The objective of this project is to create a retrofit solution that will meet all new regulations released by the CPSC and will be functional, economical, reliable, and aesthetically pleasing.
Sponsored by: Fabtex, Inc.
Team Members
Lauren Beall Derek D’Annolfo Pietro Elliott Tess Humes Henil Rambhia Morgan Schnars
Instructor: Tahira Reid Smith
Project Poster
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Project Video
Project Summary
Overview
Children have been reported getting injured during hotel stays due to accidents with the blind beaded chains. In most hotels, a metal chain freely hands down that controls the blinds over the window. In the past year alone, there have been 9 deaths and over 201 injuries associated with strangulations from the open beaded metal chain. As a result, the CPSC released updated regulations where the operating cords must be:
1. Cordless
2. Inaccessible to the user
3. Equal to or shorter than 8 inches in any use position.
Objectives
The objective of the capstone project was to develop a new solution that is an aesthetic and easy-to-use alternative to the standard market while meeting the previous and additional regulations set forth by the CPSC.
Approach
Met weekly with the sponsor to assess their and the customer’s needs.
We brainstormed multiple concepts including a new material, magnetic breakaway feature, and crank mechanism. We found that the crank mechanism was the only solution that met the new regulations.
Traveled to window shade and blind manufacturing sites for easy access to materials needed to build our solution.
3D-Printed several gears and cranks but concluded that using clutches already used by our sponsor was more effective.
To test the easy-to-use operation of our product, we had a number of individuals operate the crank without any instructions.
Ran SOLIDWORKS computation simulations to understand the fatigue testing and critical load factor of our solution.
Outcomes
From our hard efforts, we developed a novel solution to meet the sponsor’s, customers, and new regulations. Compared to the competitor’s solution, our product only requires 1 hand for operation and is more aesthetically pleasing. In addition, the product is made of parts already in use from Fabtex and therefore will save them time and money when sourcing and installing the mechanism.