Submitted by:

TARASH SINGH RAJPUT (031654)

VIVEK SHARMA (031660)
AKHIL CHAWLA (031661)

Major Project
8th Semester
4th Year
Batch: 2003-2007
Mechanical Engineering Deptt.
PEC, Chandigarh
Project Incharge:

Dr. RAJNESH TYAGI

Problem Statement

The problem was to modify the walking frame

so that it should also assist in sitting along with
walking assistance.

Objective
To design and manufacture a walking frame
which should also provide sitting assistance
along with walking assistance to the person.
To provide a means of sitting to the people who
are advised to take support of walking frame.

Walking Equipment
Walking equipment is used for two purposes:

As part of a rehabilitation programme when the user is recovering

from an injury or operation
As a long-term aid to mobility when the user has a permanent
difficulty with walking.
The rehabilitation process is a gradual progression towards
independent and unassisted walking and may commence with
the use of a walking frame to give the user confidence.

Types of Walking Frames

Various types of walking frames are available these days serving
the needy people with their various features. Some of them are:

Simple walking frame

Foldable walking frame
Adjustable walking frame
Wheeled walking frame
With brakes
Without brakes

Existing Designs of Walking Frame

Waking Frame Design Considerations

Before designing a walking frame, various design considerations
should be taken into view:

Designed to be picked up by the user, therefore

needs to lightweight.
It should be rigid.
It should provide stability by providing wider supports
base.
It should provide a good balance while walking.
Forces acting on it should be balanced.
It should be able to increase the confidence of user in
his/her walking ability

Additional design considerations

for providing sitting assistance
Walking frame should allow sitting assistance by
adjusting its height or by the gripping arm movement.
In case of adjusting height mechanism, it should
provide sitting assistance without shock.
Human effort should not be too much.
It should be easy to operate.

Force Analysis of Walking Frame

A term walker tipping index is used to measure the stability of the
walking frame.
Walker tipping index is the tendency for the walker to tip forward.
Walker tipping index is given by:

Where:
WTI = Walker tipping index, it gives the measure of stability of the walker
Fy = Vertical walker-to-floor force
Fx = Horizontal walker-to-floor force acting perpendicular to axis
connecting 2 walker legs (rp) perpendicular distance of walker center
of pressure to axis connecting 2 walker legs
Walker height = Height of walker handgrips above floor

Observations from WTI

The tendency of the walking frame to tip forward depends on the
forces FX and FY applied to the walker as shown in the figure and
their respective perpendicular distance from the expected tipping
axis.
A forward tipping moment about an axis which connects the walker's
two front legs with the floor can be expressed as the product of the
horizontal shear force (FX) and the height of the walker's hand grips
(height).
The forward tipping moment increases with the magnitude of the
forward shear force and with walker height, making the walker less
stable.
The downward vertical load on the walker (FY) applied through the
walker center of pressure at a perpendicular distance (r p) from the
axis connecting the front two walker legs, creates a moment which
resists the tendency for the walker to tip forward.
The larger the downward force FY, the greater this resistive moment,
and the walker is more stable .

Our Approach

Design of the Walking Frame

Various designs were prepared before reaching a final
solution by keeping into view, the above given design
considerations of the walking frame.
The earlier designs were rejected on the basis of some or
the other shortcomings.

Design 1
Design features:
Hydraulic mechanism or electric
mechanism for upper and lower
movement of gripping arm
Provides sitting assistance by upper
and lower movement of gripping arms.
User will be able to sit by holding
gripping arms.

Design 1- Basis of Rejection

Even a smallest hydraulic pump or motor would weigh
2.5-3.5 kg.
It would have been very tiring to lift such a heavy
walking frame, as it does not have tires.
To install a hydraulic pump, a sufficient space is required,
so it was also a constraint in design.
It would have been too costly due to installation of pump
or motor.

Design 2
Design features:

A definite improvement over the previous

one as the idea for installing hydraulic
pump or electric motor was dropped.

A gas shocker for the upper and lower

movement of the gripping arms of the
walker for providing sitting assistance.

User will able to sit by lowering the arms by

putting his own weight.

Design 2- Basis of Rejection

As arms have no firm base, it would have caused
instability to the structure.
Less space for users movement because of installing
the shocker vertically.
We were to use knuckle joint for the arm movement,
which is sometimes very difficult to operate for a
handicapped person.
The load on the shocker was uneven since arms are free
at one end.

Design 3
Design features:

A gas shocker for the upper and

lower movement of the gripping
arms of the walker for providing
sitting assistance.

User will able to sit by lowering the

arms by putting his own weight.

Support arms were provided to the

gripping arms for support, so that
gripping arms should get a firm
base.

Design 3 Basis of Rejection

The gripping arms got the firm base but still, there was a
chance that the arms might go down with a sudden jerk
or shock while sitting due to application of the users
weight.
The shocker still remained vertical; therefore users
movement was still restricted.

Design 4
Design features:

Conventional design of the

walking frame was considered.
The whole upper frame moves
up and down instead of
moving a jointed arm for
providing better stability
The weight of the person will
gets equally distributed to all
the four legs of the walking
frame.
L-joint was used to restrict the
motion of the upper gripping
frame while walking.

Design 4 Basis of Rejection

The L-shaped locking arrangement is an object in which

the horizontal metal strip can rotate about the fixed one
and it was taking much space on both sides. So this was
the constraint, this design was rejected.
While walking, the L-shaped arrangement was supposed
to hold the upper frame firmly so that it should not move
down but while walking the horizontal metal strip could
rotate.

Design 5
After considering the previous designs, and their
constraints, we came at a final solution to the problem.
Two modifications were done in the previous design:

The L-shaped locking

arrangement was replaced
with two knobs attached with
the guides. They can be
tightened easily before walking
and when a person needs to
sit, they can be loosened.

Another change was that, we

put 4 compression springs( 2
in each leg) in the rear legs of
the walker.

Manufacturing Process

Material Selection
Following points were
considered before
selecting a material:

It should be a hollow pipe

It should be light weight
It must have high strength
Cost consideration

Materials available:
Aluminium
Aluminium alloys
Thin MS tube

Material selected:
Mild steel

Bill of Material
Part name

Material

Dimensions

Quantity

Hollow Pipe

Mild steel

72 inches, dia = 25.4 mm

Hollow Pipe

Mild steel

18 inches, dia = 24 mm

Hollow Pipe

Mild steel

14 inches, dia = 24 mm

Guides

Mild steel

12 inches, dia = 28 mm

Hand grip

Plastic

Knob

Mild steel

Gas shocker

Chromed piston

Helical spring

Stainless steel 302

O.D.= 22 mm

Shoe

Rubber

Dia = 25.4mm

Bolts

Mild steel

Dia = 12 mm

2
Dia = 7mm tapping

2
1

Structure of the Frame

The structure of the frame was divided into various parts which were
to be manufactured, bought and finally assembled. But, it is chiefly
composed of two parts:
Upper gripping frame
Lower base frame
Other parts includes:

Hand grips
Knobs
Gas shocker
Compression springs
shoes

Lower Base Frame

Lower base frame is composed of hollow pipes welded together.
Guides are also welded to each leg.
The function of guides is to
allow the movement of the
upper gripping frame inside the
lower base frame.
Compression springs were also
put inside the rear legs of lower
base frame and the base was
welded with metal strip so that
spring should not come out.
The diameter of guides is 28
mm and that of legs is 25.4
mm. the diameter of horizontal
pipes is 24 mm.

Upper Gripping Frame

Upper gripping frame is a fabricated part which moves inside
the guides upon application of load to compress the springs
in the lower base frame.
Upper gripping frame takes all the
load of a user.
It transfers this load to the shocker
and to the springs inside the lower
base frame.
Length of the gripping arm is 12
inch.
Diameter of the bended pipes is
25.4 mm and that of horizontal pipe
is 24 mm.

Gas Shocker
The shocker used is a gas shocker.
Mostly, they contain air as a compressible medium
in them, so they are called air jackers.
It is an Armstrong type of shocker which is
generally used in the car suspension systems.
These are 200 PSI shockers and in cars they
provide 1100 pounds of extra lifting capacity.

length of the shocker was 18 inches.

Compressed length is 12 inches

Compression Springs
Compression spring is a type of spring that
applies a resistive force as it is compressed.
Two springs are put inside each of the rear
leg.
The length of spring is 6 inches and diameter
is 25 mm.
Total maximum compression of both the
springs together is 6 mm.

Machining Process
Cutting of pipes
Cutting of pipes was done on
cold-sawing machine:

Two pipes of 72 inches,

diameter 25.4 mm
Two pipes of 18 inches,
diameter 24 mm
Two pipes of 14 inches,
diameter 24 mm
Four pipes of 12 inches,
diameter 28 mm

Circular sawing machine.

Used for cold-sawing of the metals.
Its diameter is 750mm.
It is made solid with integral teeth.

Bending of Pipes
Bending of pipes was required
for making the upper gripping
frame. The pipes were bended
on the manual bending
machine.

A circular disc is provided in

the manual bender against
which the pipes are hold
Pipes are then bended by the
application of manual force.

Bend in the upper gripping frame

Fabrication
Fabrication was necessary for making lower base frame and upper
gripping frame.
Guides were also welded with the lower base frame.
Fabrication of pipes was done with the help of MIG welding technique.
Two holes of 7 mm each were also drilled in the front guides and then the
nuts of same dimension were welded on it for providing the locking
mechanism by loosening and tightening of knobs.
4 small metal strips with 1.2 cm drill hole were also welded on the front
pipes (two metal strips on each pipe) for holding the shocker in-between
them.
Shocker is attached with the nut bolt arrangement.

Finishing Operations
All the fabricated parts were then assembled.
Parts include:

Upper gripping frame

Lower base frame
Gas shocker
Shoes
Knobs

Grinding
Paint

Picture of the Manufactured

Walking Frame

Features of the Walking Frame

Height of the walking frame is 30 inches

Base area is 18 x 16 inches.
Mild steel used is A500 steel, which is an ASTM standard
specification. Its chief constituents are:

Carbon (0.26 %)
Manganese (1.35 %)
Phosphorus (0.035 %)
Sulphur (0.035 %)

Density of the mild steel is 0.284 pounds per cubic inch and
specific gravity is 7.9.
Tensile stress is 310 MPa.
It can easily support a weight of around 100 Kg.
Its height is normal height, so while walking, it takes about 41 % of
the users load.
While sitting, user puts his load on the walking frame which gets
transferred to the shock absorber and the compression springs,
which provides a smooth up and down movement of the frame.

Working

The working of the walking

frame is described with the
help of pictures:

User walking with the support of walking frame

User in motion

User loosing the knobs for sitting

User putting his weight on the

walking frame for sitting.

The Upper Frame moves into the Lower

Frame

User sitting comfortably

The frame gaining its original position due to

restoring force of the springs and the shocker.

User tightening the knobs before

getting up

User getting up with the support of the

frame.

Conclusion
Our project Development of Walking Frame for
Sitting assistance was an approach to help the
society and benefit the old and infirm persons for
sitting assistance in addition to their walking support.
We have presented a very cost effective design with a
very simple mechanism to operate. We hope that our
efforts will be beneficial to old and handicapped
people. This will surely help them to walk and sit with
comfort and ease.
But still there is a scope of improvement in design in
future as some other cost effective design may be
introduced.

Bibliography
Journal of Rehabilitation Research and Development Vol
.33 No .1,February 1996, Department of Veterans
Research
Journal of Disabled Living Foundation, London, Volume
3, 2006
www.csp.org.uk
www.howstuffworks.com
www.en.wikipedia.com
www.lifetec.org.au
www.engineeredge.com
www.ghss.com.au