Design and manufacture of a composite and lightweight metallic personal belongings carrier for the homeless community-Phase I

加拿大无家可归研究网络(CHRN)和加拿大联盟最近发布的一份国家报告 《结束无家可归》显示，每晚有近3万加拿大人无家可归。尽管取得了周期性的成功 在解决无家可归问题方面，在实现更加持久和可持续方面进展甚微 解决方案。为了帮助迈向后一种解决方案，奥卡纳根地区的Metro社区 与其他几个方面的合作，包括作为当地领先制造商的Water play Solutions Corp， 不列颠哥伦比亚大学奥卡纳根校区，基洛纳市加拿大皇家骑警和来自无家可归者的成员 社区发起了一项独特的倡议，设计和制造个人物品搬运器(PBC) 这将是一个安全和可移动的结构，为以下用途提供开放的公共场所或购物车的替代 帮助无家可归者管理他们的个人物品。最终，这种工程产品的推出是 旨在增强无家可归者的安全感，并为他们提供储存 他们的财物，同时管理他们生活的其他方面。作为上述协作的第一阶段 产业-大学-社区倡议，大学团队和Water play Solutions Corp通过 NSERC项目将评估玻璃纤维增强塑料(GFRP)作为一种有前途的候选材料类型 PBC产品，由于其重量轻，机械性能高，可制造性和耐用性。 更具体地说，通过先进的多标准决策(MCDM)方法，最优的GFRP 需要能够满足PBC的所有设计要求的层压板，包括耐天然 风化变化。选择层压板时要考虑的主要因素包括聚合物 基质材料/固化动力学、纤维体积分数、层压板铺层和湿热性能。紧邻 它对建设和平委员会倡议的独家贡献，从这项研究中获得的知识预计将 为其他加拿大制造商提供了关于不同GFRP层压板的最佳实践指南 针对户外应用的环境耐久性标准进行评分。

A recent national report by the Canadian Homelessness Research Network (CHRN) and the Canadian Alliance to End Homelessness showed that nearly 30,000 Canadians are homeless every night. Despite periodic success in addressing homelessness problem, little progress has been made toward more permanent and sustainable solution. To assist in moving toward the latter solution, the Metro Community in the Okanagan region in collaboration with several other parties, including Waterplay Solutions Corp as a leading local manufacture, the University of British Columbia-Okanagan Campus, City of Kelowna RCMP, and members from homeless community has initiated a unique initiative to design and manufacture a Personal Belongings Carrier (PBC) which will be a secure and mobile structure providing an alternative to open public spaces or shopping carts for the homeless to manage their personal belongings. Ultimately, the introduction of this engineering product is intended to foster an increased sense of security for the homeless and provide them with an opportunity to store their belongings, while managing other aspects of their lives. As the first phase of the above collaborative industry-university-community initiative, the university team and Waterplay Solutions Corp through this NSERC project will assess the glass fiber reinforced plastic (GFRP) as a promising candidate material type for the PBC product, owing to its light weights, high mechanical properties, manufacturability, and durability. More specifically, through an advanced multi-criteria decision making (MCDM) approach an optimum GFRP laminate is desired which can meet all design requirements for the PBC, including resistance to natural weathering variations. The main factors to be considered during laminate selection will include the polymer matrix material/cure kinetics, fibre volume fraction, laminate lay-up, and hygrothermal performance. Next to its exclusive contribution to the PBC initiative, the knowledge to be gained from this research is expected to results in best-practice guidelines for other Canadian manufacturers as to how different GFRP laminates would score against environmental durability criteria for outdoor applications.