Design of a Specialized Portable Golf Vehicle - Case Study Example

Title Author Institution Design of a Specialized Portable Golf Vehicle Health and Safety Health and safety issues and constraints A golf cart transports golfers together with their equipment in the time of play. Since its design will be meeting the needs of the golfer, the specialized vehicle should have certain specialized health, safety and comfort features. The golf vehicle will have to be built low to the ground so that its center of gravity can be lowered (Gov.uk. 2013). This will help to protect the person inside from falling off when driving over a terrain that is not even. The specialized vehicle should have a portable battery charger. The vehicle should have a cup and ball holder and plastic enclosures which will be used for zipping up whenever there is rain. It will also need to have racks for holding bags, sun canopies, trap rakes and sweaters. To avoid cases of fire and to improve cleanliness levels the dash board should have cigarette lighters and ashtrays. In the last few years the number of accidents and injuries related to golf carts has gone up. Most of the injuries are on soft tissue such as bruises and fractures. Serious injuries also occur such as internal injuries, concussions, injury of the spinal cord, hematoma and acute respiratory attacks. More serious injuries result in fatalities and permanent disability. Causes of injuries include overturning, jumping and falling from a golf vehicle while at high speed, collision with objects and other vehicles and getting into or off a cart (Gov.uk. 2013). The most common type of injury comes from falls or jumping from the golf cart. The cart will therefore be designed in a manner that the person cannot fall or be ejected. When a golf cart moves at a speed of 18 km/h it can very easily eject the person inside whenever it negotiates a turn. The golf cart should not have any seats facing behind because this could be a reason for ejection (Gov.uk. 2013). To enhance its safety levels, the golf cart will need to have brakes on all of its four wheels. This can help to improve its breaking power. It will also be necessary for the golf vehicle to have seat belts. The seat belt can prove to be very helpful in avoiding ejection of the passenger (Nohr, 2009). Normally, golf vehicle are not designed with seat belts because the passenger gets on and off very often and within very short distances. However, the discomfort of the seat belt must be endured in this case because the issue of safety is of a higher priority. Together with the seat belts, handle bars and side bar restraints should be fixed to enhance safety. The area where the driver sits should not have any protruding knobs that may act as a danger in times of accident. The interior surface should have additional padding to increase comfort for the occupant. The golf cart should not have engine power that can enable it to run a very high speed. The maximum speed it should go should be about 25km/hr. The vehicle should light meaning it should be portable. The features of the golf vehicle should be friendly to physically impaired people (Gov.uk. 2013). Industrial and Product regulations These regulations were made in response to an increasing public interest in the use of golf cars as well as other such four wheeled vehicles for making short trips for purposes of shopping, recreational and social purposes basically in retirement and other well organized communities in golf courses. These vehicles that carry passengers have low speeds and they offer many advantages among them their low costs compared to other types of vehicles and their mobility which consumes lesser energy (Schlager, 1993). In addition, most of these vehicles are powered by electricity. Using these smaller vehicles instead of bigger vehicles powered by gasoline such as passenger cars gives people the opportunity to have quiet transportation which has no effect of pollution to the air around the golf courses. Therefore, the golf vehicle to be designed must meet these requirements as well. It should have an engine that does not produce a lot of noise and its capacity to pollute the environment should be basically zero. At the moment there exists a conflict between local regulations and those of the European Union. The European Union is on one side and the nation is on the other regarding the regulations governing these golf carts. This disparity unnecessarily hampers the efforts of vehicle producers to manufacture and sell and also the power of consumers to buy them is affected. Some countries within the UK and the EU have legislations that permit the on-road use of golf carts as long as the set speeds and operational limitations are adhered to (Gunning, & Holm 2007). These countries have legislation governing the vehicle industry and such legislations require that this wider use should be allowed for vehicles that have specified safety equipment. Some of these countries have allowed vehicles to be used which are faster than the available golf carts. Many of the golf cars as they were manufactured in the beginning have their highest speed set at less than 15 miles per hour. These countries have either defined golf carts as including all those vehicles that are designed to run at a speed of a maximum of 25 miles per hour or have even set a new vehicle class (Gov.uk. 2013). Under the existing industrial requirements and regulations, as long as the golf carts and other vehicles of that type cannot achieve the excess of 20 miles per hour, they are governed by only local requirements about safety equipment. If these cars are originally made to run faster than 20 miles per hour, under the available regulations they are treated as motor vehicles. In the same way if one modifies golf cars after they have been manufactured so that they start going at 20 miles per hour or more they are also treated as motor vehicles. Furthermore since they are motor vehicles they are required under the current regulations to comply with the motor vehicle standards of safety because they are classified as passenger cars. This causes conflict with local laws because it is not possible to comply with all those standards fully especially for the small vehicles. To solve this problem, and to allow for the manufacture and marketing of small vehicles with four wheels with the highest speed at 20 -25 miles per hour, this last regulation gives new classification to these small passenger vehicles (Gov.uk. 2013). Instead of being placed in the group of passenger cars they are called low speed vehicles or off highway vehicles. Because conventional golf cars they way they have been manufactured have their highest speed at lower than 20 miles per hour, they do not fall into that classification. New standards have been set for these golf carts classified as low speed vehicles. It has been observed by various governments that the increasing use of golf vehicles is resulting in many deaths and injuries of people using them. New standards are therefore necessary at the moment and in the future as well to address this problem especially the high speed (Gov.uk. 2013). Low speed vehicles including golf carts should have headlamps, tail lamps, and stop lambs, turn signal lamps, parking brakes, rearview mirrors, reflex reflectors, seat belts, windshields and vehicle identification numbers. These regulations appropriately take care of the issue of safety in low speed vehicle as well as the safety of other vehicle users considering the less than 25 miles per hour speed of these vehicles and the controlled nature of the environment they are used (Babin & Harris 2010). 3- Research and selection of Mandatory requirements, Local/National/EU, laws and codes of practice. Current and future In 1997, the government adopted the 97/68/EC (“emission of gaseous and particulate pollutants from internal combustion engines to be installed in non-road mobile machinery”). This directive requires that for a company to be placed on the European Union market for the first time, the engines to be used in non road mobile machinery such as specialized golf vehicles should get approval to show that they comply with the limits set for pollutant emissions (Queen’s Printer 2012). These measures started because of the policy of the EC to bring harmony in the arrangements of individual member states. This has removed any obstacles in the way of trade. An amendment has hence been made on directive 97/68/EC by 2001/63/EC, 2006/105/EC, 2004/26/EC and 2002/88/EC (Devon County Council, 2012), (Queen’s Printer 2012). The implementation of the directive was made in UK law by the Emission of Gaseous and Particulate Pollutants in Non-Road Mobile Machinery regulations of 1999 statutory instrument No. 1999/1053. These regulations are applicable to new engines such as small vehicles and golf carts that are installed in mobile machinery that move or are moved on the ground either on the road or off the road. In the United Kingdom the laws governing emissions from small vehicles sets the standards for emissions of carbon dioxide, nitrogen oxides and hydrocarbons (Devon County Council 2012). Non-road Mobile Machinery Exhaust Emissions directive This directive applies to engines for off-road moving machines that operate at a fixed or varied speed. They should fall within the limits of 18 – 560 kW for compression engines and spark engines of all cubic capacities (Pashapour-Nikou, 2011). The manufacturers of golf carts and other mobile machines must ensure that they use only those engines that have been approved by the European Community member states approved by the approval authorities in the individual states. The engines should have a number indicating type approval. The manufacturers of the engines are required to apply for an EU type approval to the authority responsible for approval in their member states. In the United Kingdom, manufacturers must apply to the Vehicle Certification Agency (Department for Transport 2013). This application should come with the information folder from the manufacturer with all the technical information concerning the engines. The authority doing the approval should witness the tests on the engine done by the manufacturer or by any approved test house that the manufacturer has chosen. The approval authority is required by law to give type approval to all types or families of engines that are in line with the engine folder or satisfy the directive’s requirements. Every type of engine that is approved should have an approval certificate issued for it. Any desire for amendment or the expansion of the type approval must be given to the approval authority that was involved in the first type approval (Department for Transport 2013). The EU law requires that the manufacture affixes the below marks to every unit that is manufactured: the trade name or that of the company responsible for manufacturing the engine, the family and type of engine as well as the individual identification number for each engine and finally the type approval number. The manufacturer of the engine should operate a system for quality assurance that the approval authority has already approved (Department for Transport 2013). Local laws and regulations require that no person should operate the golf cart or any other off road vehicle that does not have one or more headlamps that are in proper working condition and casting white light. The vehicle should also have at least a lamp that is in proper working condition that gives red light at the back of the vehicle. Manufacturers are therefore required by law to manufacture golf carts with headlamps and other lamps at the back. The manufacturer is also required by law to produce golf vehicles and other off-road vehicles that have a noise muffler in proper working condition. This muffler should be operating as the engine runs to prevent a lot of noise. The operator of the off road vehicle will not be allowed by law to operate a vehicle that has been equipped with a muffler cut out, a straight exhaust, a muffler that is gutted, a by pass or any other devise with the ability to by-pass or reduce the efficiency of a noise muffler. This is a safety measure that helps to lower the quantity of noise being produced by the off road vehicle (Department for Transport 2013). Spark arresters are also mandatorily required by law. Therefore, every off-road vehicle must have a spark arrester that is in good working condition. This spark arrester should be operating as the engine is on. This prevents the occurrence of a fire hazard. The law requires that no manufacturer or supplier should sell or be in ownership of an off-road vehicle that does not meet stipulated standards by law in its manufacture or its components. Vendors are not supposed to sell, offer on the market, possess or transport for purposes of selling any off road vehicle whose equipment and components do not comply with the mentioned safety standards in law. Nobody is supposed to modify an off-road vehicle or replace its equipments in away that it will no longer be in compliance with safety standards laid out in the law. Any off road vehicle that is made to operate in the region should satisfy all the standards laid out in the law (Department for Transport 2013). Supply of Machinery (Safety) Regulations Act 2008 Off road vehicles including golf vehicles are subject to the Supply of Machinery (Safety) Regulations Act 2008 (Queen’s Printer 2012. Every manufacturer must comply with the health and safety regulations required by this laws and this is only possible if the vehicle is made to British or European standards. There exists a British Standard known as BS EN 16029 : 2012 for riding on motorized vehicles for moving people from one place to another but not on public roads. This standard must be considered when trying to check if the vehicle is in compliance with the Supply of Machinery Safety Regulations 2008. Vehicles to be use by adults do not have specific standards but generally they must be safe (Queen’s Printer 2012. The standard BS7407 could be useful as a guide for safety assessment even through it may not apply directly. All vehicles under this regulations should be marked with CE and be in compliance with the health and safety regulations laid out in the regulations. Every vehicle must have all the necessary written instructions. Before vehicles are brought to the market proper checks should be done on all fixings, and nuts and bolts must be properly fastened. There should be no damage to the frame. The inflation and condition of tyres must be checked. Brakes should be in proper condition, the vehicle should not have any sharp edges and hazards of entrapment. The fuel system should not be leaking, the steering should be aligned and that every hot surface such as exhausts must have a guard (Queen’s Printer 2012). Sale of Goods Act 1999 Under this regulation, all goods sold should be of good quality and fit for the described purpose. If the vehicle will be ridden off the road it should be strong enough to provide a reasonably long service life to the consumer. The vehicle in this case the golf cart should be able to run well on grass and on rough terrains. The rest of the equipment and components of the vehicle are also expected to be of good quality. This means they should provide comfort to the user and last long enough without endangering the life of the vehicle driver (Queen’s Printer 2012). Conclusion In conclusion, this paper has presented a discussion on the design of a specialized portable golf vehicle. Of particular importance were the health and safety issues and constraints, industrial and product regulations, existing and future mandatory requirements in the EU, National, and local laws and codes of practice. In order to satisfy safety requirements the golf cart must have good braking power, seat belts and additional padding on the inside. Industrial and product regulations require that low speed vehicles including golf carts should have headlamps, tail lamps, and stop lambs, turn signal lamps, parking brakes, rearview mirrors, reflex reflectors, seat belts, windshields and vehicle identification numbers. Mandatory requirements, Local/National/EU, laws and codes of practice affecting golf vehicle manufacture include the 97/68/EC, Non-road Mobile Machinery Exhaust Emissions directive, Supply of Machinery (Safety) Regulations Act 2008 and Sale of goods Act 1999. All these regulations provide directions on how legally acceptable golf vehicles should look like. In the past golf carts were a risky mode of transport. However, with the safety considerations discussed in this paper, the Specialized Portable Golf Vehicle will be much safer for its users. Bibliography Babin, J.B., & Harris, E.G. (2010). Cb2. Cengage Learning.  Department for Transport (2013 Feb 20). Outline of Non Road Mobile Machinery Emissions Regulations. Retrieved from http://www.dft.gov.uk/vca/enforcement/non-road-mobile-mach.asp Devon County Council (2012 November 15). Mini motos, quad bikes and off-road vehicles - a guide for retailers. Retrieved from http://www.devon.gov.uk/tsdocfulldetails.htm?docClass=eng%3Bbusi%3Badv%3Bsafe&docId=181945&returnTo=safety_leaflets Fathi, M. & Holland, A. (2011). Integrated Systems, Design and Technology 2010. Springer. Gov.uk. (2013 Jan. 8). Product Safety for Manufacturers. Retrieved from https://www.gov.uk/product-safety-for-manufacturers Gunning, J., & Holm, S. (2007). Ethics, Law and Society. Ashgate Publishing. Nohr, K.M. (2009). Managing Risk in Sports and Recreation: The Essential Guide for Loss Prevention. Human Kinetics. Pashapour-Nikou, M. (2011). Design and Implementation of a Solar Powered golf Cart. University of Wisconsin—Milwaukee. Queen’s Printer (2012 May 5). Motor Vehicle Act: Motor VEHICLE ACT REGULATIONS. Retrieved from http://www.bclaws.ca/EPLibraries/bclaws_new/document/ID/freeside/26_58_00 Schlager, N. (1993). How Products are Made. Gale. Read More