Tread Mill

Industrial design of the Tread Mill: (1994)

Clients: Torrent Medi systems

Introduction:

...A tread mill is an equipment that makes a person walk or run at various speeds. Its application is for exercise and cardiac testing. It functions with a moving belt and the varying inclination forces a person to walk or run to maintain his position. This delivers a predetermined dose of exercise and cardiac stress to the body.

Medicold.jpg (8450 bytes)

The design need:

To reduce cost of manufacture
To reduce weight and volume for air freight advantage
To improve quality to international standards for export
To improve reliability
To make the product aesthetically elegant
To make the product Patient - friendly

The design process:

With the above brief, conceptual designs were presented first, followed by scaled models . Upon finalizing the design, detailed drawings were worked out for the various parts of the product. The product could be divided in the following parts:

The machinery which consists of the belt drive motor and inclination mechanism. By using electronics, the volume occupied by this was made smaller.
The Hood for covering the machinery. This was made out of fibre glass and was slickly designed. The company logo was also incorporated as part of the mold. This gave it a unique style and design.
The side rails as support for the patients were made out of steel tubes and were shaped more functionally and stylized.
The frame design was made lighter in weight and the visible hardware was cleverly concealed by using plastics channel. This also gave it a distinct look.
Product graphics was designed to give it the finishing touch

A: Cost reduction:

Weight and volume reduction in design would reduce the cartage, an important aspect for exporting the product. This was achieved by :

Use of lighter materials such as aluminium and plastics
SPLIT assembly design for better volume management
Choosing locally available components that are standard
Replacing heavy mechanical components with lighter electronic components

B: Aesthetics:

A better aspect ration was worked out and it was given an aerodynamic form. The colour schemes chosen were `patient friendly’.

C: Ergonomics:

The equipment was designed to be not only patient friendly but doctor friendly too..It was less imposing and silent in operation.The control system was designed for easy usage.

The project was concluded in a period of nine months. It had been different from all other assignments from all aspects i.e. aesthetics to match international styling, cost reduction for transport and manufacture, careful ergonomics for the cardiac patients.

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