92‐411: Machine Design I Project 

 
 
Prepared for 
 
Dr. Jennifer Johrendt 
 
 
 
 
 
 

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

Faisal SIDDIQUI 
Student ID 101963673 
th
4  year Candidate for BASc. Mechanical Engineering 
Department of Mechanical Automotive and Materials Engineering
[1.0] Problems statement:

A 100-kg wheelchair marathon racer wants an exerciser that will allow indoor practicing. The
design shown below is to be built. Two free-turning rollers on bearings support the rear wheels. A
platform supports the front wheels. The drive wheels are in direct contact with the free turning
rollers. The flanges shown on the rollers limit the lateral movement of the chair while exercising
thus the wheels can be anywhere between those flanges.

The rollers are to be designed as hollow Aluminum tubes with steel axels within them. The design
should be such as to limit the deflection of the rollers to a maximum of 1 mm and to minimize the
height of the platform when having a with a 100 kg athlete on the wheel chair. To satisfy this
criterion, deflection equations for the roller bar are to be formed. These equations are to be
compatible with the wheel chair strafing within the limits of the flange. The maximum deflection
equation will be used to calculate the moment of inertia of the roller bars which in turn will provide
the range of diameters which can be used. In order to lower the platform level the minimum of the
diameters will be selected. Suitably sized steel axles to support the Aluminum tubes on bearings
are to be determined along with all significant stresses.

Figure 1: Diagram of proposed design with wheel chair.

[2.0] Given:

Diameter Drive Wheel ( Dw) 65 cm

Track Width ( W) 70 cm
Roller tube Material Al
Axel bar Material Steel
Roller length (L) 100 cm

• Combined mass of racer and the wheel chair is 100kg

• There are two free running rollers on bearing support of the rear wheels
Platform supports front wheel
Figure 2: Given parameters

[3.0] Assumptions
The following assumptions are used for calculations:

i) No rotation of wheels, therefore all calculations done assuming everything is static.

ii) Contact stresses exist between the wheel and roller bars.
iii) Flanges are equally spaced from the ends of the roller bar and the distance between
them is 40 cm.
iv) The wheel chair is used indoors.
v) Cylindrical contact between the aluminum rollers and drive wheels
vi) Cylindrical contact between the aluminum roller and the steel rollers
vii) Center of mass acts through the chair (point A)
viii) Worst case scenario for aluminum roller deflection is 1mm.
ix) Flanges on the roller limit the lateral movement of the chair only and is not in contact
with the ground.
x) There is no friction loss between the aluminum roller and the drive wheel.
xi) Front wheels do not rotate
[4.0] Solution:

Looking at the front profile the wheel seems to be tilted at an angle assumed to be equal to Ө= 20
degrees. The forces from the contact of the wheel on the roller are calculated to be:

W m
W = 100kg × 9.81 = 981N
2 s2
W
∑F y
2
=−+ F cos (θ ) = 0

θ θ ∴F =
W
=
981
4 cos (θ ) 4 cos ( 20 )
= 260.986 N

F F

The Aluminum Roller is then analyzed by using beam deflection theory. Firstly it is known that the
maximum moments that occur in the beam would be when the chair is at extreme left or right.
This can be shown from the following calculations:

0.700 m
a1=0.015m

LR = 1.000 m

a1 is the distance from RA axis to the left drive wheels. a1 cannot be less than 0.015 m because of
the roller design.
[4.1] Internal Diameter from Steel Axel

The steel diameter analysis is done assuming that the forces act on the steel axel when they are
aligned as shown below in the diagram. This is due to the force being propagated from the
aluminum roller to the bearing and finally to the steel axel. The situation shown below is when the
wheel chair has shifted left to its limit. The same magnitude of maximum and minimum moments
will present for the wheel chair on the extreme right limit but the only difference will be that it will
be a horizontal mirror image of the diagrams below. Since it is a uniform diameter of steel axel we
can take into account only once scenario as shown below. Maximum moment occurs at either the
left side or the right side larger than when the wheel chair is positioned in the centre of the roller
bar.

M 1 = RA a1 = 331.4568 ( 0.015 )
= 4.971852 N .m

M 2 = M 1 + ( RA − F ) T
= 4.971852 + ( 70.4672 )( 0.700 )
= 54.2989 N .m

M 3 = M 2 − ( RA − 2 F )( LR − a1 − T )
= 54.2989 − 190.5224 (1.000 − 0.015 − 0.700 )
= 0 N .m ( checks !)

∴ M max = M 2 = 54.2989 N

and moment at the center

⎛L ⎞
M C = M 1 + ( RA − F ) ⎜ R − a1 ⎟
⎝ 2 ⎠
= 4.971852 + ( 70.4672 )( 0.500 − 0.015 )
= 39.1484 N .m

∴ M C = 39.1484 N .m
The maximum moment Mmax and moment at the center Mc remain the same as the wheel chair
moves to right side.The only difference is that the shear and moment diagrams are horizontally
flipped. Let’s assume that the length of the steel shaft is 1130mm and form the side it looks as
follows.

0.285 m 0.400 m 0.285 m

0.05 0.05
m 1.000 m m

0.065 0.065
m m

1.100 m

Worst case scenario in steel:

M s ,max = RAb = 331.4568 ( 0.065 ) = 21.5447 N .m

∴ M s ,max = 21.5447 N .m

Let’s assume a safety factor n = 3

From table A-20: Assuming the steel is a cold rolled AISI 1020 Steel and from table A-20: Sy =
390 MPa (NOTE: Ms max = maximum bending moment developed in steel) The axial stress σx
developed in the steel is then:

⎛D ⎞
M max ⎜ s ⎟ 32 M
M c
σ x = max = ⎝ 2 ⎠= max

I π π Ds3
Ds4
64
Where Ds = diameter of the steel axle

We choose to use MSS to calculate the diameter of the steel axle due to steel has ductile
behavior and for the selection of steel material AISI 1020, the Syc = Syt and we would like to be
conservative in our calculation.
Using MSS:

Sy 32 M max S y
σx = → =
n π Ds3 n
32nM max 32 ( 3)( 21.5447 )
∴ Ds = =3 = 0.01191m = 11.91mm
π ( 390 × 106 )
3
π Sy

From table A-17 we choose the preferred size of 15mm or 0.015 m

[4.2] Internal Diameter of Aluminum roller

The Aluminum roller rolls around the fixed steel axel by ball bearings. From standard sized 12.5
mm in diameter. Then the internal diameter of aluminum roller being:

Internal D (Al) = 15 mm + 2(12.5mm) = 40 mm

[4.3] Outer Diameter of Aluminum Roller

For the purpose of calculation for the outer diameter of the Aluminum Roller the following
convention was utilized:
F F
b1

a1
T

a2 b2

LR
The distance a1 can vary which will alter a2, b1, b2 but T will be constant. Thus the following
relations are created:

1. a 1 + T + b2 = L R
2. a 1 + b 1 = LR
3. a 2 + b2 = LR
4. a1 +T = a2
5. b 2 + T = b1

The value for a1 will vary between 0.015 m to 0.285 m due to the flange. We will also consider
the deflection at 5 different x positions measured from the left end of the aluminum roller. The
following x values will be used in the deflection equation of the Aluminum rollers:

X= 0.015m
X= 0.300 m
X= 0.500 m
X=0.700 m
X= 0.985 m

It is assumed that the maximum deflection occurs in the middle of the roller. Due to the fact that
we want a maximum deflection of 1 mm occurring in the middle of the roller, the moment of inertia
should be the maximum at this point. The greatest moment of inertia will be selected from the
data collected of a1 varying in between 0.015m and 0.285 m and the x points above. So for every
a1 value there will be five different moment of inertias for the 5 x points.

Using superposition the following deflection equation for twin loads acting downward on a beam
is denoted by:

δ ( x) =
P( L − a) ⎡ L
⎢
6 LEI ⎣ L − a
3
( 2 ⎤
)
x − a − x 3 + L2 − ( L − a ) x ⎥ +
Pa
⎦ 6 LEI
⎡L 3 3 2 2 ⎤
⎢⎣ a x − ( L − a ) − x + ( L − a ) x ⎥⎦

Source: [http://mit.edu/course/3/3.11/www/modules/bdisp.pdf]

The first term in the equation is the deflection at any point on the beam due to the load on the left
and the second term is the deflection of the beam due to the load on the right.

Modeling the equation by our criteria of the a1 and b2 (different values) we achieve:
 F1 F2
a1 T b2

a2

b1

LR
We will only analyze deflection from the x-y origin till L(mm) value.

By substituting:

• a 1 + T + b2 = L R
• a 1 + b 1 = LR
• a2 + b2 = LR
• a1 +T = a2
• b 2 + T = b1

The deflection equation can be modified to:

F ( LR − a1 ) ⎡ LR ⎤ ⎡ LR ⎤
− x 3 + ( LR 2 − b2 2 ) x ⎥
Fb2
δ ( x) = x − a1 − x 3 + ( LR 2 − b12 ) x ⎥ + x − a2
2 3
⎢
6 LR EI ⎢⎣ b1 ⎦ 6 LR EI ⎣ b2 ⎦

Solving for I (inertia) we get:

Fb1 ⎡ LR ⎤ ⎡ LR ⎤
x − a1 − x 3 − ( LR 2 − b12 ) x ⎥ + − x3 + ( LR 2 − b2 2 ) x ⎥
Fb2
⎢ b x − a2
3 3
⎢
I = R al ⎣ 1 ⎦ 6 LR Eal ⎣ 2 ⎦
6L E b
δ ( x)

Where E (al) = 70 GPA. By using the internal diameter as the product of the cold rolled steel axel
and the bearings as 0.040 m, the outer diameter of the aluminum roller was calculated from the
different values of Inertia. Some of the results are below, the rest can be found in the Appendix.
A useful tool was to plot the Inertia (m4) values with the a1 values (m ) to see at what location of
the wheel chair the maximum moment of inertia is required to limit the def lection to 1 mm.

a1 vs. I_required for 1mm deflection

0.00000008

0.00000007

0.00000006

0.00000005
I_required

0.00000004

0.00000003

0.00000002

0.00000001

0
0 0.05 0.1 0.15 0.2 0.25 0.3
a1
a1 vs. I_x=0.015 a1 vs. I_x=L/2 a1 vs. I_x=0.985
a1 vs. I x=0.300 a1 vs. I x=0.700

From the chart it can be inferred that the maximum inertia lies between a1 of 0.1m and 0.3m. The
desired I value at a1 (m) and location x(m) was:

a1 = 0.150 m
x= 0.500 m
I= Imax = 6.77874 x 10– 18 m4

Keeping the internal diameter constant at 0.04 m, the value for outer diameter follows the same
trend as moment of inertia:
 a1 vs Outer Diameter d_o required

0.045
0.0445
0.044
0.0435
0.043
0.0425
d_o

0.042
0.0415
0.041
0.0405
0.04
0.0395
0 0.05 0.1 0.15 0.2 0.25 0.3
a1
a1 vs. d_o_x=0.015 a1 vs. d_o_x=0.300 a1 vs. d_o_x=L/2
a1 vs. d_o_x=0.700 a1 vs. d_o_x=0.985

I equation for Moment of inertia:

π
I=
64
(Do 4
− Di 4 )
⎛ 64 I ⎞
Do = ⎜ + Di 4 ⎟
⎝ π ⎠
The value of outer diameter of the Aluminum roller at I = 6.77874 x 10e-18 m^4 is 0.044556 m
calculated from the moment of inertia of a circular cross section. From table A-17 the outer
Diameter is selected to be 46 mm for the purpose of availability.

[4.4] Significant stresses:

The maximum moment and maximum shear force ( from the moment diagrams in section 4.1) are
55.2989 N.m and 331.4568 N.
from table 3-2
for hollow thin walled shaft:
2V 2 ( 331.4568 )
τ max = = = 3.751MPa
A ⎛π 2⎞
⎜ ( 0.015 ) ⎟
⎝4 ⎠
⎛D ⎞ ⎛ 0.046 ⎞
M max ⎜ al ,o ⎟ 55.2989 ⎜ ⎟
σx =
M max c
= ⎝ 2 ⎠ = ⎝ 2 ⎠ = 13.513MPa
π π
I
64
( Dal ,o − Dal ,i ) 64 ( 0.046 − 0.040 )
4 4 4 4

σx +σ y ⎛ σ x −σ y ⎞
2
13.513 + 0 ⎛ 13.513 − 0 ⎞
2

σ1 = + ⎜ ⎟ +τ =
2
+ ⎜ ⎟ + 3.751 = 14.484 MPa
2

2 ⎝ 2 ⎠ 2 ⎝ 2 ⎠

σx +σ y ⎛ σ x −σ y ⎞
2
13.513 + 0 ⎛ 13.513 − 0 ⎞
2

σ2 = − ⎜ ⎟ +τ =
2
− ⎜ ⎟ + 3.751 = −0.971MPa
2

2 ⎝ 2 ⎠ 2 ⎝ 2 ⎠

[4.5] Conclusion:
The above analysis utilizes the worst case scenarios of deflection of the Aluminum roller with the
steel axel. However values can change if the roller and axel are surface machined or heat
treated. The contact stresses of the ball bearings with the axel and roller are ignored since they
do not propagate throughout the roller bar. The final values of significant stresses are:

The final choice of Aluminum and Steel axle Diameters are: