Jan 8 2009
Engineering firm behind a radical new wheelchair that uses nanotechnology to improve the lives of the disabled wins another award at the national level.
Freedom Wheelchair
Lu Papi & Associates topped the swag of awards they received from the Sydney division of the Engineers Australia award with an award at the 2008 Australian Engineering Excellence Awards (2008 AEEA) gala dinner at the Great Hall of Parliament House Canberra late last year.
More than 20% of Australians use a wheelchair regularly or occasionally. Many wheelchair users need several different chairs in their daily life: a normal chair, a commode chair, a shower chair and occasionally a travel chair. This is expensive and inconvenient. The Freedom Wheelchair meets all these needs.
Launched at the University of Western Sydney's Macarthur campus by Pat Farmer, MP for Macarthur, in 2007, the new chair uses an ultra light, ultra strong, nanotechnology-enhanced stainless steel tube to solve the problems. This tube is many times stronger than titanium steel tube and much lighter.
The Freedom wheelchair has no axle between the wheels, which are independently sprung. That means it can roll over a toilet bowl. It is highly corrosion resistant so it can be used in the shower. At 5.1 kg without wheels and upholstery it is lighter than any chair available now. It is highly manoeuvrable. It has shock absorbers on each wheel.
The chair is made using Sandvik NanoFlex® s/s tube, polymers with nano-fillers, nylon and carbon fibre. The design can only be manufactured by using these very advanced materials. Lu Papi had to develop a special process to bend the NanoFlex® which had never before been bent successfully any where in the world.