Talk:Ceiling-mounted bicycle lift redesign
From DDL Wiki
We received your second report, and you have some interesting ideas. The three solutions you have sketched each address a very different problem, and each seems to require more market research and engineering analysis. The industrial lift would require research of the target industrial spaces. Most warehouses have forklifts and shelving for making use of high spaces. The advantage of the lift concept is not clear, and there seem to be some critical issues with balance yet to be resolved if the wire grid is loaded off of balance. The second concept looks promising – an extension of the existing design to handle a variety of applications. Details of the sliding pulleys need to be worked out, and more analysis is needed to examine balance issues for uneven loads, static analysis for sizing and load ratings, and further market analysis to determine the optimum product or product line for the range of applications. We need to understand if the product would be used only in garage and unfinished basement spaces, we need to know the range of needs for dimensions and capacity, we need to understand use frequency, and we need to be more explicit about the advantage over simple shelving. If you take this direction, we should talk about optimization and about determining the best tradeoff between a line of products, each with a different intended use, vs. a single product that is adaptable. Finally, the last concept does not appear very practical in its current form, and there appear to be problems with simple statics in balancing lifted objects pictured; however, the idea of lifting furniture is quite innovative and could have interesting applications in places with limited space, like dorms, for example. If you have an idea for integrating a lift system into a particular piece of furniture and showing usefulness in a dorm or other setting, we would be interested to see what you have, but if you cannot move quickly in conceptualization and identification of a clear need for this, we recommend you proceed with the second concept and begin moving quickly into detailed design. Do you intend to make any changes to the locking mechanism or any other parts of the system based on your prior analysis? Please talk to Prof. Michalek about possible application of quantitative techniques that could be relevant for this project.
We look forward to seeing your prototypes in the design review.
