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Blog #4

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Work Period of April 13 to April 26 During the work period of April 13 to April 26, our team made significant progress toward developing the final concept for the Mechanical StairGlide Luggage project. We narrowed our design direction down to two main mechanical concepts that could potentially meet the project requirements for stair climbing, compact storage, structural safety, and airline dimensional limits. For both designs, we completed CAD drawings to better visualize the geometry, folding/retraction behavior, wheel placement, and overall integration with the luggage body. These CAD models helped us compare how each concept would fit within the suitcase envelope and how the mechanism would interact with standard stair geometry. In addition to CAD development, our team began analyzing the forces acting on each design. We are currently working on free-body diagrams, force calculations, and structural feasibility checks to determine how the load will transfer through the wheel arms, ...
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Blog #3

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Work Period of March 22 to April 11 During the March 22 to April 11 work period, our team made strong progress in defining the engineering foundation for the Mechanical StairGlide Luggage project and beginning concept selection. Building on the motivation and problem definition from our earlier blogs, we completed Milestone 1 by establishing the project’s key requirements and constraints, including supported load, airline dimensional limits, stair geometry, structural safety, deployment reliability, and pulling-force targets. We also performed baseline stair-pulling tests on a loaded suitcase over more than 20 trials, which showed that stair climbing requires significant user effort and confirmed that wheel–stair interaction and changing contact conditions are major design challenges. At the same time, the team began work that is still in progress under Milestone 2. We are currently comparing multiple deployable stair-climbing concepts, with particular focus on curved-spoke and standa...
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Blog #2

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Technical Problem Statement The objective of this project is to design and validate a purely mechanical, retractable stair-climbing mechanism that can integrated into a standard checked suitcase. The system must safely transport a 70 lb load over typical 7–8 inch stair risers while reducing user-applied pulling force to below 187 N. The mechanism must fully retract within airline dimensional limits (L + W + H ≤ 62 inches), maintain a minimum structural safety factor of 2 under worst-case loading, and remain stable during stair ascent and descent. The major challenge is transferring the suitcase’s weight through a deployable tri-wheel  with a retractable/folding  mechanism (figure 2)  without structural failure, tipping, or excessive user effort. During stair climbing, concentrated reaction forces occur at stair edges, generating bending in the axle, shear in locking interfaces, and moment loading on the hinge structure. The design must balance mechanical advantage, packag...
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Blog #1 - Luggage Lifting Device

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  Background and Motivation Many travelers regularly encounter stairs in places such as airports, train stations, subways, and hotels when elevators are unavailable or out of service. In these situations, moving a large suitcase becomes difficult and unsafe. Most checked suitcases weigh up to 50 lb and are designed to roll only on flat surfaces. When faced with stairs, users must lift the full weight of the suitcase while maintaining balance on narrow steps, which increases physical strain and the risk of injury. According to the American Academy of Orthopedic Surgeons, this has resulted in 85,000  people being sent to the emergency room due to luggage related injuries as recently as 2017.  This  problem is especially challenging for smaller or petite users and those with  limited lifting strength. Of  those who suffered from luggage related shoulder injuries, around 60% were female and over the age  of 50. A  mechanical solution that assists user...
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