Engineering + Prototyping

Conceptualization

The cart is designed by considering these parameters

• Robust and Sturdy structure – The overall integrity and robustness of this cart allow us to use in all kind of hospital environment.

• Elegant look – The usage of nicely bent sheet metal parts and minimalist aesthetic features give Elegant look to this cart.

• Equipment accessibility – The protection and fixing of all the valuable equipment’s while using in an urgency.

• Wire management – Well managed and organized wiring allow the user to use the cart hassle free.

• Ease of use – The form of the cart is self-explanatory and it follows the functionality. One can easily use the required equipment’s operation as they are self-evident.

• Less space consumption – The cart is a mobile workstation with other essential accessories. It has a smaller footprint compared to any stationary setup due to vertical arrangement. It is also given height adjustability, which further enhances compactness.

• Ergonomics – The height adjustability, cart handling, wire routing, keyboard and mouse usage have been specially taken care of.

Value engineered and optimized manufacturing

Our knowledge of technologies and manufacturing processes helped us to realize this cart. The batch production of the cart is done by considering the design thinking and optimized engineering. The Design for Manufacturing and Design for Engineering with the use of Quality Function Deployment has added a tremendous value addition from design phase to the manufacturing phase. Integrating the skill and experience of Design and Manufacturing the process has been optimized.

Sheet Metal Design Expertise

The cart design was developed using the capability of advanced CAD software for simulating and analyzing sheet metal cutting and press brake bending operations. Achieving the part commonality and reducing the parts were the main challenges enjoyed by the design team. Our relationship with advance prototyping, tooling & manufacturing facilities ensures reduced lead time and also assure optimized production cycles with a unique cost advantage.

The production cycle of e-kart

From the Raw material — Turret punching/laser cutting operation — Bending operation — Fabrication/Machining — Powder coating/Chrome plating the complete cycle follow the Medical standardization and Process Optimization.

Here, we would like to discuss some of the critical sheet metal design-

The cart base is made up of single piece MS sheet metal of 5mm thickness, making cart structure more robust and sturdy. With the use of FEA, the design and required strength is finalized. Cart base bending design is a spider-like structure which has legs and it can carry the whole cart assembly on itself.

The bottom assembly act as a telescopic mechanism. Here the bending accuracy of both columns was very critical for smoother telescopic action. The hollow bar inside the assembly guides the top assembly with the help of molded Delrin components. The stroke length of the gas spring is constrained with the help of stoppers to avoid excessive stroke length and force. A lever mechanism was developed to actuate the gas spring effortlessly.

The cabinet in the top assembly has a drawer in which the ECG unit, keyboard, and mouse is kept. It is our understanding of Product usage scenarios which helped in designing the cabinet such that one cannot access the PC and other valuable equipment without unlocking the cam lock of the drawer. The monitor is mounted on the top of the cabinet and fixed from inside the cabinet for the protection. It has also given provision for holding ECG cardio gel bottle. But here the main challenge was to achieve lesser material and at the same time suitable for gas spring keeping the cabinet strong enough to avoid dents and surface irregularities. Again, we used sheet metal bending design to make stiffeners and strengtheners in optimizing the cabinet assembly. The whole concept of e-kart was checked and optimized by using advanced FEA software.

1. Fabrication process

2. Plastic Injection Molding

3. Assembly and Packaging

Cart Accessories

Gas spring- The lockable gas spring has a very smooth operation. One can actuate it by using a lever mechanism with a very little effort. Large stroke length gives cart more height adjustability.

Castors- The cart has two lockable castors in front and two non-lockable castors at back for the mobility. The castors are very smooth in working with its twin wheel. The wheels have a very quiet operation and high load carrying capacity. The fitment with the cart base makes the structure more robust.

Drawer rail- The full extension drawer rails are chrome plated. It’s quite an operation and high load carrying capacity make this more robust.

Handles- The chrome plated handles are corrosion resistant and have a very elegant design. One can hold and adjust the height of cart and can travel with by holding this handle.

Cam Lock- A high-quality cam lock ensures the safety of all the valuable equipment inside the drawer and data of the computer system.

UPS Cable manager- A separate handle is provided on the fixed column for managing the UPS cable when the cart is moving.