EDITOR ’ S CHOICE LAUNCH YOUR DESIGN DREAMS
TMS CAD CENTRE
Freedom One Life are disrupting the powered wheelchair market with the launch of the Series 5
TMS CADCentre is a SOLIDWORKS Reseller based in Scotland . We are proud to support early-stage Start-ups ( and Scale-ups ) through the SOLIDWORKS Start Up Program . This is a three-year program providing entrepreneurs and start-ups free SOLIDWORKS software , training , and expert support to help them succeed .
In 2019 Freedom One Life joined the SOLIDWORKS Start Up Program with TMS CADCentre . Freedom One Life are disrupting the powered wheelchair market with the launch of the Series 5 .
Freedom One Life was founded by Alex Papanikolaou , a powered wheelchair user . His frustrations with products on the market which constantly let him down and restricted his life due to limited range , breakdowns , and constant fear of being stranded made him question if powered wheelchairs could be designed differently . It turns out Alex wasn ’ t alone and met other people who were also fed up having to plan their lives around their powered wheelchairs . And so , Freedom One Life was born with the mission to enable users to live the life they choose .
The journey designing the Series 5 required the use of SOLIDWORKS to create concepts , validate designs and finally design parts and assemblies for manufacture .
Designing a powered wheelchair is not an easy task . There are a huge number of factors which need considered for every component and as all the parts connect together to form a complex assembly .
With SOLIDWORKS you can design , test using FEA ( Finite Element Analysis ), and visualise using the rendering package . Prototyping was difficult initially due to the size and cost of certain components . FEA contributed to the design process significantly and helped mitigate as much risk as possible before committing to expensive functional prototypes .
This not only saved Freedom One Life
I would absolutely recommend SOLIDWORKS Startups Program to other entrepreneurs . It ’ s great the support you can get from both SOLIDWORKS and TMS CADCentre and it ’ s a really good way to invest in start-ups . The first year is always difficult and to have access to SOLIDWORKS makes a real difference . I ’ ve told everyone I know and work with about the SOLIDWORKS Startups Program and how good the benefits are .
money , but it also helped them have confidence going into medical device testing because they ’ d tested everything using SOLIDWORKS Simulation first . They also used SOLIDWORKS Composer to design the illustrations and layout of the product manual .
Now after years of development , refinement ,
Scott Savage , Technical Director .
and continuous improvement of the Series 5 , they are now ready to begin fulfilling orders .
To apply for the SOLIDWORKS Start Up Program please get in touch .
Tel : 01324 550760 Email : solidworks @ tms-scotland . com Website : tms-scotland . com / solidworks
For further information , please visit tms-scotland . com / solidworks
32 PECM Issue 60