rubber, where the person concerned can easily get the chair facilitates his
movement, and reach to any place he wants. We searched for treatment of his problem at least
equipment, efforts and costs. And we hope that this project can be implementing on the ground
successfully to provide humanitarian service for people with special needs bear the whole load of
the person sitting in the chair and the turning wheels are made of plastic material. Here the whole
component is run by battery and it is charged by electric supply. . The block diagram of stairs
climbing wheel chair is shown in following figure.

5.1 Block diagram of stair climbing wheelchair

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CHAPTER - 6

ADVANTAGES , DISADVANTAGES

The advantages, disadvantages and applications of stairs climbing wheel chair are given below.

6.1 Advantages :

The advantages of stairs climbing wheel chair are

 Stair climbing ability.
 Easy to control.
 Movement will be smoothing on any matt/surface.
 It works with more efficiency.
 Self-controlled operation of wheelchair without helper.
 It can move in all direction.
 Simple autonomous operation on stairs and steep slopes possible. Operation as a
standard wheel chair to some extent possible.

6.2 Disadvantages :

The disadvantages of stairs climbing wheel chair are

 Need electric power to charge battery.
 It works with limited weight and chair climbs the stair backwards.

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CHAPTER - 7

APPLICATIONS AND FUTURE SCOPE

7.1 Applications :

The applications of stairs climbing wheel chair are

 It is used for physically challenged people.
 It is used travel from one place another in structured or unstructured environments.
 It may be used in hospital for patients

7.2 Future Scope :

The future enhancement of our project is we have to rectify the problems that we have
encountered during descending of the wheel chair in stairs. We had a smooth travel while
ascending but while coming down from the steps, we found some vibration problem and to
overcome this we have planned to install springs and braking system, so that wheel chair will be
in a good control while descending also. One more gear can be used near the handle for easy
rotation of handle. To increase the speed of the wheel chair gears and sprockets sizes can be
varied.

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CHAPTER - 8

CONCLUSION

This designed stair climbing wheelchair can climb up stairs up to angle of 30 degree. In
this wheelchair rubber crawler provide proper grip on step while climbing up stair cases. It can
be operated by handicapped person without help of any person. It can also climb maximum step
height up to 180 mm. This track based wheel chair is not depending upon the tread width no
matter tread how much long but it can climb up stair case angle up to 30 degree. Maximum
payload was 80 kg. It can travel on rough as well as flat surface. In layman terms, some future
steps have been proposed and some practical steps have been taken towards even better steps for
human and humankind a vision of providing mobility equality for all. As paper conclude that
Disabled people are increasingly able to lead an independent life and play a more productive role
in society with the help of stair climbing wheelchair. Combined with the computed torque
method, a novel control law applied to holonomic or non-holonomic systems is derived, with the
active tension of the track controlled for WT wheelchair robot during the stair-climbing process
simultaneously. The simulation of each of output and each expected reference input of the
generalized coordinate shows the effectiveness of the proposed control law, the experimental
results of the stair-climbing process for wheelchair robot verifying its obstacle-navigating
performance, and the patterns analyzed above are embodied in the experiment.

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