Design and Fabrication of Curb-Climbing Mechanism for a Wheelchair using 3D Printing Technology

The main problem that the wheelchair users faced is very limited movement where ordinary wheelchairs are unable to climb curb or stairs and this bring troubles to the users where they cannot use public transport or even go out from their houses. Various scopes and designs of different curb climbing wheelchairs were studied and reviewed based on the past researches and designs did by others. This project came out with a design of mechanism of wheelchair that can climb a curb manually. The rear wheels of the wheelchair were modified into bearing-like wheels together with curb climbing handles. CATIA software was used in this project for drafting and detailed 3D modeling. The function ability of the wheelchair mechanism prototype and proving of idea was tested by 3D printing rapid prototyping and the results shows that the idea was a success.