Inspired by Nature: The Snail-Like Design of WOTS Retractor
At first glance, you wouldn’t expect our WOTS retractor to take inspiration from something as simple as a snail. Much like a snail cling firmly to a surface, our retractor is designed to stay securely attached to the ALFO floor or L-track, offering unparalleled stability. Its compact, curved form may look unassuming, but this design provides unique look to the system.
By keeping everything simple, we’ve created a product that not only looks sleek but meets all the regulatory requirements. Just like nature’s own solutions, sometimes the simplest designs are the most effective.
Introduction: WOTS Overcoming Challenges
At WOTS (Wheelchair Occupant Tie-down System), every product we develop represents a journey filled with obstacles that push the boundaries of innovation. From the drawing board to the final product, we’ve faced multiple challenges, but our commitment to ensuring the safety and comfort of wheelchair users never wavered.
Each component of our securement systems is meticulously designed to meet the highest standards, but no part of the journey was more complex than designing the track-locker. Choosing the right materials, balancing weight with strength, and ensuring compliance with stringent standards posed significant hurdles. Yet, every challenge became an opportunity for growth and innovation.
As we refined our products, one question lingered: Could we create a track-locker that is not only lightweight but could also withstand stringent load requirements of SAEJ2249, WC18/19 sled test? The answer lay in our choice of material—premium aluminum 7075 T6 grade—but mastering its complexities would require everything we had.
Importance of Material Choice in Securement Systems
Selecting the right material is the foundation of any product, and at WOTS, we understand how crucial this decision is for ensuring both safety and usability for a securement system.
In securement systems, the materials used must strike the perfect balance between strength, durability, and weight. If the material is too heavy, making the system harder to handle. On the other hand, if it's not strong enough, it compromises the safety of the occupant.
Here’s why our approach to material choice matters and how it impacts every WOTS product:
- Safety First: Our primary goal was to protect wheelchair users, especially to protect the occupant in crash events. We needed a material that could withstand high load requirements.
- Durability Matters: The chosen material must endure wear and tear over time without losing its structural integrity.
- Ease of Use: While strength and durability are essential, usability cannot be overlooked. Our research showed that adding too much weight to the system would make it bulky for users. By using lightweight aluminum, we ensured that our products are easy to handle, while installation and removal are smoother for transit operators.
- Research & Testing: At WOTS, we didn’t just pick a material off the shelf. We invested in extensive research and testing, evaluating a range of materials and processes for aluminum and magnesium alloys. We pushed these materials to their limits in both lab and real-world environments.
After rigorous research, aluminum 7075 T6 grade emerged as the best option, offering an excellent strength-to-weight ratio and high resistance to fatigue.
By focusing on material selection and conducting thorough testing, we ensured that every WOTS product offers maximum safety, durability, and ease of use. This dedication to quality is what sets us apart and allows us to deliver securement systems that meet the highest standards in the industry.
Challenges Faced with Aluminum 7075 Grade
Challenge 1
Working with aluminum 7075 T6 grade presented a unique set of challenges during the development of our WOTS products. While this material is known for its lightweight strength, getting it into the exact shape and form we needed wasn’t easy. We had to go through a complex process to make it work for our securement systems.
After many hit and trials we figured out exact recipe of 7075 T6 which can be extruded to the shape required for the Track-locker
Throughout the process, we didn’t rely on assumptions. We conducted multiple rounds of testing at every stage - tempering, extrusion, and final assembly. These tests helped us fine-tune the process, ensuring that the final product met our high standards for safety, strength, and usability. After multiple trials, we achieved the perfect balance of lightweight design and exceptional durability, ensuring that our WOTS products are reliable, strong, and ready for real-world use.
Challenge 2
Even after perfecting the process with aluminum 7075 "T6," we faced another major challenge while developing our product housing. Initially, we opted for Pressure Die Casting (PDC) to form the housing due to its ability to produce precise, consistent shapes.
However, we quickly realized that PDC posed a significant limitation—it didn’t allow us to apply a powder coating, which is typically used to protect the surface and give it a high-quality finish. This presented a new challenge, as we had to find a solution that would maintain the lightweight, strength, durability, and premium finish we demanded from our products.
To overcome this hurdle, we turned to Physical Vapor Deposition (PVD), an advanced technique often used in industries where both durability and aesthetics are key. PVD allowed us to coat the housing with a thin, highly durable film to provide a superior, long-lasting finish.
This method gave us the freedom to maintain the product’s lightweight design while ensuring the housing remained tough enough to handle everyday wear and tear.
At every step, we kept our primary concerns in focus. By switching to PVD, we achieved the high-end, premium look we envisioned for our products without compromising on any of these factors. It was a solution that allowed us to stay true to our commitment to quality and safety, while also giving our customers a product that looks as good as it performs.
Challenge 3
Strength Challenge of the WOTS Track-Locker
Another significant challenge we faced during the development of our WOTS track-locker was maintaining its strength, especially when it came to passing the sled test. In our early tests, the aluminum track-locker, made from 7075 grade aluminum, failed the pull test repeatedly. After many trials, we figured out the root cause was thread made up of Aluminum material in the track-locker. this was observed a major drawback of using aluminum 7075 is that when it comes to thread, There was a point when we considered dropping the lightweight AL 7075 T6 material completely. But we pressed on, driven by our belief that the solution wasn’t just for us - it was for our customers. After some deep research brainstorming and many components level test, we found the solution which was close: a Heli-coil thread inserts made of stainless steel, this Heli-coil thread inserts was designed to be inserted into the aluminum thread section of the track-locker. By doing so, it reinforced the threads and gave it the extra strength needed to handle high loads without breaking. Once the Heli-coil thread inserts were in place, we retested the track-locker under the same standard loading conditions, and to our relief, it passed the component pull test on the first try. Even though it passed, we didn’t stop there. We conducted multiple rounds of testing across various WOTS products, including testing the track-locker with our entire wheelchair securement system, and it passed successfully on the very first attempt. Each time, it performed flawlessly. This was a huge challenge for us, but it also reinforced how our company approaches problem-solving: with persistence, creativity, and an unwavering focus on safety. By finding a solution that maintained both the lightweight design and the strength we required, we were able to overcome the issue without compromising on the safety standards that matter most to us and our customers.Conclusion
In conclusion, developing the WOTS retractor presented two key challenges. First, working with aluminum 7075 T6 for the track-locker required extensive testing and fine-tuning to achieve the perfect shape and strength. Second, transitioning from Pressure Die Casting to Physical Vapor Deposition (PVD) for the product housing ensured durability and a premium finish. These challenges pushed us to innovate, leading to a lightweight, durable, and high-performing product that meets the highest safety standards.
About WOTS
WOTS consists 4-point securement system along with shoulder + lap belt securement that leads to high safety, aesthetic design, and desired functionality in the most cost-efficient way. This system meets all requirements of a higher load of WC18 and is compatible with WCI9 wheelchairs. WOTS uses premium material and meets all international standards necessary for a wheelchair-occupant tie-down system.
WOTS Offers a range of products & accessories like WOTS Wheelchair Securements (Standard L-Track Retractor + Lap & Shoulder Belt), WOTS Standard L-Track Retractors, WOTS Track Locker With Fasteners, WOTS Bevel Track 8" Hard/Soft Anodize, WOTS Standard L-Track 8" Hard/Soft Anodize, and much more.