During the second semester of 2013, product design engineering students Stefan Erlandsson and Louise Andersson have been involved in a project in cooperation with entrepreneur Lars Willebrand. The main objective of this project has been to develop a lifting tool for sheet materials. The lifting tool is one of four different products developed by Lars Willebrand. The line of products also includes an overhead crane, a slewing crane and a storage drawer for metal sheets, which are already fully developed and ready for production. The purpose of this lifting tool is to be used along with the storage drawer which means that is has to be optimised for lifting sheet materials from different heights. This means that the lifting tool has to be designed with regards to the users working postures. Human factors such as ergonomics have to be taken into account as well.
The initial part of the project is a pre-study with focus on ergonomics and human factors. This pre-study included a study in relevant literature, contact with a manufacturing company and an analysis of the possible competitor’s lifting tools. The results from the pre-study have further been used to define the specification of requirements, which is the foundation for the concept development. The concept development has undergone a number of different phases. All of the lifting tool’s main functions were broken down and developed individually. The functions were as follows; adjustment of the suction cups, lifting from different heights and handling. The most suitable solution for each main function were chosen and assembled into one final concept.
The final concept has been analysed and further developed in order to please the employer and the users of the lifting tool. Some details in the design have been changed in order to ease the manufacturing of the lifting tool. To ensure that the final concept matches the specification of requirements, strength calculations and FEM analysis have been made and anthropometrical measurements have been taken into account. The final chapters include a discussion and recommendations for further development of the lifting tool.