Wheelie Bin Lid Lifter for Wheelchair User
Our client, Emily, has Limb Girdle Muscular Dystrophy which causes weakness in her hips and shoulder muscles. Being a full-time wheelchair user, she cannot lift the lids on her wheelie bins. REMAP engineered a pair of remote controlled “Bin Lid Lifters” so that Emily can more easily put her rubbish in the bins.
The Challenge
Since Emily is unable to reach up and over to lift the lids of her wheelie bins, she needed a mechanism to raise and lower them easily. She needed to operate the required bin lid either before or while carrying her rubbish out to the bin.
Consideration was also required as to how the refuse collectors would dismount the bins from the mechanism and replace them in the right position with minimal instruction or change to their normal routine.
The solution
The system comprises two main parts: the electro-mechanical lifters themselves and a weatherproof wall mounted control unit, as can be seen the photo below.
The lifters were fabricated from 20mm square steel tube and 2 mm steel plate. The linear actuator (more powerful than was needed but they were on special offer) was purchased from Ebay. A couple of coats of Hammerite will give some protection against the weather.
The controller comprises a power supply, the remote control receiver (again purchased from Ebay) and three relays. Only two channels are needed now but facility for a third was built in at little extra cost. The components are housed in a watertight (IP65) ABS box to be screwed to the wall. There is a hand-held key fob with buttons that operate the lifters.
We have provided a temporary OSB base with wooden guides to help locate the bins correctly. Emily has arranged for a concrete base with guides to be laid later this year.
I fitted a U-bolt to the lid of my bin at home to test and demonstrate the system.
The benefit
Two Lifters have been installed and Emily can retain her independence and take her rubbish and recycling to her bins more easily. If Emily wants to use her garden waste bin in the future, another lifter can quickly be made and installed.
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Please can you tell me how can I get hold of this as I am in a wheelchair and fund hard to reach the bin lid
Hi Kay, please complete our referral form with a bit more information, so we can see if we’re able to help you with something similar: http://www.remap.org.uk/help
Honestly flipping amazing guys