DESIGN PROJECTS REPORT ON DEVELOPING A NEW CAR JACK

BY ALLEN ANILKUMAR SANDEEP PATIL UDAY PULELLA NISSIM J. DOLE Submitted to Prof. B. J. C. Babu 2010H141026G 2010H141028G 2010H141029G 2010H141032G

BIRLA INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY & SCIENCE, PILANI K. K. BIRLA GOA CAMPUS

November 2011

ACKNOWLEDGEMENT

We are very grateful to our guide Prof B.J.C. BABU, Mechanical Engineering Department for giving us the opportunity to work under them in this project and for their constant guidance and inspiration throughout the project. This project required a lot of input from the members other than the team. We are truly grateful to those people who gave us their valuable time and input for the customer survey form. We are grateful to our friends from the Non-engineering background who gave us thoughts and insights about several aspects. We are thankful to all, who directly or indirectly were involved in this project.

CONTENT
I. Introduction 1. Project Title 2. Mission statement 3. Customer need from survey 4. Interpreted and sorted needs 5. Product specification and comparison 6. Summary of technology 7. Product function, Function structure and FAST diagram 8. Concept generation 9. Concept screening and selection 10. Conclusion II. Appendix 1 III. Appendix 2 4 5 5 6 7 8 10 13 17 19 20 21 26

I. INTRODUCTION
As we know that screw jack existing in this world long ago. Jacks are having applications in myriads of areas like ranging from lifting the vehicle for removing punctures or underbody overhaul to raising heavy structures like bridges or columns of the buildings. In our day today life we required Jacks to lift the car when it has flattened tires. Jacks differ in their properties according to the type of vehicle they are required for. These are mechanical devices which are portable and hence can be stored in the vehicle. The vehicle owner must ensure that he/she has to have a jack in his vehicle so that if there is no garage nearby, one can at least fix his vehicle himself. It is always a good idea to be aware of all the necessary devices that are required for your vehicle. This will ensure that if ever your car breaks down you can fix it by using these tools. If you are a car owner then you may have certainly visited a garage where there are all types of equipment that are necessary to repair the car. However the type of Screw jack commonly used in motor vehicles are of mechanical scissor type or simple screw jack. Typically scissor kind of screw jacks is widely used in hatchbacks as well as in the sedans like Maruti 800, Swift, indigo, Skoda etc. When one use these kinds of jacks he/she needs to apply comparatively large efforts to lift the car. These are comparatively more incasing of scissor jacks as it is having short crow bar. These applications of force depend particularly on age, gender and knowledge of particular person. So as to reduce the efforts for lifting the vehicle we are working on the on these jacks and trying to implicate some contraption or kind of mechanism. To achieve our task we followed the methods what we had been taught and studied in Product Design. We applied these techniques to achieve our target and formulated various solutions. This report is categorised into the following 1. Project Title 2. Mission statement 3. Customer needs 4. Interpreted and sorted needs 5. Product specifications 6. Summary of technologies 7. Production Functions, Function tree, FAST diagram. 8. Concept generation
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9. Concept scoring and selection 10. Conclusion

1.

PROJECT TITLE

Project Title: Implementation of product design principles to explore possibilities of new car jack designs.

2. MISSION STATEMENT

Product description: Key business goals:

Is a device that lifts heavy equipment like automobiles Advancement of jack technology Market capitalisation

Primary market:

Leading 4 wheeler original equipment manufacturer

Secondary market: Assumptions: Stake holders: Avenues for creative design: Scope limitations:

Automobile service stations and small scale enterprises Portable, Reliable, Light weight, Compact End customer, Retailer, Manufacturer Size, power consumption Weight, compatibility issues

3. CUSTOMER NEEDS

A customer survey was conducted using the internet. The summary of the survey is described in appendix I. Further the customer needs for carjacks were found out as follows

1. The jack ought to lift the vehicle 2. It must be easy to position 3. It should have more area for placement 4. It should have Less energy requirement 5. It is good if take less time for lifting

6. It should be compact
7. It must be easy to operate 8. It is nice if it uses less maintenance 9. It is good to have corrosion resistance 10. It should be reliable 11. It must be portable 12. It is good if it is compatible with all car models 13. It is nice if it could be easily to operated in low light 14. It should be light in weight 15. It has be affordable

16. It should not damage any part of the chassis

17. It must not be noisy

1. INTERPRETED AND SORTED NEEDS

The customer needs obtained in the previous section were interpreted by the design team. We found seven broad categories of interest. The needs were sorted under these seven categories. The need number (for reference in section 5) is given in brackets I. Purchase 1. Cost (1) II. Store 1. Portable (2) 2. Compact (3) 3. Light weight (4) III. Mounting 1. Easy to position (5) 2. Wide base (6) 3. Portable (7) 4. No damage to chassis (8) 5. Low light visibility (9) IV. Lifting 1. Raising the car (10) 2. Compatibility with all car models (11) 3. Quick operation (12) 4. Less energy requirement (13) 5. Stable positioning (14) V. Lowering 1. Slow descent (15) 2. Smooth operation (16) 3. Stable positioning (17) VI. Un-mounting 1. Easy removal (18) 2. No damage to chassis (19) 3. Low light visibility (20) VII.Usability 1. Simple usage (21) 2. Less maintenance (22) 3. Corrosion resistance (23) 4. Light weight (24) 5. Compatible with all car models (25) 6. Silent operation (26)
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7. Easy usage in low light (27)

1. PRODUCT SPECIFICATIONS

From the interpreted customer needs, the product metrics have been deduced as in table 1.

METRI C NO. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20

NEED NO. 10 13 6,14,1 7 5 18 8,19 12 15 21 22 4,24 26 16 3 2 9,20,2 7 1 11,25 23

METRIC Raise of the car Energy requirement Stable position Positioning Removal Minimum Damage Operating time Lowering time Usability Maintenance Lightweight Silent operation Smooth operation Compact Portable Darkness visibility Cost Compatibility Corrosion Bureau of Indian STD

IMPORTANC E 5 5 4 3 3 4 4 4 3 3 3 2 3 4 4 4 4 3 3 3

UNITS h(mm) T(Nm) A(mm2) NA NA Dent, Ding t(s) t(s) NA Rupees M(Kg) Noise(dB ) NA NA NA Lumax Rupees NA NA NA

Table1. Product metrics

We also compared three existing jack models and found out marginal and target specifications. Hence table two has been prepared for comparison between the existing models.

MET. NO. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20

METRIC Rise of the car Energy requirement Stable position Positioning Removal Minimum Damage Operating time Descendance Usability Maintainance Lightweight Silent operation Smooth operation Compact Portable Darkness visibility Cost Compatibility Corrosion Buereau of Indian STD

UNITS h(mm) T(Nm) A(mm2) NA NA Dent,Ding t(s) t(s) NA Rupees M(Kg) Noise(dB) NA NA NA Lumax Rupees NA NA NA

INSTA JACK 2.5T 260 35 220 GOOD FAIR FAIR 1200 450 GOOD 150 6 5 GOOD GOOD EXCELLENT NA 2000 FAIR OIL PAINT FAIR

AKM 30 350 40 350 FAIR GOOD FAIR 2000 420 POOR 175 5 5 POOR FAIR FAIR NA 1500 POOR GALVANIZED FAIR

SJ35T 440 27 300 FAIR FAIR FAIR 2400 450 FAIR 150 7 5 FAIR FAIR FAIR NA 1400 POOR OIL PAINT FAIR

INSTA JACK 2.5T ** *** ** **** ** *** **** *** *** *** **** **** **** **** ***** * ** **** *** ***

AKM 30 *** ** *** ** *** *** *** **** ** ** ***** **** ** *** *** * *** ** **** ***

SJ35T **** **** *** ** ** *** *** *** ** *** *** **** *** *** *** * *** ** *** ***

Marginal value >255 >25 >225

Ideal value >550 <20 >500

>450 >1200 >420

<200 <600 <300

>50 >10 >20

<As small <5 <5

>1-2min >Fair >fair >1300 Domestic oil paint As per

<2 min Excellent Excellent <1100 All galvanize d As per

Table2. Marginal and Ideal values for the product metrics

2. SUMMARY OF TECHNOLOGY
The project team made a survey of the existing jack technologies and arrived at the following findings.

Graph1. S-curves A mechanical jack is a device which lifts heavy equipment. The most common form is a car jack, floor jack or garage jack which lifts vehicles so that maintenance can be performed. Car jacks usually use mechanical advantage to allow a human to lift a vehicle by manual force alone. More powerful jacks use hydraulic power to provide more lift over greater distances. Mechanical jacks are usually rated for a maximum lifting capacity (for example, 1.5 tons or 3 tons Hydraulic jack

Hydraulic jacks are typically used for shop work, rather than as an emergency jack to be carried with the vehicle. Use of jacks not designed for a specific vehicle requires more than the usual care in selecting ground conditions, the jacking point on the vehicle, and to ensure stability when the jack is extended. Hydraulic jacks are often used to lift elevators in low and medium rise buildings. A hydraulic jack uses a fluid, which is incompressible, that is forced into a cylinder by a pump plunger. Oil is used since it is self-lubricating and stable. When the plunger pulls back, it draws oil out of the reservoir through a suction check valve into the pump chamber. When the plunger moves forward, it pushes the oil through a discharge check valve into the cylinder. The suction valve ball is within the chamber and opens with each draw of the plunger. The discharge valve ball is outside the chamber and opens when the oil is pushed into the cylinder. At this point the suction ball within the chamber is forced shut and oil pressure builds in the cylinder. In a bottle jack the piston is vertical and directly supports a bearing pad that contacts the object being lifted. With a single action piston the lift is somewhat less than twice the collapsed height of the jack, making it suitable only for vehicles with a relatively high clearance. For lifting structures such as houses the hydraulic interconnection of multiple vertical jacks through valves enables the even distribution of forces while enabling close control of the lift. In a floor jack (aka 'trolley jack') a horizontal piston pushes on the short end of a bellcrank, with the long arm providing the vertical motion to a lifting pad, kept horizontal with a horizontal linkage. Floor jacks usually include castors and wheels, allowing compensation for the arc taken by the lifting pad. This mechanism provides a low profile when collapsed, for easy manoeuvring underneath the vehicle, while allowing considerable extension. Pneumatic jack A pneumatic jack is a hydraulic jack that is actuated by compressed air - for example, air from a compressor - instead of human work. This eliminates the need for the user to actuate the hydraulic mechanism, saving effort and potentially increasing speed. Sometimes, such jacks are also able to be operated by the normal hydraulic actuation method, thereby retaining functionality, even if a source of compressed air is not available.

House jack A house jack, also called a screw jack is a mechanical device primarily used to lift houses from their foundation. A series of jacks are used and then wood cribbing temporarily supports the structure. This process is repeated until the desired height is reached. The house jack can be used for jacking carrying beams that have settled or for installing new structural beams. On the top of the jack is a cast iron circular pad that the 4" 4" post is resting on. This pad moves independently of the house jack so that it does not turn as the acme-threaded rod is turned up with a metal rod. This piece tilts very slightly but not enough to render the post dangerously out of plumb. Strand jack A strand jack is a specialized hydraulic jack that grips steel cables; often used in concert, strand jacks can lift hundreds of tons and are used in engineering and construction.

3. PRODUCT FUNCTION, FUNCTION TREE, FAST DIAGRAM

For the purpose of breaking down the entire jack functions into simple ones, the project team started from the folowing black box diagram.

Black box diagram

FAST diagram After developing the black box, to study, analyze and understand the product functions, how the functions relate to one another, and which functions require attention to increase the product value, the FAST diagram was constructed. It helped to display the functions in logical sequence, prioritize them and test their discrepancies

From the FAST diagram, three main sub functions were identified and function structures were drawn for each. The separate function trees are shown below.

Sub function1. Mounting

Sub function2. Raising

Sub function3. Lowering

The three structures were combined to form the total function structure as

Function structure

4. CONCEPT GENERATION
The above function structure was used to identify probable areas for innovation. The team identified that newer energy sources could be explored. For this reason we chose the various members in column A of table 3.

Table3. Concept combinations

The above table would lead to 5*4*5=100 combinations. Hence we considered only viable options. We eliminated various alternatives and ended up with the following combination table.

Table4. Viable concept combinations

At this stage, the team ended up with 15 concepts made from the combinations of the above alternatives and one additional concept (concept 16- refer sketches for details). These 16 combinations were taken forward for concept screening.

5. CONCEPT SCORING AND SELECTION

For the purpose of concept scoring, we considered the interpreted needs from section 4 and ended up in five criteria: Ease of use, quickness of operation, efficiency, portability and affordability. We gave rating to each of these five criteria and formulated the following scores for each of the 16 concepts.

Criteria Sl No. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 Concept Rating in 100 A1B3C1 A1B3C2 A1B3C3 A2B3C1 A2B3C2 A2B3C3 A3B3C1 A3B3C2 A3B3C3 A4B3C1 A4B3C2 A4B3C3 A5B3C1 A5B3C2 A5B3C3 Balloon Ease of use 35 1 1 1 3 4 2 2 2 2 5 5 4 4 4 3 3 Quickness of operation 10 1 1 1 3 2 1 4 3 2 5 4 4 5 4 4 1 Efficiency 15 4 5 4 5 3 3 3 2 2 4 5 4 4 5 4 3 Portabilit y 20 3 5 4 4 3 3 5 4 4 4 5 4 2 3 2 5 Affordabilit y 20 5 4 4 1 3 3 4 4 4 1 3 2 1 3 2 5 265 300 265 310 325 245 335 290 280 385 450 360 310 375 285 360 Total score

Table5. Concept scoring

6. CONCLUSION
With the help of this exercise we are able to gather the vital customer needs about the product car jack and its usage. These methods also helps in revealing the problems or difficulties end users are facing. To reduce the difficulties faced by the users we applied techniques such as FAST method, Function structure to understand thorough working of the screw jack. To generate the technical specification we collected the information of existing jacks of various manufacturers and compared them against the interpreted and grouped customer needs. From these techniques we are able to specify the nominal and marginal values for the screw jack. By means of concept generation we are able to develop around 100 concepts however out of that we zeroed on viable 16 ideas. These ideas are generated by means of concept combination. Each and every idea was later screened against specific criteria. In the end we inferred that Concept 11 (Car battery operated 4 bar mechanism in direct contact with chassis) is the best design. This concept results in drastic reduction of user effort for lifting the vehicle.

APPENDIX I
Appendix I consists of the questionnaire which we have developed for gathering the vital customer needs. From this method we categorized the grouped needs and interpreted need. This technique helps us in devising the concept generation and concept selection. The summary of the survey is as follows

How often do you have a flat tire?

Where you able to position jack properly?

How much did it take for you to install the jack and lift the vehicle?

APPENDIX II
Sketches of concepts: