Beyond Limits: An Intelligent Wheelchair for Inclusive Living
The aim of this project is to enhance the mobility of individuals with disabilities, particularly aiding them in navigating stairs and challenging terrains. Across the world, powered wheelchair employ various methods, primarily categorized into two: 1) tracked mechanisms and 2) robotic wheelchair utilizing intricate robotic systems. The design presented by our team belongs to the latter category, which is recognized for its lighter build when contrasted with the former. However, despite its lightweight structure, this wheelchair design incorporates equipment that renders it more cost-effective and practical than conventional designs within the same category. Our design integrates three distinct mechanisms to adjust the height and center of mass of the passenger during stair climbing and maintain balance and surface contact. Utilizing an array of sensors, it continuously monitors the position of the person on the wheelchair and the wheelchair on the surface. This data guides adjustments in the mechanisms, ensuring stability. This innovation harbors the potential for enhancing various functionalities, including: GPS integration for user navigation. Real-time monitoring of vital signs (e.g., heart rate, blood pressure, body temperature). In an emergency, this data can be transmitted to ambulance centers to pinpoint the individual's location and immediate assistance. A simplified ambulance request system, accessible via a single button press. Overall, this innovative wheelchair prototypes aims to revolutionize accessibility, granting enhanced mobility and independence to individuals with disabilities.
Development and Comparison of a Small-Scale Toroidal Horizontal-Axis Wind Turbine to a Conventional HAWT Design
Wind energy is one of the most promising and rapidly growing sources of renewable energy, although maximizing its efficiency while minimizing noise remains a challenge and limits its widespread adoption. The emergence of toroidal propellers, which have gained popularity for producing comparable thrust levels to traditional drone propellers while producing less noise, could mitigate this. This study aimed to develop a small-scale toroidal HAWT and compare its power and noise output to a conventional rotor design under similar wind velocity conditions. 15-centimeter diameter models of the toroidal and conventional rotors were created in Fusion 360 and simulated using Ansys Fluent to identify the significant aerodynamic characteristics that positively affect the blades’ power coefficient. The toroidal design with the greatest simulated power output at low tip speed ratios (TSRs) was then 3D printed and physically tested in a wind tunnel against the control rotor. The experimental results confirmed that the toroidal design had greater power coefficients at lower TSRs compared to the control rotor. The toroidal rotor started operating at a wind velocity of 3 m/s compared to the control rotor’s 6 m/s, which indicates superior start-up characteristics. While the toroidal rotor produced half the power output of the control at the highest tested wind speed of 7 m/s, it emitted 18 decibels less noise and showed a reduction in discernible noise between frequencies of two to five kilohertz. The results from this study show its potential in low-noise wind turbines within low-wind velocity environments.