It's a well-known fact that a stowed wheelchair lift in the back of the van can clank, rattle and clonk to the point of driving anyone inside insane. By enlisting Professor Mark French, acoustics expert at the prestigious Purdue University in Indiana, we set out to silence the lift once and for all. The Q-Series lifts are oh so quiet. They are actually indistinguishable from the noise in an empty van.

So how did we silence the Q-Series lifts? Well, we didn't leave anything to chance, that's for sure. They are packed with noise suppression features and a unique feature called Auto-Tite™.

Auto-Tite™
All hydraulics lose pressure over time, and the problem with this in a wheelchair lift is that the lift will slowly acquire the ability to rattle. For each ignition cycle, Auto-Tite™ will check the pressure of the hydraulics, ensure the doors are closed, wait for the engine to be started, and if necessary start the pump making sure the lift is stowed up tight.

As nice as an ultra-light lift sounds, weight reductions can come at a high cost to safety, rigidity and reliability. We don't believe in gambling with these factors just so we get to call it: "World's lightest lift!". Instead we opted for reducing the weight as much as we could without any negative trade off.

The Q-Series wheelchair lifts weigh in at about 150 kg. Compared to our previous models, we've cut weight by roughly 10 %. However, it's also 300 % more rigid than any other lift we’ve tested. That rigidity is something you will feel when riding on the lift. It will feel safe and reliable.

In engineer technobabble weight reduction can be achieved with one or more of the three G's: Grade, Gauge and Geometry. In plain English that is the material, the thickness of the material and the shape of the structure.

Grade
Aluminium is usually a material of choice when cutting weight. But it’s prone to fatigue cracking, something probably familiar to anyone who has used an aluminium lift for any longer duration of time. It also causes rigidity problems.

Since our aim is to provide reliable accessibility which is safe and secure for the long haul, we decided to go for high-strength steel.

Gauge
A thinner material means a lighter lift, but thinner isn’t always better. Increased point loads on bearings will reduce their lifespan and rotational forces from hinge pins will inevitably cause headaches. The latter being one of the most common reasons for lift failure in the industry.

By adding surface area around the bearings, we’ve managed to minimise point loads. As for the hinge pins, we call ours, strapped hinge pins. The strap reaches out from the centre of the pin to gain leverage against rotational forces. Quite clever if we may say so ourselves.

Geometry
The shape of the structure can make a big difference. A good geometry will be more material efficient and provide better structural stability. By moving away from the industry standard geometry in the lower parallel arms, we've greatly increased the rigidity of the platform. It's actually 300% more rigid than any other lift tested.

We say it's the only lift designed to have the attendant riding in the outer corner of the platform together with the wheelchair user.

The normal service life of a wheelchair lift is usually less than 10,000 cycles. For decades all BraunAbility inboard lifts have been tested to meet our internal requirement of 32,000 cycles, and the Q-Series is no exception. In addition to this we have also tried to closely simulate real-world conditions. We've stressed the base plate welds to a maximum by performing cycle testing on both rigid and flexible floors.  

Most people tend to think of design as a way to make something look good, but design is so much more than that. It's about interaction with the user, the service and maintenance technician or just anyone in the vicinity of the product.

Together with Professor Steve Visser at Purdue University in Indiana, we gave the Q-Series lifts a distinct curved design language with a modern look as well as a number of clever features that just makes life simpler.

The Q-Series platform will be hard to miss even when deployed low to the ground in a dark parking lot. We’ve added light strips along both the inside and outside of the platform, making it highly visible to anyone in its vicinity.

Contrary to standard platform lights mounted on the vertical channel, it also keeps the lights out of the user’s face and ensures that the user won't block the light from reaching the platform.

  Compatible with our Remote App

The Q-Series wheelchair lifts come in two different platform types, Split and Solid. Both are well proven platform types that have their own benefits. Choose the platform type that best suits your application.

  Compatible with our Remote App