An aerospace engineering company says it has invented the world's lightest and tightest-folding, fully adjustable wheelchair. The Flight wheelchair weighs 18 pounds and measures 9.5 in. from hand-rim to hand-rim when folded, says Matt Cochran, production manager of Aero Innovative Research Inc. (AIR), Valley Center, Kansas, (aeroinnovative.com).

“Wheelchairs have been made pretty much the same way for the past 70 years, like patio furniture with bent and welded tubing and fabric,” says Cochran. AIR applied aircraft-design ideas to the wheelchair, such as a sandwich panel frames made of lightweight, damage-resistant materials, 100% CNC machining, and precision assembly including gun-drilled hinges, so the chair needs no welding.

Material strength and weight were primary factors for AIR. “Because we avoided welding we could use stronger materials,” said Cochran. “That's where FEA comes in. It let us identify and reduce stress points, and get the most strength with lowest weight. Cochran used DesignCheck from Algor Inc., Pittsburgh, (algor.com) which is included with CAD software Alibre Design. “We could also simulate extreme conditions and push parts to the limit. The chair's materials needed only linear-static-stress analysis.”

Cochran modeled and analyzed every wheelchair component his company manufactured, items such as frame panels, caster fork, rear axle plate, and a custom hinge screw. This identified extraneous material and made the design as light as possible while maintaining strength.

“A benefit of FEA is that it speeds design work,” said Cochran. “We were a start-up company working with limited funding, and FEA let us rapidly design and virtually test parts over and over until we got them where we wanted.”

The Flight wheelchair passed its four months of tests without a single fastener coming loose. The Flight earned FDA approval for safety and effectiveness, which means Medicare, Medicaid, and private insurers can reimburse patients who purchase the chair.