SwiSH

What it does

The SwiSH introduces a new method to hoist up a car that was designed specifically for women drivers. Applying telescopic concept in the design, it mainly requires the users to only swirl the provided levers which is much easier, safer and can come in handy.

Your inspiration

In every car, there must be a car jack in it which is very useful when it comes to change a punctured tire. However, current car jacks like the standard scissor jack are sometimes found to be a bit hard to use especially for women drivers especially when turning the handle to raise or lower the scissor jack. Besides that, it comes in two-piece which requires more space to store the two components together in the car. Moreover, the rectangular base of the scissor jack is quite small that may cause it to be unstable especially when using it on uneven surface of paved roads. These constraints that motivated the team to further design the SwiSH.

How it works

The SwiSH comprises of three concentric cylindrical members: an outmost housing member, an intermediate member, and a central member. Like common scissor car jack, the SwiSH also needs to be placed under the car just below its chassis where the top plate of the jack will support the chassis. However, the method of hoisting the car is different using the SwiSH. Applying telescopic concept within the three concentric cylindrical members, it uses mechanical advantage to allow users to hoist a car by manual force alone. This is possible when the lever of the outmost housing member is rotated clockwise horizontally, it allows the intermediate member to be raised. When the lever of the intermediate member is then rotated in the same manner, the central member will then be raised and finally hoist up the car. As for the SwiSH was designed to be in a cylindrical shape, the base of this tool provides a much bigger surface area making it more stable when in use.

Design process

From the main problems faced by current scissor jack users especially women drivers, the design process started by brainstorming the most applicable concept to be used to safely hoist up a car. Benchmarking was mainly based on the scissor jack itself. Several concepts were discussed until the telescopic concept made its way to the next design process. Maintaining its hoisting mechanism to be fully mechanical, the SwiSH ruled out another two mechanisms of using a DC motor and hydraulic powered to reduce its cost and complexity. The preliminary design was further modeled using CATIA V5 CAD software for better visualization. Refining its product architecture to meet its function, the preliminary design was further detailed out to include bearings, power screw features and assistive levers to provide a much lower torque to rotate its levers. Free Body Diagram (FBD) calculations were made before Finite Element Analysis (FEA) simulations were conducted on the design to determine its structural rigidity. After achieving a good safety factor with all components have been detailed and finalized, a prototype was fabricated using several machining processes. The first prototype was tested for any flaws before a second enhanced prototype was produced making it the final product of the SwiSH.

How it is different

As compered to current scissor jack, the SwiSH provides better portability as it comes in one-piece with a much bigger and stable base. Requires a small storage space when storing, it is much easier and suitable for all car drivers especially women. The telescopic concept and hoisting method of rotating the levers horizontally mainly contribute to its less power requirement during usage. This is added with the well-designed power screw features of the telescopic members and specific type of bearings used between them. Three levers are provided for each outmost housing and intermediate members respectively, making it more ergonomic to grip the levers when in use. Specific angle of the power screw was carefully calculated and designed to make sure that the required torque is sufficient which provides a self-locking mechanism to avoid the car from lowering back downwards after being hoisted. This crucial safety factor makes the SwiSH a reliable tool to be used.

Future plans

The prototype of the SwiSH was only to prove the concept and purpose of its design. Therefore, the material used in fabricating it was mainly mild steel with treated electro-nickel plating to avoid rusting. This cause it to be a bit heavy but provides an advantage design trade-off of being more stable and aesthetically pleasing. Further design optimization is to consider other suitable materials to reduce its weight but still maintain its form and function as designed, besides adding rubber covers to the levers for better grip. Hoping that car manufacturers would opt to this SwiSH as their car jack inside their vehicles in the near future.

Awards

Patent granted forRotating Telescopic Car Jack (PI2015700295) on October 27, 2021 under MyIPO. Gold Medal, Research Innovation Symposium Exposition 2015 (RISE2015), UiTM, Shah Alam, Selangor, MALAYSIA. Bronze Medal, Invention, Innovation and Design Exposition 2014 (IIDEX2014), UiTM, Shah Alam, Selangor, MALAYSIA.