Laundry Basket Carrier for Wheelchair Users

Dr. Mark Anthony Calhoun

EM103-07
May 19, 2021

Kyle Anderson, Jacob Gunnell, Ruby

Kauffman, David Manche

1
 Executive Summary
One of the primary issues of the wheelchair bound is being able to carry large objects as
part of their daily tasks. Large, awkward objects, namely laundry baskets, present no simple or
practical means of transport by the wheelchair user. The user cannot give up use of their arms,
since that is how the wheelchair is pushed, and their lap does not provide enough space for the
larger objects. According to interviews with people who are wheelchair bound, the only
reoccurring solutions were to drag their laundry basket or bag behind them or attempt to
carefully balance it on their lap. Many agreed neither of these were good solutions, but it was all
they had available.
This report presents the design of a wheelchair apparatus designed to hold the user’s
laundry, among other things. This product makes use two 1” thick, 1/8” shell polyethylene
platforms, attached by two collapsible 18” long, 1” wide struts to each other, with an additional
collapsible 19.8” long, 1” wide leg that supports the upper platform, with two collapsible arms
that connect to the struts of the wheelchair by use of Velcro straps (See figure 4). It stands at 27”
tall, and 46” long, and 29” wide. The user can place items that require easier reach onto the
upper platform, which connects just ahead of the user’s knees, and other larger items at the lower
platform, which rests just ahead of the user’s feet. The product has a maximum weight capacity
of 150 lbs, which offers a safety of factor of 3 for the maximum strain that the product was
predicted to be under.
When the product is not in use, the support leg can fold inward, and the connection struts
will collapse at their connection points. Additionally, the arms can fold backwards to the sides of
the platform (See Figure 3 below). This reduces the vertical height to approximately 7” tall,
25.9% of the original height, and 22” long, 47.8% of the original length. This allows it to very
easily be stored in most closets and wardrobes.
The primary objective for this product would be providing an easy-to-use method of
transporting laundry and other goods by wheelchair bound users. Additional objectives include a
simple design that is simple to use, maintaining comfort for the user, enough durability to
withstand all use it will see, and a compact design for when the product is not in use. In this
design, the objectives were met to a more than reasonable standard.

Figure 4 Upper View Figure 2 Lower View Figure 3 Collapsed

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Figure 3 Collapsed
 Table of Contents
1. Front Matter --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------1
1. Table of Contents -------------------------------------------------------------------------------3
2. Main Body -----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------2
1. Problem Scope --------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 4
2.1 Opportunity identification ---------------------------------------------------------------4
2.2 Product Needs and Technical Specifications -------------------------------------------4
2. Design Description -----------------------------------------------------------------------------6
2.3 Summary ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------6
2.4 Detailed Description -----------------------------------------------------------------------6
3. Evaluation ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------9
2.5 Quantitative Design Evaluation ----------------------------------------------------------9
2.6 Strengths and Weakness -----------------------------------------------------------------11
4. References --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------12
3. Appendix -----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------13
1. Interviews --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------13
2. Concept Generation ---------------------------------------------------------------------------14
3. Drawing Package ------------------------------------------------------------------------------15
4. Performance Models --------------------------------------------------------------------------19
5.

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 Problem Scope
Opportunity Identification
Life for day-to-day wheelchair users often comes with many challenges. One of these challenges
is doing their laundry. Whether they struggle to transport their laundry to the machine or to put their
clothes into the washer, this every day task can be extremely tedious and inefficient. Most wheelchair
users come up with their own creative solutions to this problem, such as caring piles of cloths on their
laps, dragging their laundry bag behind their chair, or using handheld grabbers to remove their laundry
from the machine. Although these solutions work, they do not accommodate for the user’s needs. Our
product opportunity is to increase portability and accessibility of laundry for people in wheelchairs.
Once we established our problem scope, we were tasked with interviewing people who would
benefit from this design. Due to the low number of wheelchair users on Rose-Hulman’s campus, we had
to outsource of for our data. We asked the wheelchair users of Reddit if they experience difficulties when
doing their laundry. Surprisingly, six responses were received, and the problem scope found new
direction. With this new data, we could work from advice and complaints from actual wheelchair users.

Product Needs and Technical Specifications

Figure 1: Stakeholders Needs

Our product has four main stake holders: manufacturers, wheelchair users, caretakers, and
occupational therapists. The stakeholders desire features that ensure quality, ease of use, portability, and
affordability. A list of our technical specification is recoded below. These specifications were created to
specify durability and general portability of the laundry. Certain criteria were created in order to meet the
needs of the stakeholders. From our surveys, we found that chair users want a laundry basket that is
simple, easy to carry, balanced, robust, and compact. The specifications of these criteria are illustrated in
Table 1.

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 Product Table 1: Technical Specifications Rational for Target
Needs Target Value Values
Metric

Simple The number of The device should have no more than 10 components. The basket itself is only one
components component. 5 wheels and 2
handles, 2 columns
Comfortable Distance from No less than 1 inch from leg A small gap between the
cart to leg. leg of the user and the tray
provides ease of
transportation and comfort.
Balanced The platforms Both platforms are level (90°) give or take a degree ±1° is acceptable and will
are level and the (±1°) not affect the device or user
arms are negatively, but the goal
orthogonal to should be 0. It should be
the platforms able to stay upright if
pushed or tipped a small
amount.
Robust Maximum load, Must withstand at least 100 pounds inside the basket, It should be able to
on each side. as well as 100 pounds on the sides and bottom without withstand a very large
reaching the yield point. child, because if it cannot
withstand household
occurrences, it isn’t robust.
Compact The width of the Must reduce to less than 1 foot. Realistically, the cart
folded cart. should fold to be stored in a
standard closet.

Simple: The cart is limited to minimal parts as to not complicate both the design and manufacturing
process.
Comfortable: When the cart is placed over the legs, it is crucial that the cart not touch the users’ legs. A
one-inch gap allows for comfortable mobility and transportation.
Balanced: We would like the basket to have the same center of mass with and without laundry in the
basket. Because the basket is rectangular, the center of mass should stay in the center of the basket and
not affect functionality.
Robust: The basket can accommodate large loads of laundry. The product can also withstand the weight
of a small child and other household occurrences.
Compact: The device can be folded into a relatively flat plank so that it can be stored in common
locations throughout a household.

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6
 Design Description
Summary
Our solution is a folding, attachable cart with two platforms. The cart sits on five casters with
polyurethane wheels, four on the lower platform and one on center stick that supports the upper platform.
The cart is designed to attach via Velcro on rotatable arms that can hold the cart to the wheelchair at
variable widths. The three columns supporting the upper platform attach to pivot mounts on each end,
allowing it to fold for storage. Both platforms are made by injection molding polyethylene, the most
common plastic and, due to its recyclability, a good combination of strong and sustainable.
Detailed Description
The system begins with the lower platform (See Appendix III.h). The lower platform is made of a 20” by
27” base extruded 2” and shelled to .25” with the bottom as the open face. The shelling of the material is
a common practice among the injection molding of plastics, since it saves a lot of resources, reduces
weight, and does not affect the ability to achieve any reasonable design constraint. Each corner has a
mount (See Figure 5) for the swivel mount plate of the casters with polyurethane wheels, the wheels that
we decided would be best for this project due to their capacity and flexibility when it comes to being used
on both carpeted and hardwood floors. The casters and wheels are the only non-polyethylene part of our
assembly (besides Velcro). The mounts are supported by a .5” diameter cylindrical extrusion that
distributes the weight more evenly. Each caster wheel is only 2” in diameter and raise the platform 2.5”
off the ground but can carry a load of 100 lbs. Distributed evenly, the bottom platform should be able to
carry a load of 400 lbs. before the wheels break. The lower platform is also ribbed on the bottom (See
Figure 6), with three horizontal ribs and two vertical ribs, each evenly spaced along the bottom of the
platform. This is also a common practice among plastic injection molding, since it greatly increases the
weight limit of the piece without using much material at all. Lastly, there are two pivot mounts (See
Figure 7) that are a part of the mold that connect to the two columns that support the back of the upper
platform.

Figure 5

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 Figure 6

Figure 7

The subsystem that follows the lower platform is the upper platform. Similar to the lower platform, the
upper platform is made of a 20” by 27” base with a 2” extrusion, but with a .2” shell instead. It has the
same ribbing pattern as the lower platform as well. The mounts on the bottom are a bit different, as they
have pivot mounts for the columns rather than plate mounts. There are three mounts on the bottom (See
Figure 8), two in the back for the columns supported by the lower platform, and one in the front center
that has its own column and caster wheel. This set up makes the platform more accessible and convenient,
so that the user can just reach in front of themselves rather than having to bend forward towards their feet.
The upper platform also contains two swivel mounts (See Figure 8) on the side that are dedicated to the
arm connectors which, along with the Velcro, allow for a customizable connection and support to the
entire assembly.

Figure 8

Lastly, the caster connection subsystem is the connector between the center column and the caster wheel
below it (See Figure 9). It is an adapter of sorts, translating the caster’s plate mount directly into a pivot
mount, which then connects via the center column to the bottom of the upper platform. The center column

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is designed to fold under the upper platform and over the lower platform, matching the placement of the
other columns during the folded form and making the folding process no more difficult than necessary.

Figure 9

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 Evaluation

At Least One Load of Laundry

Our design was evaluated on four basic criteria. The first criterion was being able to hold at least
one load of laundry. This is probably one of the more important criteria since our product is designed to
carry laundry. Both of our design's platform dimensions were 20 x 27 inches. From research we found
that the average laundry basket dimensions from Walmart were 19 x 27 inches. This shows that at least an
average laundry basket will be able to fit on either one of the platforms. This also shows that there is
enough room to just stack the clothes on top of the platforms if chosen to do so.
Able to Fit Through a Doorway
Our next criterion was being compact enough to fit through a doorway comfortably. This is also
another key criterion to consider because if the design is not able to fit through a doorway, then the design
will fail. From research we were able to determine that the average doorway is around 3 feet and 1 and ½
inches wide. The width of our design is 27 inches wide. When converted to feet that is 2 feet 3 inches.
This shows that our design will comfortably fit through a doorway with a lot of space to spare.
Friction
One of the more in-depth criteria we had to consider was how hard it was going to be for the
wheelchair user to push our design with all the weight of laundry and laundry accessories on it. For this
analysis, we turned to finding the friction of our design with the weight on it. The equation for friction is
…

Friction=Coefficient of Friction of Wheels × Normal Force

The coefficient of friction of our wheels were determined by doing research. The caster wheels
we used were polyurethane and found the coefficient to be 0.08. Next, we needed the normal force. From
research we found that the average weight of one load of laundry is 12 pounds. We also figured that the
user would use the second platform for laundry accessories such as laundry detergent. Doing a little bit
more research we found that one bottle of tide weighs 23.6 pounds. We also assumed there would be
more items than just one laundry detergent bottle on the platform, so for realism we decided to factor the
weight of three laundry detergent bottles. Finally, we overestimated the weight of our design to be 20
pounds. It should be less than that considering we used plastic for the majority of the design. Plugging
into the equation we get…

Friction=(0.08) ×(12+(3 ×23.6)+20)

Friction=8.224 N
Now that we have found the friction, we needed to convert that to pound force…

8.224 N =1.849lbs
We can now see that to push the design with that much material on it the person in the wheelchair
must overcome around 2 pounds which we think is very reasonable considering the amount of items on
the design.

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Turning Radius
The last criterion we considered was the turning radius of our design attached to the wheelchair.
This is one of the weaker points of the design as our design attaches to the front of a wheelchair and tends
to be a little bulky. From research we found that the turning radius for an average wheelchair is 30 inches
and our design is 40 inches in length. This will give the design a total turning radius of 70 inches.
Converting this to feet it is 5.83 feet. This is a bit large, and we considered this in our design and decided
to stick with it for a couple reasons. The first reason being that it should be easy to turn around in an open
room or open area inside the house or wherever the user is doing laundry. The second reason is that our
design is very easy to attach and detach. The arms that attach to the wheelchair are Velcro. This is very
simple and allows the user if needed to make a sharp turn in a hallway by detaching the design.
Technical Specifications Met?
The first technical specification was that the device should have no more than ten components for
simplicity. This specification was met because if you reference our bill of materials in the Drawing
Package section of the Appendix, we have 9 unique components.
The second technical specification was that the device should be at least one inch away from the
user’s leg for comfortability. This technical specification was measure by taking the distance from the top
platform to the user’s leg. We had to estimate this value due to not producing our product as well as not
having a wheelchair on hand. We just used our groupmates sitting in an average chair and measuring with
a measuring tape the height of our design from the floor and checking the distance between our laps. We
estimated the distance to be around 2 inches which also meets our technical specification.
The third technical specification was that both platforms are level (90°) ± 1° to ensure all the
items on the design would not fall off. This technical specification was met due to our supports shown on
our solid model. The four caster wheels allow the bottom platform to be completely level. The three
columns supporting the top platform allow the platform to be completely level. This allows for no items
to fall off our design.

The fourth technical specification was that at least 150 pounds of weight can be applied to the
design and not break for robustness. This technical specification was met when we were designing our
platforms and deciding what material to choose. We wanted to be able to hold a small child (50 pounds)
and had a factor of safety of 3 which brings it up to 150 pounds of weight. We looked at our material
which is polyethylene and determined the strength of our platform. We also worked into our design some
ribbing (shown below) which vastly increased the strength over our mark of 150 pounds.

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 The fifth technical specification was that the design can be compacted down to a foot or less for
ease of storage. This technical specification was met because we designed it to be foldable for storage.
The picture below is our design folded up into its compacted form thanks to the pivot mounts on the
columns. The estimated length of the folded design is around 7 inches long which meets our technical
specification and allows for easy storage.

Strengths and Weaknesses

We have many strengths to our design. One of our strengths is that our design can be folded. It
can be compact enough to store around the user’s home comfortably. The second strength of our design is
the ease of attaching the design. Our design uses Velcro straps to attach the design to the actual
wheelchair. This allows the user to attach and detach the design in seconds. The third strength of our
design is how easy it is to push the design with material on it. In the friction section we learned that with
laundry and laundry accessories on the design it would need around 2 pounds of force to push which is
very light and easy. The fourth strength of our design is that it can be used for multiple things other than
laundry. We also considered this and wanted to incorporate it. It can be used for the transport of almost
anything. It provides a way for wheelchair users to move any object they need. The last strength of our
design is its robust ability. We wanted to have a design that will last for the user. We used plastic because
it’s durable and made it strong.
The weaknesses of our design are few but do end up being due to the bulk of the design. One
weakness of our design is the turning radius which is large. This makes it only available to do a 360° turn
in an open area. The user will not be able to turn around in a hallway and will have to detach the design
and then turn around. The second weakness of our design is that there is no railing to the platforms. This
makes it easy for things to slide off the platforms. We took this into consideration but decided not to put
platforms on our design because it would have added more bulk to an already bulky design. The final
weakness of our design that it will be hard to market. Every wheelchair user has there way of doing
everyday tasks and what we are trying to do is have them break their way of doing and use our design. It
will be hard to market but not impossible.

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 References
Aguirre, Sarah. “What Is a Proper Full Load of Laundry?” The Spruce, www.thespruce.com/laundry-full-
load-1900682#:~:text=Low%2Dcapacity%20top%2Dloaders%20may,as%2018%20pounds%20of
%20clothing.

Amazon.com: Online Shopping for Electronics, Apparel. www.amazon.com/.

“Castor Wheels Roll Resistance.” Bulldog Castors Blog, 2 Nov. 2018,

www.bulldogcastors.co.uk/blog/castor-wheels-roll-resistance/#:~:text=Example%20Rolling
%20Coefficients%20of%20Wheel,Polyurethane%20%E2%80%93%200.04%20to%200.08.

“r/Wheelchairs - Designing a Laundry Basket for Everyday Wheel Chair Users.” Reddit,
www.reddit.com/r/wheelchairs/comments/mwtwdi/designing_a_laundry_basket_for_everyday_wh
eel/?utm_source=share.

“Sterilite 2 Bushel Ultra™ Laundry Basket White.” Walmart.com, 9 Jan. 2021,

www.walmart.com/ip/Sterilite-2-Bushel-Ultra-Laundry-Basket-White/16351111.

“What Size Door Is Right for Your Entry?” What Is an Average Size for an Entry Door? | Pella Windows
& Doors, Pella Windows & Doors of Portland, 9 Aug. 2019, www.pellabranch.com/blog/global-
blogs/average-size-entry-door/.

“Wheelchair Turning Radius: Everything You Need to Know!” Scootaround,

scootaround.com/en/wheelchair-turning-radius-everything-you-need-to-know#:~:text=This
%20means%20that%20every%20device,%2C%20scooter%2C%20or%20reclining%20wheelchair.

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 Appendix
I. Interviews
a. Reddit Post

It needs to be a material on the base that doesn't slide off the lap and needs to have a low center of
gravity, both for balancing purposes and the ability to easily grab the items out while it's still in your lap.
- socialmediasuckz

Not the basket. Top load washer are a pain, especially the old school ones with the spindle in the middle.
I've always envisioned a flexible semi rigid laundry bag that has a sewn hole in the middle. Keeps it's
shape enough to be a floor standing hamper (and allow clothes to circulate freely in the laundry) , flexible
enough to squeeze into the washer, temp resistant enough to go in the dryer.
Only time clothes come out is when they are clean, and the semi rigid shape would give enough height to
easily remove it from top loaders.
- apexncgeek

I use a big cloth bag with a drawstring on top. Pull it closed and then loop the cord around my neck. My
lap is nowhere near flat in my chair, so the basket on lap method doesn't work well for me. A laundry bag
or basket that became a backpack would be pretty cool though.
- wolfinder

I just push my laundry basket across the floor.

- burstt8

I use my chairs handles to hook a bag to that I drag on the floor behind me and then use the bags to get
washing from the laundry basket Nd from the washing machine to the drying rack.
- burnmebbygrl

I just use a collapsible one. You only fold out as much of it as you need.
- luna-the-lunatic
II. Concept Generation

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 a.
Design Description – This was our first ever concept we generated and really jumpstarted our design
process for this project. We called it the “wheelbarrow design” because it looks like a wheelbarrow. It is a
carrying box with arms attached that would presumably be held by the user.
Pros – can hold laundry
Cons – uses the wheelchair user’s arms so they will not be able to push the wheels, heavy to carry

b.
Design Description – This was our second concept that really paved the way to our final design. This
design was a cart that would attach to the bottom of the wheelchair and was able to be pushed in front of
the wheelchair while carrying laundry.
Pros – does not require the use of hands, easy to attach to wheelchair, able to hold laundry
Cons – would be hard for wheelchair users to reach down to their laundry

c.
Design Description – This design is a two platform that is offset from one another. It has a column that
sits between the user’s legs. It also attaches to the wheelchair by Velcro. It incorporates caster wheels that
will roll easy on any surface. The design is also foldable allowing for easy storage. Both platforms are
able to hold whatever the user desires.

15
Pros – able to hold laundry and other items, very easy to attach, two platforms for multiple items, sits
comfortably between the user’s legs, foldable for storage, easy to push, strong and reliable
Cons – bulky, turning radius
Why We Chose This Final Design – We chose this design because it is a culmination of all the best ideas
of all of our designs. It meets all the project needs and technical specifications we needed as well as being
easy and comfortable to use. It also has two platforms to be able to hold more than just laundry. It also
can be used to carry any other item the wheelchair user’s needs in their life.
III. Drawing Package

a.

b.

c.

16
d.

e.

17
f.

g.

18
h.

i.

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 j.
Bill of Materials
Part Name
Cart Smart Casters with
Polyurethane Wheel
Lower Plastic Platform
Upper Plastic Platform
¼ in. Diameter Bolt
½ in. Diameter Bolt
18 in. Column
19.8 in. Column
8 in. Arm Rest Connector
Caster Connector
Part Number Quantity
1 5
2 1
3 1
4 20
5 6
6 2
7 1
8 2
9 1

IV. Performance Models

a. Friction Math
F riction=Coefficient of Friction of Wheels × Normal Force
Friction=(0.08) ×(12+(3 ×23.6)+20)
Friction=8.224 N
8.224 N =1.849lbs
b. Turning Radius Math
Total Turning Radius=(30∈.)+(40∈.)
Total Turning Radius=70∈.
c. Design Evaluation

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 Concepts

A B C D

Criteria Selection  Front Front Back mount Side mount

mount mount puller holder 
holder pusher 

Easy to connect + + - 0

Maintains + + + -
functionality

Fits through doors  + + + -

Lightweight 0 + + 0

Holds 1 load + + + +

No excessive reach  + 0 - +

Easy to store 0 0 0 0

Simple - + 0 0

Net 4 6 2 0

d. Second Design Evaluation

Front Mount Holder  Front Mount Pusher  Back Mount Puller 

Ease of access to clothes  + + -

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Does not hinder chair movement  + + +

Robust - + +

Net 2 3 2

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