Design and development of a portable, deployable trolley: part 2

Abstract

Grocery shopping will always be an integral part of our lives. While some people have the luxury of living close to a nearby supermarket, allowing them to have quick and easy grocery trips, some people have to rely on transportation, be it public or private, to get to the closest supermarket. At the supermarket, trolleys and baskets are commonly used to assist in transporting groceries around as supermarket-goers carry on with their shopping. Upon completing the grocery trip, trolleys and baskets have to be returned at their designated return points, and supermarket-goers have to carry the groceries back home, either by plastic bags, or their own portable trolleys. This may be tedious for people, drivers in particular, as not all portable trolleys are able to be stowed easily into their cars. This project aims to study existing folding and stowing mechanisms, which can be used to relieve the heavy lifting of groceries from one point to another. The folding mechanism should also be able to allow the trolley to be stored seamlessly into the trunk of a car, while also being able to be folded into a compact assembly for storage. Another factor to consider is that the trolley should be easy to operate, and comfortable to use, so as to allow for a wider range of target users. Solidworks will be used in this project to assist in visualising mechanisms before fabrication, and to conduct Finite Element Analysis (FEA) to test virtual loads on components. This will help to ensure that mechanisms interact as intended, and will give a rough idea whether components designed are able to withstand design load. A prototype will then be fabricated, assembled and tested to ensure simple, safe and effective operation.