JPH09299419A - Self-walking aid device - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a self-walking aid device which achieves excellent safety and high versatility along with ease of handling. SOLUTION: A lifting motor 7 of a lifting member is provided with a rotation detecting means 17 to detect and output the number of revolutions of the motor 7. An output value (number of revolutions of the motor 7) of the rotation detecting means 17 is outputted as the current number N of revolutions of the motor to a control means 12 and the control means 12 controls the number of revolutions of the motor 7 based on the current number N of revolutions of the motor. This control regulates the number of revolutions of the motor 7 so that the current number N of revolutions of the motor is almost equal to a set number Ns of revolutions. Thus, the number of revolutions of the motor can be kept constant against changes in the load of the motor 7, especially when a user different in weight uses the device, thereby a lifting speed of the lifting member or the like for assistance from standing action to sitting action can always be kept constant.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to control of a self-supporting walking assisting machine that assists walking, standing, and sitting motions for a person with impaired leg function.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, as a device for a person having a lower limb function disorder, there are (1) a walking aid described in JP-B-6-41543 and (2) a walking described in JP-B-3-54588. There are auxiliary equipment. This device is constructed so that the support part for supporting the upper body of the user can be fixedly supported by stepless adjustment, and thereby the upper body of the user can be supported without forcing the user. Is. Further, this device has a built-in gas spring as an elevating device required for the stepless height adjustment of the support part.

On the other hand, as a device for supporting the standing and sitting motions, there is (3) a rising assist device described in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 1-284247. This device realizes the vertical movement of the support for supporting the upper half of the body of the user. A plurality of gears such as a rack, a worm, a pinion, a worm wheel, etc. are provided as means for converting into vertical movement.

[0004]

However, the above-mentioned prior art devices (1) to (3) have the following problems.

In the devices of the prior arts (1) and (2), the height of the support portion can be adjusted, but this adjustment does not interlock with the standing motion and seating motion of the user.
Not easy to use.

In the device of the prior art (3), since the vertical movement of the support is realized by a simple electrical means, only the vertical movement of the support is electrically performed, and the device malfunctions. It lacks safety considerations such as detecting the condition, and cannot be used without a caregiver, making it inconvenient.

The present invention has been made in view of the above circumstances, and an object of the present invention is to provide a highly versatile self-supporting walking assisting machine which is easy to use and excellent in safety.

[0008]

In order to achieve the above object, the invention according to claim 1 is provided with a frame, a moving mechanism composed of a plurality of wheels provided at a lower portion of the frame, and a moving mechanism provided on the frame and ascending and descending. An elevating mechanism for vertically moving the body of the user of the apparatus from an upright position to a sitting position by an elevating operation of a member, a motor for elevating the elevating member, and a control means for controlling the motor. The self-sustained walking assist device includes a rotation detecting unit that detects and outputs the rotation number of the motor, and the control unit controls the rotation number of the motor based on an output value of the rotation detecting unit.

According to a second aspect of the present invention, the control means includes a motor drive circuit for driving the motor, and the output value of the rotation detection means and the preset number of rotations of the motor are substantially equal to each other. The number of rotations of the motor is controlled via the motor drive circuit.

According to a third aspect of the present invention, the control means includes a motor drive circuit for driving the motor, and the motor or the motor drive circuit is driven based on the operating state of the motor drive circuit and the output state of the rotation detecting means. ON failure of the signal line connecting the circuit or motor and the motor drive circuit,
It is characterized in that the presence / absence of an OFF failure is determined.

According to the present invention, even if the load variation of the motor, especially the users of different weights use this device, the rotation speed of the motor is kept constant by controlling the rotation speed of the motor based on the output value of the rotation detecting means. As a result, the lifting speed of the lifting member for supporting the sitting motion from the standing motion can be kept constant at all times. In other words, the lifting speed of the lifting members does not change depending on the weight of the body,
The lifting operation is stable regardless of the weight.

In particular, according to the third aspect of the invention, it is possible to recognize the abnormality of the device by judging the presence / absence of the ON failure and the OFF failure.

[0013]

BEST MODE FOR CARRYING OUT THE INVENTION Embodiments of a self-supporting walking support machine according to the present invention will be described in detail below with reference to the drawings.

FIG. 1 is an external view of a self-supporting walking support machine,
FIG. 2 is a cross-sectional view of a frame that constitutes the self-supporting walking aid, and FIG. 3 is a cross-sectional view of yet another portion of the frame.

In FIGS. 1, 2 and 3, a frame A of the self-supporting walking aid comprises a right frame 1, a left frame 2 and a center frame 3, and the left and right frames 1 and 2 are connected by the center frame 3. A moving mechanism 4 is provided below the left and right frames 1 and 2. The moving mechanism 4 is composed of a front wheel 4a, an intermediate wheel 4b, and a rear wheel 4c in this embodiment.

An elevating mechanism B is provided on the frame A, and the elevating mechanism B has an elevating member 5 and a support body 6. The elevating member 5 is located inside the left and right frames 1 and 2, and the left and right frames 1 are also provided. 2, and the support 6 is attached to the upper end of the elevating member 5. Also,
The support body 6 has a shape that is substantially parallel to the ground from the left and right elevating members 5 and has a central portion that is recessed forward in a substantially U-shape.

The elevating member 5 is constructed so as to move up and down by its drive mechanism. The elevating member 5 is driven by a motor 7, a worm 8, a worm wheel 9, and a pinion 1.
It consists of 0 and rack 11. The motor 7 is arranged on the center frame 3, the worm 8 is attached to the rotating shaft of the motor 7, and the worm wheel 9 is provided so as to mesh with the worm 8. The pinion 10 is coaxially attached to the worm wheel 9 and is housed in the left and right frames 1 and 2. The rack 11 is provided so as to mesh with the pinion 10 and is built in the elevating member 5.

In the lifting mechanism B having such a structure,
When the motor 7 rotates, its rotational force is transmitted to the rack 11 via the worm 8, the worm wheel 9, and the pinion 10.
Is transmitted to the rack 11, so that the lifting member 5 is integrated with the rack 11.
And the support body 6 moves up and down. That is, the lifting mechanism B
Through the lifting / lowering operation of the lifting / lowering member 5 and the support 6 by the rotation of the motor 7, the body of the user of the apparatus can be vertically moved by the support 6 from the standing position to the sitting position.

The rotation shaft of the motor 7 is coaxial with the rotation shaft of FIG.
The disk 13 as shown in FIG.
Has a plurality of openings 13a, 13a ...
Are formed, and these openings 13a, 13a ... Are provided at equal intervals.

A light emitting / receiving element 14 as shown in FIG. 5 is provided in the vicinity of the disk 13, and the light receiving / emitting element 14 has a gap 14a.
Has a light emitting part 15 and a light receiving part 16 at both ends thereof, and a part of the disk 13 (a part where the opening 13a is formed) is inserted between the light emitting part 15 and the light receiving part 16 (gap 14a) (FIG. 4). reference).

When the motor 7 rotates, the disk 13 rotates integrally therewith. At this time, when the opening 13a of the disk 13 is located on the optical axis from the light emitting section 15 to the light receiving section 16, the opening 13a is opened. While the light receiving unit 16 receives the light of the light emitting unit 15 via the light receiving unit 16, the light from the light emitting unit 15 to the light receiving unit 16 is blocked by the disk 13 when there is no opening 13a of the disk 13 on the optical axis. Such light reception and light shielding are repeatedly performed in the light receiving section 16, whereby the light emitting / receiving element 14 outputs a rectangular pulse having a substantially constant period as shown in FIG.
The output pulse per one rotation of is determined by the number of openings 13a. Therefore, the rotation speed of the motor 7 can be obtained based on the output pulse from the light emitting / receiving element 14.
Thus, the disk 13 and the light emitting / receiving element 14 constitute an optical rotation detecting means 17 for detecting the rotation speed of the motor 7 and outputting the rotation speed.

The center frame 3 is provided with a control means 12 for driving the motor 7 and the microcomputer 19 which outputs an on / off signal to the motor drive circuit 18, as shown in FIG. The motor driving circuit 18 is provided, and the motor 7 is rotated by turning on the motor driving circuit 18. When the motor 7 rotates, the output value (rotational speed of the motor 7) from the rotation detection means 17 is fed back to the microcomputer 19 as the current motor rotational speed N.

The microcomputer 19 is configured to control the motor 7 on the basis of the current motor rotation speed N. This control is performed by the current motor rotation speed N and the preset motor 7 speed.
Ps for driving the motor 7 based on the comparison result.
On / off time duty of WM (constant cycle (approximately 20 k
(Hz) pulse on / off time ratio), and the rotation speed of the motor 7 is controlled so that the current motor rotation speed N and the set rotation speed Ns are substantially equal. The control of the rotation speed of the motor 7 may be a control of the voltage for driving the motor 7.

The microcomputer 19 is also configured to determine whether the motor 7, the motor drive circuit 18, and the signal line connecting the motor 7 and the motor drive circuit 18 are on or off. This is done based on the operating state of the drive circuit 18 and the output state of the rotation detecting means 17.

That is, when the operating state of the motor drive circuit 18 is ON and the output state of the rotation detecting means 17 is a state in which the rotation speed is not output (OFF), it is judged that there is an OFF failure, and When the operating state of the motor drive circuit 18 is off and the output state of the rotation detecting means 17 is a state where the rotation speed is being output (on), it is determined that there is an on failure.

The control means 12 rotates the motor 7 by turning on the motor drive circuit 18 as described above. The on / off operation is performed by the user of this apparatus on the operation section 600 (see FIG. 1). Based on the operation of
The operation unit 600 is integrally attached to the support 6.

FIG. 8 and FIG. 9 are flow charts showing the operations of the motor rotation speed control by PWM, the ON failure check, and the OFF failure check, which are carried out by this self-sustained walking support machine.

The rotation speed control of the motor by PWM and the ON failure check are performed according to the flow chart shown in FIG.

That is, when the motor drive circuit 18 is turned on in the process of (S1), the motor 7 is turned on in the process of (S2), and then the output of the rotation detecting means 17 is detected in the process of (S3). To judge.

When it is determined that there is output, (S
In the process of 4), the current motor rotation speed N (rotation detecting means 17
Output value) and the set speed Ns are compared, and as a result of the comparison, the current motor speed N is lower than the set speed Ns (Ns>
In the case of N), the duty of PWM for driving the motor 7 is increased in the process of (S8), and then the process proceeds to the process of (S5). In the processing of (S5), the current motor rotation speed N is compared with the set rotation speed Ns. As a result of the comparison, if the current motor rotation speed N is higher than the set rotation speed Ns (Ns <N), (S9) After the duty of the PWM is reduced by the process of), the process proceeds to the process of (S6). In the processing of (S6), the current motor rotation speed N is compared with the set rotation speed Ns, and if the comparison results in that both rotation speeds N and Ns are not substantially equal, the processing returns to (S4). . That is, (S
The processes 4) to S6 are repeatedly performed until the current motor rotation speed N and the set rotation speed Ns become substantially equal by increasing or decreasing the PWM duty by the processing of S8 or S9.

In the process of (S3), when it is judged that there is no output from the rotation detecting means 17, the operating state of the motor drive circuit 18 is ON and the rotation detecting means 17 is in the ON state.
Since the output state of is a state in which the rotation speed is not output (OFF), it is determined that there is an OFF failure at this time (S7).
After turning off the motor drive circuit 18 in the process of (S1
In the processing of 0), the user is informed by some means that the off state is an alarm condition.

The processing operations from (S3) to (S6) are always performed while the motor 7 is on.

On the other hand, for the ON failure check, FIG.
As shown in (S11), the motor drive circuit 18 is turned off, so that after the motor 7 is turned off in the process of (S12), the motor 7 remains off.
In the process of (S13), it is determined whether or not the rotation detection means 17 outputs.

When it is determined that there is output, the operating state of the motor drive circuit 18 is off, and the output state of the rotation detecting means 17 is outputting the number of revolutions (on).
Therefore, in the process of (S15), the user is informed by some means that the alarm state is an ON failure.

In the process of (S13), when it is determined that there is no output from the rotation detecting means 17, (S1
In the process of 4), the ON failure check is completed.

In the self-sustained walking assistance machine of this embodiment, the output value of the rotation detection means 17 (current motor rotation speed N) and the set rotation speed Ns are substantially equal to each other via the motor drive circuit 18 so that the motor 7 is driven. It is configured to control the rotation speed. Therefore, even when the load of the motor 7 is changed, especially when users of different weights use this device, the rotation speed of the motor 7 is maintained at a constant set rotation speed Ns to support the sitting motion from the standing motion. The ascending / descending speed of the ascending / descending member 5 and the support 6 is always constant. That is, the lifting speed of the lifting member 5 and the like does not change due to the weight of the body weight, stable lifting operation can be obtained regardless of the weight, and the height of the lifting member 5 and the like can be adjusted by the motor 7. Therefore, it can be interlocked with the user's standing motion and sitting motion, which is convenient and versatile.

Further, according to the apparatus of this embodiment, the motor 7, the motor drive circuit 18, the motor 7 and the motor drive circuit 1 are provided.
Since it is configured to determine whether the signal line connecting 8 has an on-failure or an off-failure, an abnormality of the device can be recognized through such a determination, and the safety of the device is excellent.

The rotation detecting means 17 may be configured to detect the number of rotations of the motor 7 by magnetic means instead of optical means.

[0039]

According to the present invention, the rotation detecting means for detecting and outputting the rotation speed of the motor is provided, and the controlling means controls the rotation speed of the motor based on the output value of the rotation detecting means. It is a thing. For this reason, it is possible to keep the motor rotation speed constant by controlling the rotation speed of the motor based on the output value of the rotation detection means even when the load variation of the motor, in particular, users of different weights use this device. Therefore, the lifting speed of the lifting member for supporting the sitting motion from the standing motion can be kept constant. In other words, the lifting speed of the lifting members does not change depending on the weight of the weight, stable lifting operation can be obtained regardless of the weight, and the height of the lifting members is adjusted by the motor. It is possible to provide a self-supporting walking assisting machine that is excellent in usability and has high versatility, since it can be linked with the standing motion and the sitting motion.

In particular, according to the third aspect of the present invention, the motor, the motor drive circuit, and the signal line connecting the motor and the motor drive circuit are configured to determine whether there is an ON failure or an OFF failure. It is possible to recognize an abnormality of the device through such a judgment, and to provide a self-supporting walking assist device having excellent safety.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is an external view of an independent walking support device according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a longitudinal sectional view of a frame of the self-supporting walking support device according to the embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 3 is a cross-sectional view of a frame of the self-supporting walking support device according to the embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 4 is a detailed view of rotation detecting means of the self-sustained walking assistance machine showing one embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 5 is a detailed view of a light emitting / receiving element of the self-supporting walking assistance machine showing the embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 6 is an output waveform diagram of the light emitting / receiving element of the self-sustained walking assistance machine showing the embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 7 is a block diagram of a control means of the self-sustained walking assistance machine showing the embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 8 is a flowchart of the rotation speed control of the self-sustained walking assistance machine showing the embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 9 is a flowchart of an on-failure check of the self-sustained walking support device showing the embodiment of the present invention.

[Explanation of symbols]

1 ... Right frame 2 ... Left frame 3 ... Center frame 4 ... Moving mechanism 6 ... Support body 7 ... Motor 8 ... Worm 9 ... Worm wheel 10 ... Pinion 11 ... Rack 12 ... Control means 13 ... Disc 14 ... Light emitting / receiving element 15 ... Light emitting part 16 ... Light receiving part 17 ... Rotation detecting means 18 ... Motor drive circuit 19 ... Microcomputer

 ─────────────────────────────────────────────────── ─── Continuation of the front page (72) Inventor Akira Endo 1250 Shimoeden, Shimodate, Ibaraki Prefecture Hitachi Chemical Co., Ltd.Yuki Plant (72) Inventor Toshio Ogiso 502, Kandachicho, Tsuchiura, Ibaraki Japan Co., Ltd. (72) Inventor, Masakatsu Fujie, 502 Kintate-cho, Tsuchiura-shi, IbarakiHitate Manufacturing Co., Ltd. (72) Masamichi Tomita, 502, Kintate-cho, Tsuchiura-shi, Ibaraki Nitate Mill Machinery Co., Ltd. Inside the research institute (72) In search of Era Kawara 502 Jinritsu-cho, Tsuchiura-shi, Ibaraki Hiritsu Seisakusho Co., Ltd. Mechanical Research Laboratory (72) Inventor Yoshiki Yoshida 1-280 Higashi Koigakubo, Kokubunji, Tokyo Inside Hitachi Design Lab.

Claims (3)

[Claims] 1. A frame, a moving mechanism composed of a plurality of wheels provided at a lower portion of the frame, a moving mechanism provided on the frame, and a lifting / lowering operation of an elevating member moves the body of a user of the apparatus from a standing position to a sitting position. A lifting mechanism for moving up and down, a motor for lifting the lifting member,
In a self-sustained walking assistance machine comprising control means for controlling the motor, a rotation detection means for detecting and outputting the number of rotations of the motor is provided, and the control means controls the motor based on the output value of the rotation detection means. An independent walking support machine characterized by controlling the number of revolutions. 2. The control means includes a motor drive circuit for driving the motor, and the motor drive circuit is provided so that an output value of the rotation detection means and a preset number of rotations of the motor are substantially equal to each other. The self-supporting walking aid according to claim 1, wherein the number of rotations of the motor is controlled via the motor. 3. The control means includes a motor drive circuit for driving the motor, and the motor or the motor drive circuit or the motor and the motor is based on the operating state of the motor drive circuit and the output state of the rotation detecting means. 3. The self-sustained walking assistance device according to claim 1, wherein it is determined whether or not there is an ON failure or an OFF failure in a signal line connecting the drive circuits.