ltus - simon fraser universitywhitmore/courses/ensc305/... · altus technologies consists of five...

Altus Technologies, c/o School of Engineering Science, Simon Fraser University, Burnaby, B.C. Canada V5A 1S6 Tel: 778.892.3432 E-mail: [email protected]

ltus January 23, 2006 Dr. Andrew Rawicz School of Engineering Science Simon Fraser University Burnaby, BC V5A 1S6 Re: ENSC 440 Project Proposal for a High-Rise Building Window Cleaning System Dear Dr. Rawicz: The attached document, Proposal for a High-Rise Building Window Cleaning System, outlines our project for ENSC 440. Our goal is to design and implement a computer-automated window cleaning system for high-rise buildings to eliminate the dangers of having manual labour do the cleaning from a high vertical distance. This proposal provides an overview of our proposed product, a system overview, our design solution, as well as information on our budget, sources of funding, project schedule, and our company profile. We also examine the marketing and application potentials of our product. Altus Technologies consists of five SFU undergraduate engineering students with expertise and experience in both technical and management backgrounds: Tommy Chiu, Howard Lee, Kelvin Mok, Li Ng, and Hubert Pan. Feel free to contact me by phone at 778.892.3432 or by e-mail at [email protected] if you have questions or concerns. Sincerely,

Kelvin Mok Kelvin Mok CEO Altus Technologies Enclosure: Proposal for a High-Rise Building Window Cleaning System

mailto:[email protected]


Proposal for a High-Rise Building Window Cleaning System

Project Team: Tommy Chiu Howard Lee Kelvin Mok Li Ng Hubert Pan Contact Person: Kelvin Mok [email protected] Submitted to: Dr. Andrew Rawicz – ENSC 440

Steve Whitmore – ENSC 305 School of Engineering Science Simon Fraser University

Issued date: January 23, 2006 Revision: 1.0

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© 2006, Altus Technologies ii

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Executive Summary

“On June 8, 2005, one window washer lost his life and another was seriously injured after falling from a four-story Burlington office building.” “In May 2003, two window washers…died after falling 90 feet from a Boston office building” -- Window Washer Fatality Assessment, November 1, 2005, Massachusetts Coalition for Occupational Safety and Health The above incidents occurred in Massachusetts in the last 3 years. Now imagine the number of worldwide injuries and fatalities from high-rise window cleaning, and it becomes apparent that with today’s technological advances, the deaths associated with high-rise window cleaning are simply unnecessary. Employing professional window cleaners to clean high-rise buildings inherits numerous fundamental flaws. First and foremost is the high risk of injury or death caused by the sheer height, strong winds, and isolation of the work environment. Another issue is the high cost associated with hiring window cleaners, in addition to the expensive equipment. Also, the impact caused by manual cleaning can wear out and damage the building exterior. The current demand for high-rise buildings is ever increasing, due urbanization and a growing population. It is difficult to have an affordable window-washing personnel trained to work in an increasing dangerous environment, and also very challenging for architects or developers to design giant structures that takes into account the safety of the window-washing professionals. This document proposes a development of a remote controlled window-washing system that would be controlled by an operator at the roof or base of the building. The system would be able to function in extreme environments, be easily mounted on top of existing high-rises, and easily removed when cleaning is complete. The machine’s navigation system would allow it to automatically avoid obstacles. Hence, the device could be discreetly deployed during night time. Altus Technologies consists of five fourth-year undergraduate engineering students from Simon Fraser University. Members of Altus have a wide range of skills in electronic and software design and testing. Our technical skills coupled with our industrial experience will allow us to focus on quality control, and our 13-week development cycle to let us complete a workable prototype in a reasonable amount of time. We also have contacts to professional mechanical engineers for technical consulting and advising purposes. With the purposed budget of $1800, mainly funded by Engineering Science Student Endowment Fund and the John Wighton Fund, we aim to have the prototype ready by April 2nd, 2006.


© 2006, Altus Technologies iii

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Table of Contents Executive Summary ........................................................................................... ii 1. Introduction ................................................................................................. 1

2. System Overview ........................................................................................ 2 3. Current Design Solutions........................................................................... 2

3.1. Height-Adjustable Platform for Window Cleaners ........................................... 2 3.2. Autonomous Window Cleaners........................................................................ 3

4. Proposed Design Solution ......................................................................... 4 4.1. Further Design Considerations and Future Development.................................. 5

5. Sources of Information............................................................................... 5 6. Budget and Funding ................................................................................... 6

6.1. Budget ............................................................................................................. 6 6.2. Funding ........................................................................................................... 6

7. Schedule ...................................................................................................... 8 8. Team Organization...................................................................................... 9

9. Company Profile........................................................................................ 10 10. Conclusion................................................................................................. 12

11. Sources and References .......................................................................... 13


© 2006, Altus Technologies 1

ltus 1. Introduction

As we race to construct taller and taller buildings, engineers face many challenges to develop the design, such as the wind load-factor, the weight of the building, earthquake resistance, plumbing systems, and construction management. The issue of cleaning the building exterior and the safety for the cleaning crew are seldom considered in the design process. Arranging exterior window washing is always a cumbersome task for high-rise building managers. The danger of manual window cleaning means appointments are often postponed or cancelled because of poor weather conditions. Companies may even refuse to clean certain building because of the danger or difficulty in cleaning unconventional building exteriors. Many occupations are extremely hazardous to be involved in. Yet there is a high-demand for these tasks to be performed. In the high-rise window washing industry, many individuals refuse to enter this industry because of the risk involved. According to the Worker Compensation Board of BC, from 1989 to 1999, there were 118 fatalities caused by elevated falls in British Columbia. Despite the fact that we already have fall protection mechanisms and government regulations in place, we still continue to witness new fatalities and injuries due to falling. This is because a fall from any height is almost always fatal. The costs associated with ensuring that the whole process meets safety standards is astronomical. Nevertheless, there is still a large demand for such services, and the cleaning crew have to be trained continuously to adapt the dangerous working environment of the high-rise. In North America, the International Window Cleaning Association (IWCA) has worked with The American National Standards Institute (ANSI) to derive a set of requirements known as IWCA I-14.1-2001 to protect the safety of window cleaners, which includes guidelines for using the equipment and quality control requirements for the manufacturers producing window cleaning gear. Most of the risk, costs, and problems associated with window cleaning can be minimized, however, by a semi-automatic window cleaning system that does not need professional cleaners to be directly at the building exterior. Altus strives to produce an affordable system that would reduce the operating cost and risks of the window cleaning industry. The design of the system would primarily focus on combating the hazardous working environment, such as the bad weather, high wind-speed, and obstacles on the building-exterior. In addition, the time limitation of window cleaning professionals would virtually be eliminated because a dedicated machine can work just as well at night than during daytime.



ltus The rest of the document provides a system overview, design considerations and our approach, project scheduling, and financial details. In addition, the company organization and team profile are presented. 2. System Overview

Figure 1 shows a system block diagram of our product. A personal computer acts as the main user interface to the window cleaning system. The roof-top controller then controls the cleaning platform which is the actual device that cleans the windows. The roof-top controller consists of motors and a feedback system to control the height and operation of the cleaning platform, which the cleaning platform has built-in sensors to detect wiper pressure, building distance, and so forth.

Figure 1: System Block Diagram

3. Current Design Solutions

Currently, most high-rise window cleaning equipment and devices are designed with the necessity for professionals to be at the cleaning site to directly clean the windows. There has yet to be a popular, cost-effective solution in the market to automate the process and eliminate the need for cleaning professionals. Current solutions are listed below.

3.1. Height-Adjustable Platform for Window Cleaners

Currently, the most popular method to wash windows of high-rise buildings is to hire professional high-rise window cleaners working from a scaffold system set up at the

micro-controller

memory

mech motor

feedback sensor

sensors

optional PC

building distance, wiper pressure sensor, etc

Roof-top controller Cleaning platform



ltus building of interest. This platform is hung in mid-air by the means of numerous cables. The platform itself is able to move vertically by controlling the reel of cables at the roof. The workers would carry with them cleaning supplies and tools with them, and perform the tasks almost purely by hand. There is usually one or more booms that secure the platform with respect to the building. The advantage of this approach is that it is very cost effective; however, the price the company has to pay is the risk associated in working on an elevated platform. Also, the speed at which the windows are being washed would be dependent on the workers’ pace in carrying out the job. The throughput might fluctuate from time to time, causing a rather difficult time in budgeting the project. Another serious deficiency of this method is the limitation posed by weather conditions. Under windy or other adverse conditions, the service might have to be postponed, and the cost would be incurred by the company.

3.2. Autonomous Window Cleaners

There are numerous research projects and attempts by companies to produce a robotic window cleaner for high-rise buildings, but none have enjoyed popularity or commercial success due to the high cost and inflexibility, and over-sophistication of the system.



ltus 4. Proposed Design Solution

The proposed project is to develop a high-rise building window cleaning system. Figure 2 shows an initial design sketch of our solution.

Figure 2: Initial Concept Sketch

The system will be composed of a cleaning machine, a cabling system, and a control unit. The system will require an operator to control the cleaning machine component via the control unit. For the prototype, the control unit will be a computer. Commands from the control unit will be sent to the cleaning machine through the cabling system. In addition to electrical cables, climbing cables are also part of the cabling system. The climbing cables are attached to the cleaning machine at one end and to a motor mounted at the top of the building on the other end. The climbing cable acts to bear the cleaning machine’s weight, and lowers the machine to each appropriate floor to perform its window-cleaning job. As seen in Figure 1, on board the cleaning system is a micro-controller that communicates with the control unit, and performs the necessary controls required for the cleaning machine. The cleaning machine is designed to be able to clear obstacles and hanging ledges during the descent and at the same time, be able to anchor itself onto the building to prevent the wind from blowing it out of its place. We are in the process of developing a novel window and wall climbing system that the cleaning machine will adopt and use during the descent. In other words, the system makes sure that the machine



ltus is always anchored to the building, rather than simply releasing more cable to let the machine drop. The machine will never be free hanging, and thus, it will not be vulnerable to wind currents. Also on board the cleaning machine is cleaning detergent, cleaning tools, and cameras. Cameras are used to monitor the surrounding of the machine, and most important of all, the cleanliness of the windows. Real time video will be shown in the control unit to provide feedback of the job being performed to the operator. In the end, we wish to develop a system to clean high-rise building windows effectively and safely.

4.1. Further Design Considerations and Future Development

An alternative design is to ask the building designers to integrate a rail with the building; thus the dedicated window cleaning system just has to traverse along the pre-defined grid. Although this is an elegant way to solve the problem, it would be extremely difficult to get the industry to follow our standard. Moreover, what about the all the existing buildings? Our goal is to tap into the existing market for cleaning windows. The biggest challenge we would encounter in terms of the design would probably be the diversity in the exterior design of buildings we have to interface. Our goal is to have a device that is compatible to any surface and shape. For the first prototype, the main focus would be climbing up primarily glass walls, using some electro-mechanical suction cup to attach the system to the windows. The rope should carry most of the weight because the windows are not designed to handle an external downward force applied to them. In an attempt to minimize the force on the window itself, we would try to lighten our vehicle as much as possible, leaving all the heavy components of the system on solid ground. Our “wall-climbing robot” can be expanded to carry out other services, such as inspection work with the camera, external building repairs, paint and protective coating, and antenna installations. By incorporating new functionalities to the product, this system would definitely be of further value and benefit to our customers.

5. Sources of Information

In developing our project and doing problem analysis, we will do our research from a variety of sources, including academic textbooks, scientific journals, and specification sheets of similar already-existing products. The Internet will be the main source in investigating similar projects pursued by other companies or universities, as well as to seek out companies or agencies that are willing to fund the project. From there, we seek to contact related individuals to find more information that will enable us to carry out our project.



ltus Faculty and teaching staff from the School of Engineering Science of Simon Fraser University will also assist us in developing our product and to provide valuable advice during the course of our research. 6. Budget and Funding

6.1. Budget

Table 1 outlines a tentative budget for the high-rise building window cleaning system. The project is estimated to cost $1800 to develop and build. The estimated cost does not reflect the manufacturing price of AutoClean HR-100, because prototypes tend to be more expensive, especially during their first development stage. The miscellaneous item in the table includes shipping, handling, and extra parts that we might need as the project progresses but have not yet considered.

Item Estimated Cost Sensors $150 Actuators $400 Mechanical parts $500 Personal Computer $0 Microcontroller + PC interface $0 Electronics $200 Web Cams $80 Cabling $240 Miscellaneous $230 Total $1800

Table 1: Tentative Budget Our team members are aware that many mechanical components from automobiles can be used for this project. Thus, in an attempt to reduce cost, we will seek components such as motors or even windshield wipers from junkyards. This would greatly reduce cost of many parts that would be otherwise very expensive if bought new. Furthermore, we plan to obtain sample microcontrollers and microcontroller-to-PC interface chips from Texas Instruments in order to eliminate the cost of the controller and the PC interface. The PC will be provided by one of our members, and it will serve as the main controller and interface between the AutoClean HR-100 and the operator.

6.2. Funding

Finding sufficient funding for this project will be a challenge due to the high costs. With five members in our group, we are entitled to a fund of $250 provided from the School of Engineering Science to subsidize for parts and components. We are also in the process of



ltus applying to the Engineering Science Student Endowment Fund. The John Wighton Development Fund is another source of funding that we will apply. The combined funding from the ESSEF and the Wighton Fund is expected to be approximately $1000, with the estimation made based upon funding granted to previous projects. Because our product fulfills the demand of reducing risk in the window cleaning industry, we will seek funding from the International Window Cleaning Association (IWCA). Attempts have been made to persuade the IWCA to fund our project, and we are awaiting their response. In the case that we are unable to gather sufficient funding for the project, our team members are willing to provide the remaining required funds to complete the project.



ltus 7. Schedule

Table 2 shows the Gantt chart that outlines the tasks and milestones for our project. The bars indicate tasks and bullets indicate milestones. We expect to complete development of different modules on March 12th, giving us approximately a month of time to integrate and test our prototype.

Table 2: Gantt Chart



ltus 8. Team Organization

Altus Technologies is composed of five undergraduate engineering students from Simon Fraser University: Tommy Chiu, Howard Lee, Li Ng, Kelvin Mok, and Hubert Pan. The team members have knowledge in areas of electronics, systems design, and computer programming. Specific skills and experience of each member is outlined in the next section. Since Altus involves only a small team of five people, a simple two level hierarchy management structure is used. Kelvin Mok is the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) and is responsible in maintaining team order and resolving possible conflicts, as well as overseeing the entire project. Tommy Chiu is the Chief Operating Officer (COO), who ensures that team members communicate regularly and that documents produced by Altus are professional and accurate. Li Ng is the Chief Financial Officer (CFO) and is responsible for all financial aspects of Altus. Hubert Pan is the Chief Technical Officer for Software, (CTO, Software), and is an expert on the software design and solutions for our product, while Howard Lee is the Chief Technical Officer for Hardware (CTO, Hardware), responsible for hardware specifications and development of our project. Our team meets every week to discuss and resolve issues. We also heavily utilize the SFU Caucus System and Microsoft Messenger, which allows members to work on the project and discuss ideas round-the-clock, increasing productivity and efficiency even when team members are unable to meet face to face. At Altus, we put a strong focus on the people in the team. We would like everyone in the team to have opinions and innovative ideas in a wide range of areas including system design, technical details, and financial/relationship management. Though the area of expertise differs from member to member, Altus strives to allow members to explore and learn in new areas, to learn new material from fellow members, and most importantly, to participate in all decision-making.



ltus 9. Company Profile

Kelvin Mok – Chief Executive Officer (CEO)

Kelvin worked previously in Nokia and Omnex Control Systems, and has extensive knowledge in designing, production, and testing of RF applications. Currently, he is a fourth year engineering student at Simon Fraser University, and has taken courses related to real-time embedded system programming, performance analysis of data and integrated services networks, and analysis/design of linear feedback control systems. During the time in Omnex, he has become familiar with the manufacturing approach of the company, and also he carried out all the duties in the SMT production line.

Tommy Chiu – Chief Operating Officer (COO)

Tommy Chiu is a fourth year computer engineering student at Simon Fraser University, and president of the SFU Chapter of Engineers Without Borders Canada. In addition to his experience running and managing part of a national organization, Tommy has previous co-op experience working at Epson Research and Development as an Application Engineer, verifying and identifying functional failures in ASIC designs for mobile graphics applications. Tommy has also worked as an intern at the Hong Kong office of Web Guru Asia, doing web design and creating Flash games.

Li Ng – Chief Financial Officer (CFO)

Li Ng, a fourth-year electronics engineering student at Simon Fraser University, has a wide range of skills including PHP/TCL scripting; assembly and VHDL coding; micro-controller, PLC, and FPGA programming; and finally CMOS integrated circuit designing and testing. He also has experience with CAD software such as AutoCAD and SolidWorks. Furthermore, he had worked in Contec Innovation, where he was responsible in writing and running test cases and test scripts to QA for a wireless application service platform.



ltus Howard Lee – Chief Technical Officer, Hardware (CTO, Hardware)

As a fourth year system engineering student at Simon Fraser University, Howard Lee has profound knowledge in programming, including C++, Java, Visual Basic, and various assembly languages under Windows and Unix based operation systems. As a previous employee of Nokia Multimedia, he excels in generating test-cases for various mobile phone features; managing and supporting employee end-products; and general testing of the latest mobile phones. Besides academic study, he has participated in Western Engineering Competition in technology entrepreneurial design category.

Howard Lee – Chief Technical Officer, Software (CTO, Software)

Hubert Pan is a fourth year computer engineering student at Simon Fraser University. He has worked as a java programmer for a Rough Mill Project with the National Research Council, where he implemented a program that simulates a rough mill process with agent architecture. He is also experienced in other programming language such as C, C++ and visual basic. During his time in Mustang, he was responsible in designing a cryptography system for securing company documents.



ltus 10. Conclusion

Today, thousands of window-washing professionals are working under hazardous environments, notably in the high-rise buidlings. Regardless of strict standards and rich training programs, tragedy still happens due to human factors and equipment failures under bad environments. Altus Technologies is determined to tackle this problem by introducing a semi-auto high-rise window washing system: Altus AutoClean HR-100, which is able to reduce both the operating cost and the risk for the personnel operating the system. Altus AutoClean HR-100 is composed of a cleaning module and control unit connected by a cabling system, where the operator would be controlling the cleaning module remotely in a safe condition. In addition, by using the purposed design, the system would be able to resist wind currents and avoid obstacles. This revolutionary system would be able to completely change how the window cleaning works in the real world, while eliminating the safety issues concerning the cleaning crew. By being aware of the key problems outlined the system overview, we will focus on satisfying the main requirements of the system, and develop a low-cost and efficient solution in thirteen weeks of our development cycle. The source of funding would be mainly contributed from the Engineering Science Student Endowment Fund and the John Wighton Development Fund. On April 2nd, the prototype of the HR-100 would be completed, and perhaps in the future, news of accidents involving high-rise window cleaners will be a thing of the past.



ltus 11. Sources and References

1) Robosoft Window Cleaner (http://www.robosoft.fr/Window-georges-pompidou.html) 2) The Clean Machine (http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/sci/tech/673265.stm) 3) Modular climbing robot for service-sector applications

(http://www.emeraldinsight.com/Insight/ViewContentServlet?Filename=Published/EmeraldFullTextArticle/Articles/0490260605.html#0490260605001.png)

4) Dangling Colo. Window Washers Rescued

(http://www.wjla.com/news/stories/1205/282244.html) 5) International Window Cleaners Association (http://www.iwca.org/) 6) Window Washer Fatality Assessment, November 1, 2005, Massachusetts Coalition

for Occupational Safety and Health

http://www.robosoft.fr/Window-georges-pompidou.html

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/sci/tech/673265.stm

http://www.emeraldinsight.com/Insight/ViewContentServlet?Filename=Published/E

http://www.wjla.com/news/stories/1205/282244.html

http://www.iwca.org/

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