Our Progress

September 2019

We spent the month individually brainstorming possible problems for our project, after mingling and sharing ideas with each other eventually CardioTech was formed. While in our beginning stages we've determined that our goal is to help people in wheelchairs maintain good cardiovascular health.

Overview of what was accomplished this month:

Came up with a group name
Started to design a logo
Made a website to help track and present our progress
Started to research!

October 2019

Overview of what was accomplished this month:

More researching!
Looked for people and groups that may be willing to assist us by answering some questions for us
Contacted these professionals in the field
Brainstormed different approaches we could take
Finished logo

Our finished logo!!

Here are some of our brainstorming ideas and quick sketches... While we have a far way to go we have a lot of possible approaches and keep thinking of more!

Here is our first model of a stationary crank machine. The wheel is attached to a handle which will be moved by the person in the wheelchair to move the wheel. The rubberband attached to the handle acts as resistance which can be adjusted.

November 2019

Overview of what we accomplished this month:

More brainstorming!
Prototyping and modeling
Visit MobilityWorks
Contact more professionals
Discuss possibilities of wind vs magnetic resistance
Decide to attempt magnetic resistance and did some research on how magnetic resistance could work
Look at old exercise equipment that has been donated to us for parts

Prototyping of a fan method which would work similar to an ergometer.

Vision Fitness E4100 exercise bike donated by Niskayuna Central School District

Brainstorming and Sketches

The idea on the top of the page is bearings that would attach to the handrail in which we could build off of. The bottom of the page was an idea tyhat would involve using electricity for nresistance.

This our understanding of the physics and math behind an exercise bike.

We recieved the broken exercise bike donated by Niskayuna Central School District and cleaned it off and are ready to take it apart!

December 2019

Overview of what we accomplished this month:

Take apart exercise bike for parts
Obtained wheel chair from Niskayuna Centeral School District
Gave our First Fail Presentation (See Presentations page)

This is the Ki wheelchair that we will be working with

We started to take the exercise bike apart. Here are some pictures of that process and the inner workings of the bike.

January 2020

Overview of what we accomplished this month:

Working on base plate attachment system
- - Sketches
  - Modeling
  - 3-D printed prototypes
Changed idea to bearing system rather than a base plate
Sketched new ideas and began to model on Inventor

This is our first version of the base plate attachments. After making a prototype we've evaluated it and are changing our design to make it stronger and more secure.

This is the second version of our base plate attachments. While this version did work well on the wheel chair we've determined that attaching a base plate would be difficult as it would be very unstable. After discussion and brainstorming we've decided the next logical step would be to attempt a system using bearings.

These are sketches of our new plan which will utilize bearings and a handle attachment to keep the same "boxing" motion.

February 2020

Overview of what we accomplished this month:

Design center plate
Design bearing holder
Design arm locking mechanism
Began prototyping and 3D printing
Meet with Northeast Mobility Center

First Version of the Bearing Holder

Second Version of Bearing Holder

Third Version of Bearing Holder

First Version of the Center Plate

Seventh Version of the Center Plate

Arm Locking Mechanism sketches

This is a picture of one of the wheelchairs Northeast Mobility is working on

We printed several versions of the bearing holders and center plate until we decided on our final design. Below are the prints of our final version of the center plate and the arm locking mechanisms.

March 2020

Overview of what we accomplished this month:

Order parts
Received new longer wheelchair axles as a donation from Northeast Mobility Center
Started assembly of bearing system with 3D printed prototypes
Working on second fail presentation
Decide on using an aluminum plate to house central axis and arms
Present second failure

5" long donated axle from Northeast Mobility Center

Due to COVID-19 we are currently out of school until further notice which means we don't have access to the lab or our wheelchair and printed models. We will focus on proving our system through CAD models for the meantime. Stay safe and wash your hands!

April 2020

Overview of what we've accomplished this month

Google meets with group discussing how we will continue with our project
Working on modeling parts and wheelchair in Inventor
- - - - Get specs for wheelchair
        Design wheelchair parts and make assembly
        Add our system onto the the assembly
Researching materials and ideas to use to move forward with the rest of our system
- - - - Working on finishing the wheel system
        Working on developing the handle system
Check in with mentors - we hope everyone is staying healthy!

Seat Pan

Wheelchair Arm

Part of Wheelchair Frame

Beginning of Wheelchair Assembly with our System Attached

Wheelchair backrest

Wheelchair Assembly as of 4/22/20

Left side of clamp

Right side of clamp

Clamp assembly

Camber Tube and Adapters

May 2020

Overview of what we've accomplished this month

Working on modeling parts and wheelchair in Inventor
- - - - Design wheelchair parts and make assembly
        Add our system onto the the assembly
Google meet with class discussing final presenations
Google meet with group and sample recording for our final presentation
Begin working on final presentation