Low-Cost Wheel Chair

ME450 Capstone Design and Manufacturing Experience: Winter 2008A low-cost wheelchair has been developed for use in third wold countries. The need for a wheelchair which is not only inexpensive but will function properly is a real demand in countries without standardized healthcare. This new wheelchair is easy to manufacture and assemble, and rugged enough to support up to a 250 lbs load. The main aim of this project was to create a wheelchair which costs so little, it can be sold profitably for under $20, making the decision to help a population in need much easier. A great deal of the utility of this design comes from the fact the bearings are recycled from roller-skates, saving much of the cost of manufacturing, and the chair can be manufactured from low-cost plastics.Prof. Srihdar Kotahttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/58680/1/me450w08project21_report.pd