JPH10165452A - Electric wheelchair - Google Patents

Abstract

(57) [Problem] To provide an electric wheelchair that performs power assist by a driving force of a motor according to a magnitude of an operation torque given to a hand rim, and to reduce a burden on a caregiver when operating the wheelchair. SOLUTION: A switch 31 is provided on a caregiver handle 32, and a motor 21 is driven by turning on and off the switch 31, thereby reducing the burden on the caregiver when operating a wheelchair.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to an electric wheelchair that performs power assist with a driving force of a motor according to the magnitude of an operation torque applied to a hand rim.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, an electric wheelchair for performing power assist has a configuration described in Japanese Patent Application No. 7-79134.

FIGS. 6 and 7 show the structure of a conventional electric wheelchair. The manual operation torque applied to the hand rim 2 is as follows.
The relative displacement of the hand rim 2 with respect to the wheel 3 in the rotational direction is determined by the drive shaft 2 of the torque
A direction converting means 52 for converting the displacement into an axial displacement of 3;
The torque is detected by a torque sensor 54 provided on the fixed portion 53 facing the torque response member 51 and detecting torque in response to an axial displacement of the torque response member 51, and the motor 21 is operated according to the manual operation torque. To drive the wheels 3 via the clutch 24 to perform power assist.

[0004]

In this electric wheelchair, there is a demand for reducing the burden on the assistant on steps or hills when the wheelchair is operated.

[0005] An object of the present invention is to provide an electric wheelchair capable of reducing the burden on a caregiver.

[0006]

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION In order to solve this problem, according to the first aspect of the present invention, a manual operation torque applied to a hand rim by a user is detected, and a motor is operated in accordance with the manual operation torque. An electric wheelchair that performs power assist by driving wheels through a clutch by working, and a switch for driving the motor is provided on a handle for an assistant who assists the user. It has the action of:

According to a second aspect of the present invention, a means for detecting two kinds of desired loads is provided on the caregiver handle, and the range of the load applied to the caregiver handle is detected. It has the action of:

According to a third aspect of the present invention, a means for detecting two kinds of desired loads is provided on the handle for the caregiver. It has the effect of driving the motor.

The invention described in claim 4 is provided with means for detecting a load on the caregiver handle, and has an effect of instantaneously detecting the load applied to the caregiver handle.

According to a fifth aspect of the present invention, a means for detecting a load is provided on the caregiver's handle, and has an effect of driving the motor according to the detected load.

[0011]

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS Embodiments of the present invention will be described below with reference to FIGS.

(Embodiment 1) FIG. 1 shows an electric wheelchair, and in FIG.
For driving the motor 21.

FIG. 2 shows a handle portion for an assistant in the electric wheelchair. In FIG. 2, the handle 32 for the assistant rotates according to the applied load, and when a desired load is reached, the load detecting means 33 first detects the load. When the load increases and reaches another desired load, the load detecting means 34 detects the load. The load detecting means is, for example, a limit switch.

FIG. 3 is a diagram showing the operation of the motor drive.
First, when a small load is detected by the load detection means 33 and a large load is detected by the load detection means 34,
Start driving. Thereafter, the motor 21 is driven until the load detecting means 33 stops detecting the small load.

(Embodiment 2) FIG. 4 shows a handle portion for an assistant in an electric wheelchair. In FIG. 4, the handle 32 for the assistant rotates according to the applied load, and a load detecting means 35 is provided.
The function is to perform the detection. The load detecting means is, for example, a potentiometer.

FIG. 5 is a block diagram showing a transmission path of an electric signal, in which the motor 21 is driven according to a signal of the load detecting means 35.

In the above description, an example has been described in which the load applied to the caregiver's handle is converted into a rotational displacement and detected. However, other means for directly detecting the load with a strain gauge can be similarly implemented. It is.

[0018]

As described above, according to the present invention, the advantageous effect of reducing the burden on the caregiver when operating the wheelchair can be obtained.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a diagram showing an entire view of an electric wheelchair according to a first embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a view showing a handle portion for an assistant of the electric wheelchair shown in FIG. 1;

FIG. 3 is a diagram illustrating an operation description of a motor drive.

FIG. 4 is a view showing a handle portion for an assistant of an electric wheelchair according to a second embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 5 is a block diagram showing a transmission path of an electric signal.

FIG. 6 is a view showing the whole view of a conventional electric wheelchair.

FIG. 7 is a diagram showing the structure of a driving unit of a conventional electric wheelchair.

[Explanation of symbols]

 2 Hand Rim 3 Wheel 21 Motor 23 Drive Shaft 24 Clutch 31 Switch 32 Helper Handle 33 Load Detector 34 Load Detector 35 Load Detector

Claims (5)

[Claims] 1. An electric wheelchair which detects a manual operation torque given to a hand rim by a user, activates a motor in accordance with the manual operation torque, drives wheels via a clutch, and performs power assist. An electric wheelchair, wherein a switch for driving the motor is provided on a handle for an assistant. 2. An electric wheelchair which detects a manual operation torque given to a hand rim by a user, activates a motor in accordance with the manual operation torque to drive wheels via a clutch to perform power assist, and An electric wheelchair, wherein a means for detecting two kinds of desired loads is provided on a handle for a caregiver. 3. The electric wheelchair according to claim 2, wherein the motor is driven after a large load is detected until the small load is no longer detected. 4. An electric wheelchair which detects a manual operation torque given to a hand rim by a user, activates a motor according to the manual operation torque to drive wheels via a clutch to perform power assist, and An electric wheelchair, wherein a means for detecting a load is provided on a handle for a caregiver. 5. The electric wheelchair according to claim 4, wherein the motor is driven according to the detected load.