1

Abstract

In the modern world though there are many developments in the field of engineering.
Still there are difficulties to carry heavy loads over stairs. Development of lift simplifies the
effort of carrying heavy loads over stairs, it is not possible to use lift in all places like schools,
college’s constructional areas. This project aims at developing a mechanism for easy
transportation of heavy loads over stairs. The need for such arises from day to day requirements
in our society. Devices such as hand trolleys are used to relieve the stresses of lifting while on
flat ground. However these devices usually fail when it comes to carrying the load over short
fleet of stairs .Our project attempts to design a stair climbing trolley which can carry heavy
objects up the stairs with less effort compared to carrying them manually .The main objective of
the project is to find an efficient and user friendly method of carrying various objects through
stairs using minimum effort from the user and to also provide a smooth movement while
climbing the stair. Under this project we have manufactured a stair climber with tri lobed wheel
frames at both sides of the climber and three wheels on each sides are used in the tri lobed frame.
The wheel assembly is rotated by a gear- motor mechanism where a DC gear motor is used to
provide the necessary power for rotation and a pinion- gear mesh is used for reducing the
rotating speed of the wheel. The motor is connected to a lead acid battery of similar ratings and
they are in turn connected to DPDT switch.
Keywords: Stair Climber; Tri-Star Wheel; Trolley; Hand Truck;

2
INTRODUCTION

3
 Introduction

In day today life we may have to carry so many goods and objects of various quantities
through stairs especially in offices, schools, colleges, hotels, industries, apartments etc. where the
lifts may not be available, may be crowded with people or may be under repair .It is highly
tiresome to carry various objects through stairs manually for higher floors for so many times.
The various applications may be carrying bundles of answer sheets in a school or a college,
carrying furniture in different buildings, different apparatus in colleges, in hospitals etc., carrying
electronic items in houses and offices .So there should be a way to carry the objects through the
stairs in a more comfortable and tireless manner without forcing the user to apply more force.
Here comes the application of a stair climber. In order to get a proper grip to our project we have
extensively referred various articles and websites over the internet. We also referred to the
project done by others under the similar projects.

A. Smart Trolley in Mega Mall

Every time customer has to pull the trolley from rack to rack for collecting items and at the same
time customer has to do calculation of those items and need to compare it with his budget in
pocket. After this procedure, customer has to wait in queue for billing. So, to avoid headache like
pulling trolley, waiting in billing queue, thinking about budget, New concept introduced that is
“SMART TROLLEY IN MEGA MALL”. In modern era, for automation of mall e a
microcontroller based TROLLEY is designed which is totally automatic. It follows the customer
while purchasing items and it maintains safe distance between customer and itself. Only
customer has to hold the barcode side of the product wrapper in front of barcode scanner. Then
corresponding data regarding product will be displayed on display. By using this trolley,
customer can buy large number of product in very less time with less effort. At the billing
counter, computer can be easily interfaced for verification and bill print out.
B. Stair Climber Physically Challenged
A two wheel stair climber is used in this type of stair climber. A central lifting wheel is used to
lift the object through the stairs. The entire weight of the object controlled by motor–gear
mechanism. This mechanism is quite simple in nature. The main disadvantage is that the

4
movement may not be smooth. Also the single lifting wheel has to carry the entire weight which
may not be desirable sometimes.
C. Automatic Stair Climber Using Chain Mechanism
Here also a two wheel stair climber is used but the difference is that a chain mechanism is used
to climb the stairs .Four small lifting forks are used, two on each side of the chain. The position
of the lifting forks should be adjusted in such a way that two of them should reach the next step
at the same time so that the weight of the part could be distributed among them. These lifting
forks would be moving through the chains thus providing a smooth movement of the climber.
The movement will be controlled by motor –gear mechanism. The weight of the tires and the
other MS steel components could be reduced using other lightweight motels. If the machining
quality could have been a lot better than the climber would have been much stable. Finally
additional features like automatic movement controllers, brakes etc. could be added to make the
climbing motion smoother and comfortable.

The present project relates to the field of load-carrying equipment of a type that is battery power-
operated or hand-operated, and capable of moving upwardly or downwardly on a flight of stairs.
Load-carrier is a wheeled-mechanical device, which is generally used to carry loads. It is used to
reduce human efforts. Load-carrier at its inception is a hand-truck.

A hand truck, also known as a three wheeler, stack truck, is an L-shaped box-moving handcart
with handles at one end, wheel sat the base, with a small edge to set objects on, flat against the
floor when the hand-truck is upright. The objects to be move dare tilted forward, the ledge is
inserted underneath them ,and the objects allowed to tilt back and rest on the ledge.

Then the truck and object are tilted backward until the weight is balanced over the large wheels,
making otherwise bulky and heavy objects easier to move. It is a first class lever. After a decade,
stair-case climbing load-carrier came into existence which we did in our minor project. Stair-case
climbing load-carrier consists a well-designed frame and a set of wheel clusters.

Wheels in the hand-truck are replaced by set of wheel clusters. Further if load is increasing, we
can’t offer more pressure beyond our limit. So we incept having mechanized or automated or

5
powered stair climber to our convenience. Stair-climbing, like walking on the level, is rhythmical
and involves similar joints, muscles and motor planning.

Stair Climbing Techniques :-

1. Tri-Star wheel arrangement,

2. Stair climbing robot,

Tri-Star Wheel Arrangement :-

The Tri-Star is a novel wheel design—originally by Robert and John Forsyth, assignors
to Lockheed in 1967—in which three wheels are arranged in an upright triangle with two on the
ground and one above them. If either of the wheels in contact with the ground gets stuck, the
whole system rotates over the obstruction. Its most famous application was the Land master, a
unique armored personnel carrier (APC) from the film Damnation Alley. Its common application
is employed as a stair climber.

Lifting objects ,loads such as books, food grains etc. to store above the ground level, or
even patients to move upper level from ground is not easy job, especially where there is no
lifting facilities (elevator, conveyer, etc) Moreover, in most of the buildings in the world does not
have elevators or escalators. In this case human labors are considered to be the only solution.
Labor is becoming costly as well as time consuming in the developed countries, where growth
rate is getting negative. This problem can be solved if a vehicle can lift loads while traveling
through stairs.

The project introduces a new option for the transportation of the loads over the stair.
Most of the buildings of the country are structurally congested and unavailing of elevator facility
so it is difficult and laborious to lift up heavy loads. The stair climbing hand truck can play an
important role in those areas to lift loads over a short height, like libraries, hospital, and in
construction area. The vehicle, which can move upper level through stairs, or run in very rough
and rocky surfaces, is called stair climbing hand truck or say stair climbing vehicle. Stair climber

6
trolleys have a total of six wheels, three on each side. They are set in a triangular pattern. The
uppermost wheel rests on the upper step, with the other two wheels set on the lower step. This
allows you to apply leverage as you pull the trolley up a set of stairs.

7
LITERATURE REVIEW

8
 LITERATURE REVIEW
1. Stair climbing truck, Mr. Pratik H. Rathod, Mr. Ravi R. Mishra,
Mr. Nitin A. Waghamare in sept-2013 ,Published in International Journal of Emerging
Trends in Engineering and Development. Lifting objects ,loads such as books, food grains
etc. to store above the ground level, or even patients to move upper level from ground is
not easy job, especially where there is no lifting facilities (elevator, conveyer, etc)
Moreover, in most of the buildings in the world does not have elevators or escalators. In
this case human labors are considered to be the only solution. Labor is becoming costly as
well as time consuming in the developed countries, where growth rate is getting negative.
This problem can be solved if a vehicle can lift loads while travelling through stairs. The
project introduces a new option for the transportation of the loads over the stair. Most of
the buildings of the country are structurally congested and unavailing of elevator facility
so it is difficult and laborious to lift up heavy loads. The stair climbing hand truck can
play an important role in those areas to lift loads over a short height, like libraries,
hospital, and in construction area. The vehicle, which can move upper level through stairs,
or run in very rough and rocky surfaces, is called stair climbing hand truck or say stair
climbing vehicle. Stair climber trolleys have a total of six wheels, three on each side. They
are set in a triangular pattern. The uppermost wheel rests on the upper step, with the other
two wheels set on the lower step. This allows you to apply leverage as you pull the trolley
up a set of stairs. Though this project had some limitation as a first step of making any
Stair Climbing hand truck, it was a pioneer project. During the test run of this project, it
was realized that it would capable of carrying heavy load without suffering any
deformation or local fractures if it would go into real world production at an ideal scale.
Though the initial cost of the project seemed to be higher but more accurate
manufacturing would shorten this.

2. Stair climbing hand trolley , Prajan Pradip Gondole , Kamlesh Diliprao Thakre
in april-2015 , Published in Journal of Emerging Technologies and Innovative Research
(JETIR)

9
 The present invention relates to hand trucks intended for transporting heavy load and
more particularly, to an improved and simplified hand truck which is adopted to move heavy
loads easily up and down from the stair; with the help of this truck we can lift the load easily up
and down from stairs. Due to this the man effort is reduced and time to lift the load is also
reduced.
After studying various options it was decided to build a hand truck that could be carry
load across stair, also it was decided to power it manually so as to keep it in reach of many users.
This will enable efficient handling of goods across stairs with less human energy. before delving
into the theory behind complex stair-climbing mechanisms, it should first be noted that it is
possible to climb stairs using an ordinary wheel.
The large wheels necessary for this task make this method of stair-climbing somewhat
undesirable. Also, the climbing motion produced by simply rolling over stairs is a jarring motion
rather than a smooth one. In addition, the frictional force between the wheel and the edge of the
stair must be sufficient to allow the wheel to grab and roll over the stair. A friction coefficient of
too small a magnitude will cause the wheel to slip against the stair rather than climb.
A problem with prior art hand trucks or carrying carts is that is difficult for the operator
to keep the truck under control when going down the stairs, and it is even more difficult to move
heavy loads up on stairs because the operator is substantially pulling the load and the truck. It is
common to have braking device operable to help prevent the truck from running away during its
movement down the stairs. Another problem with existing hand trucks and carrying carts is that
they are unsatisfactory for transporting heavy products. The trucks typically have pair of ground
engaging wheels which wear quickly because of the heavy loads bearing downwardly directly
on the wheels.
The stair-climbing hand truck is designed to reduce liability rather than increase it.
Conventional hand trucks work well on flat ground, but their usefulness decreases when it
becomes necessary to move an object over an irregular surface. Package deliverymen, for
example, often find it necessary to drag loaded hand trucks up short flights of stairs just to reach
the front door of a building. The entire purpose of using a conventional hand truck is to avoid
having to lift and carry heavy objects around.

10
 3. Stair Climbing Vehicle, Md. A. Hossain, Nafis A. Chowdhury, Rubaiat I. Linda
in jan-2010 , Published in International Journal Of Research Publications In Engineering
And Technology.
Lifting recurring loads like books, food grains etc. to store upper level, or even patients to
move upper level is not easy job, especially where there is no lifting facilities (elevator).The
project introduces a new horizon for the transportation of the loads over the stair. Most of the
buildings of the country are structurally congested and unavailing of elevator facility so it is
difficult and laborious to lift up heavy loads.
The stair climbing vehicle can play an important role in those areas to lift loads over a
short height, like libraries, hospital, and in construction area. The vehicle, which can move upper
level through strain, or run in very rough and rocky surfaces, is called stair climbing vehicle.
In the initial design, each wheel contained frame, a sun wheel and three planetary wheels.
The planetary wheel was connected with the sun wheel through an idler. The purpose of using
the idler was to rotate the planetary wheels in the same direction of sun wheel. Each planetary
wheel was aligned in a straight line with idler and sun wheel. The straight wheel frame takes
more thrust to tilt the wheel frame to engage next planetary wheel. The length of each arm is
high and thus creates vibration and the vehicle would be unstable. In the present design, the
wheel frame was made curve so that the front surface of the arm could not collide with the edge
of the stair.

11
DESIGN AND ANALYSIS

12
 DESIGN AND ANALYSIS

The CAD model of the product was designed to determine the external dimensions of the
stair climber. The stair climber consists of a two pair of Tri-Star clamp. This Tri-Star clamp is
used to hold the wheels with the help of nuts and bolts and make Tri-Star wheel setup and this
Tri-Star wheel setup is connected at ends of the hollow shaft to make Tri-Star wheel assembly.
The Tri-Star wheel assembly is powered by a motor setup.
A. Determination of Basic Dimensions
The basic external dimensions were decided based upon the study of stair climbers. The external
and internal diameter of the hollow shaft is considered as 25mm and 18mm respectively. The
length of the shaft is 700mm. Two pairs of Tri-Star clamp and six rubber wheels are used. The
diameter of wheel is decided as 150mm for appropriate dimensions of the stair which is about
depth of the tread is 300-350mm and height of the riser is 140-150mm. The inter-lobe angle of
Tri-Star clamp is taken as 120˚.Suitable motor and gears were decided based on requirement.

B. Parts
After the determination of basic dimensions of the Stair climber, the part design of the various
parts of the Stair climber was done. The part designs of various parts are described below in
detail.
1) Frame:
The frame is designed as shown below. The frame is designed for a height of about 1000mm and
is made up of Mild Steel material. The handle is made perpendicular to the body of the trolley so
that the trolley can be inclined to any angle.

13
2)
Tri-Star Wheel Setup:
The Tri-Star clamp is used for connecting the wheels together. While climbing the stairs it is
tedious to climb with a single wheel. Here, the wheels are connected to each of the arms of the
clamp and while climbing the stairs Tri-Star setup rotates when it hits the edge of the stairs. The
Tri-Star is fabricated using gas cutting process. The wheels are placed between the two clamps
and are held with the help of the nuts and bolts.

Wheel and Shaft Assembly:

The wheel which is fixed to the Tri-Star clamp is then assembled to the hollow shaft as shown
below. The Tri-Star wheel setup is fixed at the either ends of the hollow shaft by welding. The
sprocket is fixed on the shaft before the welding process which connects the small sprocket and
motor with the help of chain drive.

14
15
Final Assembly of Trolley:
The final assembly of the trolley is done as shown below. The wheel setup and the shaft
assembly are assembled to the body of the trolley with the help of bearing. Here, ball bearing is
used. Now the sprockets are connected to the hollow shaft and motor shaft with the help of chain
drive. As the motor rotates, the shaft and Tri-Star assembly rotates with the help of the cha drive
mechanism.

16
 PROTOTYPES AND PROOFING OF CONCEPT

Prototypes, models and proof of concept

 Prototype :- The basic concept of our model is from the stair climbing trolley. We went
to the different malls and we observed that there are problem of lifting loads from
ground level to upper level by stairs. So as per the problem we decided to make that “tri-
star stair truck” . with the help of that machine we can easily lift the loads.

 Model :- In model we made a working model of “tri-star stair truck” which is shown
below. There 6-wheels and 1-shaft and some metals are joined by welding . our model is
fully hand operated so there is no any pollution occurs.

Tri-star stair truck

 proof of concept :- the basic concept of our model is to lift the heavy loads and lift the
loads from ground level to upper level by stairs. our concept is fully hand-operated so
there in no any chance of any pollution.

17
 For building a series of our model is possible. But the cost of the manufacturing the
model is little bit more. The use of our model is at two places in industries and malls. The
cost of our model is not higher. If the industry having no problem with the model they
can make series of it and use it.
1. DESIGN FOR USE , REDUCE AND SUSTAINABILITY

 Design for use :-we used metal in our model so the metal is very strong and it have
strength to lift heavy loads. so the life of this model is longer. In this we use metal so
we have to protect it from corrosion. We have to protect it from rain water.
2. DESIGN FOR USE , REDUCE AND SUSTAINABILITY

 Design for use :-we used metal in our model so the metal is very strong and it have
strength to lift heavy loads. so the life of this model is longer. In this we use metal so
we have to protect it from corrosion. We have to protect it from rain water.

3. TEST THE PROTOTYPE

 In testing of our model we put 25kg on it and make it to climb the stairs. it can
withstand with heavy loads like 30-40kg.
 We able to lift the loads from ground level to upper level.

4. ETHICS IN DESIGN

 In ethics it looks like a trolley but it having 3-wheels instead of one or two
wheels.
 It having 3-wheels on each side.
 Metal plates on each both side.

18
OPERATION PERFORMED

19
 OPERATION PERFORMED

ARC WELDING :-

An electric arc between the electrode and work piece generates heat. Sufficient
heat is generated to melt the work pieces together. The range of welding current used can
be from 5 to 500 amps. The voltage ranges from 20 to 30 volts, Ac or Dc. Both are
determined by material thickness. The arc is shielded by a blanket of granular fusible
material on the work. Pressure is not used. Equipment consists of welding machine or
power source, the wire feeder and control system, the welding torch for automatic
welding or the welding gun and capable assembly for semiautomatic welding, the flux
hopper and feeding mechanism, usually a flux recovery system, and a travel mechanism
for automatic welding.

PRINCIPLE OF OPERATION :-

Stair case load carrier works on the floor as in Hand truck case. When it comes to
stair case brakes are to be applied for wheels. Brakes are applied to avoid the slip of
wheels. Now switch on the motor to run. By using gear train mechanism the power of
motor is transferred from one shaft to another by gear and pinion mechanism. Here
driving shaft is the motor shaft and driven shaft is the working shaft, when this shaft
rotates a turning moment is created to rotate the wheel. Due to this the tri-wheel cluster
will rotate and third wheel which is idle in the air lands on the next stair. This is the way
how a stair case load carrying mechanism works.

20
COST ESTIMATION

21
 COST ESTIMATION :-
Parts Price

Wheel 900

Shaft 100

Cotter pin 20

Welding cost 500

Nut and bolts 250

Structure 3000


Labour , material and overhead cost :-
Less skilled labours are able to work with it. Every labour can easily work with it.
The material use in our model is metal and fiber. Metal for the shafts and rods and
fiber for wheels. The overhead cost of the our model is 2370 rs.
New material :- instead of rubber wheels we use fiber wheels. Fiber wheels are able
to withstand whenever the heavy loads are going to lift.

22
FEATURE

23
FEATURE

• Quiet wheel dampens shock and vibration thus reducing noise.

• High Impact Strength: resists fracture from repeated shock loads.
• Higher Loads: mechanical strength supports greater weight and allows better
utilization in caster rigs.
• Higher Resilience: wheel returns to original shape without deforming when
deflected by loads or rapidly applied stresses.
• High Caster Ratings: higher wheel ratings allow better utilization of caster rig
ratings.
• Floor Protective: material does not damage floors and is lighter in weight than
steel.
• Longer Life: shows minimal wear in extended use. Resists abrasion, water and
many hazardous chemicals. Ideal for stainless steel rigs applications.
• Lower Maintenance: sealed precision bearings and minimal wheels wear greatly
reduces in-plant maintenance requirements. Only one type wheel needed.

24
ADVANTAGES AND APPLICATIONS

25
ADVANTAGES AND APPLICATIONS :-

ADVANTAGES :-

 Stair climbing ability with a less power consumption.

 Suitable to almost all stairs.
 Easy to handle.
 More efficient.
 Economical.
 Easy to assemble.
 Autonomous operation on stairs, slopes and irregular terrain.
 Compared to other wheel load carrier the effort required is less with this type. This load
carrier makes it possible to move unit loads cost effectively, safely and ergonomically.

26
APPLICATIONS

27
 APPLICATIONS

 It can be used in transportation of luggage from one floor to another on stairs in shopping
malls.
 It can be used in buildings under construction.
 This mechanism can be used as stair climbing mechanism for wheel chair.
It can be used for material handling.

28
CONCLUSION

29
CONCLUSION
1. Doing better work with lesser effort has been the main objectives of human beings in
any field.
2. The main aim of the project is stair case climbing mechanism for load carrier with
decreasing effort.
3. By taking the main project as platform we try to present mechanized stair climbing
load carrier with reducing effort.
4. The model of mechanized stair case load carrier which helps to carry the loads with
stair case.

30
REFERENCES

31
 REFERENCES
[1] Siegwart, R., Lauria, M., Mäusli, P., Winnendael, M., 1998, “Design and Implementation of
an Innovative bMicro-Rover,” Proceedings of Robotics 98, the 3rd Conference and Exposition
on Robotics in Challenging Environments, April 26-30, Albuquerque, New Mexico.
[2] Hsueh-Er, C., “Stair-climbing vehicle, 2008, “ Patent No. US2008164665(A1)”, Jan 24.
[3] Mourikis, A.I., Trawny, N., Roumeliotis, S.I., Helmick, D.M., and Matthies, L., 2007,
“Autonomous Stair Climbing for Tracked Vehicles,” International Journal of Computer Vision
& International Journal of Robotics Research - Joint Special Issue on Vision and Robotics,
26(7), 737-758.
[4] Helmick, D., Roumeliotis, S., McHenry, M., Matthies, L., 2002, “Multi-sensor, high speed
autonomous stair climbing”, IEEE/RSJ Conference on Intelligent Robots and Systems (IROS),
September.
[5] Schilling, K., Jungius, C., 1996. “Mobile Robots for Planetary Exploration,” Control
Engineering Practice, Vol. 4, No. 4.
[6] Burdick, J.W., Radford, J., and Chirikjian, G.S., 1993, “A ‘Sidewinding’ Locomotion Gait
for Hyper Redundant Robots,” Proc. IEEE International Conference on Robotics and
Automation.
[7] Desai, R.S., Wilcox, B., Bedard, R., 1992, “JPL Robotic Vehicle Overview,” in AUVS.
[8] McTamaney, L.S., Douglas, B.D., Harmon, S.Y., 1989, “Mars Rover concept development,”
Proc. SPIE Conf. 1007, Mobile Robots III.
BOOKS :

1. Machine design by R S Khurmi.

2. Design of machine element by V B Bhandari.
3. Study of stair climbing assistive mechanism for the disabled, Murray John
Lawn.

32