Design and preliminary testing of a novel sit-snowboard, enabling chairlift usage

Sit-snowboards allow a person with the inability to actively use his/her legs to snowboard while sitting. However, existing prototypes do not allow using a chairlift. The goal of this study was to modify a prototype sit-snowboard, MINI, to add chairlift accessibility. MINI has a seat construction and two handlebars which allow the user to steer the snowboard. After thorough assessment of all constructed design parameters the most important design parameters for this research were determined; 1) the sit-snowboard seat needs to turn 90 degrees with respect to the snowboard, 2) the tubes of the sitting construction have to be constructed differently to allow the chairlift seat to get under the sit-snowboard seat, and 3) the rear handlebar needs to make way to allow space for the chairlift. A redesign of MINI was made with a bearing and locking mechanism for the sit-snowboard seat and detachable handlebars with a locking mechanism. Subsequently the prototype, SnowGo, was built and tested on snowboard-functionality and chairlift accessibility. The test results show that with SnowGo, it is possible to use the chairlift and maintain the ability to sit-snowboard. Using the chairlift without tumbling over during loading and unloading requires practice, but the sit-snowboarder showed that he did not need a lot of practice with SnowGo since he was able to use the chairlift without falling in four out of five trials. Two advantages were that the safety-bar of the chairlift can be closed during the chairlift ride and that the chairlift can be used by the sit-snowboarder completely independent of any help from a second person.BMDBioMechanical EngineeringMechanical, Maritime and Materials Engineerin