Wheelchair Lift Sizing Calculator

This calculator splits into two independent halves that happen to share inputs. Travel Time (seconds) is purely geometric: Rise Height (mm) divided by a Drive-type speed (0.15 m/s hydraulic, 0.10 m/s screw-drive, 0.12 m/s rack-and-pinion), so it rises across the entire 100-5000 mm declared range and never responds to platform size or rated capacity at all. Motor Power (HP), by contrast, comes from a force-balance on the load -- Rated Capacity (kg) plus an estimated platform steel weight (from Platform Width x Platform Depth) times gravity and a 25% safety margin, times the Drive-type speed -- so it rises with Rated Capacity and with either platform dimension, but has zero dependence on Rise Height across the entire declared range: a lift rising 100 mm and one rising 5000 mm at the same capacity and platform size need the identical motor.

Shaft Width and Shaft Depth are pure clearance add-ons (+200 mm and +250 mm respectively) on top of the platform dimensions, so they track Platform Width and Platform Depth directly and ignore Rise Height, Rated Capacity, and Drive type entirely. Rise Code Compliant checks Rise Height against a Lift Type-dependent ceiling (1.5 m unenclosed, 4.27 m enclosed, per ASME A18.1-2023, the Safety Standard for Platform Lifts and Stairway Chairlifts), while ADA Size Compliant checks the platform dimensions against fixed 914 x 1219 mm minimums independently -- the two compliance flags never interact.