Design and Development of Mechanically Actuated Wheelchair Convertible to Bed
Wheelchair design for patient safety and comfort has been one of the most concerned topics for practitioners of mechanical engineering and bio-engineers. In the present scenario of medical institutions, transferring of immobilized patients from bed to wheelchair and vice-versa for numerous chronic and emergency activities is a very labor intensive and tedious job. Various attempts have been made in addressing this problem. These were modeled using simple mechanical devices providing the conversion. But still the issue of easy and controlled transition of adjusting the position of wheelchair’s head and base part according to patient’s needs and its full conversion has not been modeled and devised completely. So arises the need for a suitable, efficient and complete designing and development of such a device. This paper focuses on the design and manufacturing of a safe, reliable and low cost wheelchair which is convertible to a bed and vice-versa using a novel mechanical actuation by the effort of a single person. It models out a process of development and evolution of a reliable and verified design. Key areas focused upon are compact and efficient transmission system, discrete angular control of head and leg space with efficient load distribution while optimizing the size, cost (initial, service and disposal) and weight of the device. Further, the model is analyzed and justified by applying Quality Function Deployment (QFD) and Analytical Hierarchy Process (AHP) methods.