JP2015037439A - Forward inclining wheelchair - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To solve a problem that though there is disclosed a technology which opens and closes a footrest of a wheelchair by a remote operation, or facilitates the landing of the footrest and the getting-on/off of a patient by using a link mechanism, hydraulic pressure or the like, the technology is not widely diffused since the landing of the footrest is unclean for the patient, and it is indispensable for the patient to be assisted in the ascending and descending of both legs because the patient must bend his/her body when ascending and descending both the legs, also the link mechanism is complicated in structure and operation, and high in expense, and thus the distress of the patient and a caregiver is not improved.SOLUTION: Two front wheels of a wheelchair are reduced in speed by using a pair of male and female screws, or combining the screws to a pair of gears and timing pulleys, and the two front wheels are made ascendable and descendable by being rotated forward or backward by an electric motor or manually. The whole wheelchair is inclined forward and a footrest is landed when the front wheels ascend, and the wheelchair can be recovered to a normal posture before the forward inclination when the front wheels descend. Opening/closing of the footrest and ascending/descending of both legs become unnecessary while a patient leaves his/her both legs placed on the footrest, and getting-on/off the patient becomes safe and speedy.

Description

  The present invention relates to an improvement of a wheelchair used by a physically handicapped person.

Conventionally, when a patient gets on a wheelchair, open the left and right footrests directly using bare hands or feet and close only one side after sitting, bend the upper body, put both feet on it, close the other one, and put the other foot on it There was only a way to move. Also, even when getting off, the troublesome work of opening one footrest and lowering both feet on the floor and then opening the other footrest is not improved at all. They are bothered by unhealthy work that is complicated and can cause nosocomial infections.

Several devices have been disclosed to operate with remote control levers on both sides of the wheelchair to open and close the footrest only for this problem, but only the work of putting both feet on and down has not been solved yet. The big defect is not solved at all.

As a solution to the raising and lowering of both feet, Patent Document 1 introduced below provides a footrest at the front end of a link mechanism that swings up and down on the front surface of the wheelchair body, and this is provided by manual levers provided on both side surfaces of the wheelchair body. Patent Document 2 is a mechanism that uses a toggle mechanism having a plurality of fulcrums on the front surface of a wheelchair body frame in combination with a link mechanism, and causes a footrest provided at the lower end of the wheelchair to be detached. In Patent Document 3, an inner pipe having an elastic material inserted on the front surface of a wheelchair body frame is expanded and contracted by hydraulic pressure in an outer pipe, and a footrest provided at the lower end of the inner pipe is detached.

The three patent documents are all developed for the purpose of improving the convenience of getting on and off the patient's wheelchair by directly removing and attaching the footrest. There was a need for assistance, such as lifting up.
In addition, the structure of the device is complicated, the vehicle body is large, the whole volume, weight and handling are not easy, and it is inevitably expensive from the viewpoint of the structure. Is not yet widespread.

JP 2002-219147 A JP 2005-152559 A JP 2008-093411 A

Conventionally, when a patient gets on and off a wheelchair, it is indispensable to open and close the left and right footrests and to raise and lower the patient with both feet and upper body as in paragraphs (0002) to (0005). I couldn't escape. The development of a mechanism that eliminates these obstacles, makes it safer and cleaner, and makes it easier to get on and off without lifting the patient's upper body is the urgent task at present.

According to the present invention, in a wheelchair structured to move by manually driving the left and right rear two wheels or the front two wheels, the patient is electrically or manually operated using a pair of male and female screws with both feet on the footrest. The front two wheels can be raised or lowered, and when raised, the whole wheelchair tilts forward (this is called “forward tilt”) and the footrest directly lands or lands. When the descent descends, the entire wheelchair returns to its pre-tilt posture from the tilted state, and the footrest leaves or leaves (hereinafter abbreviated as “leave”). There is no need to touch the hands at all, and there is no need to raise or lower both feet.

According to the present invention, a simple mechanism that only raises and lowers the front two wheels may be used, and there is no need for troublesome and filthy footrest opening and closing work, and the footrest remains in a state where the foot is placed only by tilting the entire wheelchair forward. Since the patient is directly landed, the burden on the caregiver can be greatly reduced as well as getting on and off of the patient himself, and it can be performed safely, and the above-mentioned problems are solved at once.

In the embodiment of the present invention, the front two wheels of the wheelchair are described with a small-diameter caster structure, but the front two wheels are two large-diameter drive wheels without a caster function, and the rear two wheels are equipped with casters. Even in this case, it is sufficient to make a slight modification so that the two front wheels with the large diameter can be moved up and down.

According to the present invention, when the patient gets on the wheelchair, the rear two wheels are braked, and the wheelchair is tilted forward and the left and right footrests are closed and the footrest is directly attached. After stepping and sitting, the front two wheels are lowered by an electric motor or manually to return to the position before leaning forward, and it is possible to start with a simple operation by simply releasing the brakes on the two rear wheels, using the hands and feet when riding The efficiency of nursing care is greatly improved because it saves the effort to open and close all unhygienic footrests and raise and lower the patient's feet and lift the patient's body.

When the patient gets off the wheelchair, only the forward tilting operation using the electric motor switch or manual ratchet wrench is necessary, and the seat also tilts forward at the same time. It is possible to move up to the floor, and considering the time required for getting on and off and the labor of both patients, it will be 1/10 of the conventional labor.

The structure and functions of the footrest and the foot support that supports it are irrelevant to the present invention, so folding and adjusting the height of the footrest can be done using the existing mechanism as it is, and even when remodeling an existing vehicle, the cost is low. Fits in.

The speed at the time of raising and lowering the front two wheels of the wheelchair tilting forward of the present invention can be adjusted by the patient himself, and the patient's seat tilts forward at the same time as the wheelchair tilts forward, so the patient's posture also tilts forward and gets off. The body is in a natural position, the patient can stand up on the footrest that is naturally landed, and the brakes applied to the rear two wheels and the footrests on the left and right are combined to be braked at four points in total. Compared to the distance between the rear two wheels and the front two wheels, the distance between the rear two-wheeled vehicle and the footrest can be increased by almost twice, and the stationary stability of the wheelchair is Compared to a marked improvement.

Depending on the model, the lower end of the foot support (1d in Fig. 1) may injure the floor when landing, so wearing plastic or rubber shoes will prevent scratches when landing and cushion It also becomes. In addition, if a soft sheet material is affixed to the back of the footrest, the floor surface can be prevented from becoming rough and the patient's resting and resting effect can be improved.

If the front two wheels are lifted and lowered by a manual ratchet wrench, it is suitable for rehabilitation of not only the patient's limbs but also the legs and hips of standing and sitting, thus contributing to the recovery of physical strength.

Even when a conventional vehicle is modified according to the present invention, the road width and floor area required for traveling and turning are not changed, and the weight can be reduced, and folding is not hindered.

It is a side view at the time of the normal posture of the wheelchair which a front two wheels can raise / lower with an electric motor. It is a side view when a front wheel rises, a wheelchair leans forward, and a footrest has landed. It is KK sectional drawing of FIG. It is a side view at the time of the normal posture which makes a wheelchair tiltable forward using a ratchet wrench. It is a side view when a front wheel rises, a wheelchair leans forward, and a footrest has landed. It is LL sectional drawing of FIG. It is a longitudinal cross-sectional view of the principal part of other one Example of this invention. It is a top view in the MM cross section of FIG. FIG. 5 is a side view of a longitudinal section of a main part of another embodiment in which a small spur gear directly connected to an electric motor and a large-diameter spur gear screwed on a male screw shaft are meshed to decelerate and the two front wheels can be raised and lowered. FIG. 5 is a side view of a longitudinal section of a main part of another embodiment in which a small bevel gear directly connected to an electric motor and a large bevel gear screwed on a male screw shaft are meshed and decelerated to enable the front two wheels to move up and down. A small-diameter timing pulley directly connected to the motor and a large-diameter timing pulley screwed to the male screw shaft are connected by a timing belt to decelerate and the main parts of other embodiments that can move up and down the front two wheels are cut vertically. FIG.

Since the structure of the wheelchair is bilaterally symmetric as viewed from the right toward FIG. 1, the detailed description of the present invention will be made mainly on the device belonging to the right foot when the patient is seated.
Hereinafter, the present invention will be described with reference to FIGS. 1 to 11 using schematic diagrams, cross-sectional views, and the like.

  In FIG. 1 to FIG. 3, the blank portions 5 provided before and after the front two-wheel cylindrical bracket 21 of the wheelchair body frame 1 are used for changing the direction when the front two wheels 22 are moved up and down and during normal travel. A part 1a of the wheelchair body frame 1 is moved upward so as not to obstruct 360 ° turning at all times so that it does not interfere with the foot support 1d, the footrest 4 and the like during the turning. Reference numeral 22 'denotes the position of the front two wheels 22 when the wheelchair is moving backward.

    FIG. 1 is a side view of a normal state during traveling with the front two wheels lowered. A female screw shaft 24 is loosely fitted to a cylindrical bracket 21 provided on both the left and right sides of the wheelchair (called a skimmer in mechanical terms), and a male screw 28 screwed to this is directly connected to an electric motor 30 fixed on the bracket 21. The two front wheels 22 can be lifted or lowered at the same time by tilting forward or backward with the tumbler switch 31, and the entire wheelchair tilts forward (this is abbreviated as "forward tilt"). When the vehicle descends, the normal posture before the forward tilt can be restored from the forward tilt posture. In FIG. 1, the tumbler switch 31a is tilted backward to maintain a normal posture.

FIG. 2 is a side view when the tumbler switch 31 is tilted forward to 31b and the front two wheels 22 are raised by inching operation. The entire wheelchair is tilted forward and the footrest 4 is landed parallel to the floor surface. 4 '.
Although not shown, even if the front two wheels 22 are large-diameter driving wheels and the rear two wheels 1e are casters, if the front two wheels 22 are modified to a mechanism that moves up and down, the entire wheelchair is tilted forward. The footrest can be detached.

  The shape of the footrest 4 is such that the rear part is thick and the tip part is thin, and the tip part 4a is supported by a triangular bracket 4b provided on the foot support 1d so as to be rotatable around a shaft 4c within a certain range. 1 and 4 according to the direction of the patient's foot as shown in FIG. 1 and FIG. 4, but when tilting forward, the rear end is first landed and then slightly rotated as 4 'in FIG. 2 or FIG. Stop when the back is along the floor. The footrest 4 has a thin tip 4a so that the level difference from the floor surface is as small as possible so that the patient does not ride when getting on and off.

FIG. 3 is a cross-sectional view taken along the line KK of FIG. 1 and shows a female screw shaft 24 formed with a key groove 27 in a cylindrical bracket 21 provided with a key 26 fixed to both left and right sides of the wheelchair. Accordingly, a male screw shaft 28 directly fitted to the electric motor 30 fixed on the cylindrical bracket 21 with a plurality of bolts 30a is screwed onto the female screw shaft 24, and a tumbler provided on the main body frame 1. When the male screw shaft 28 is rotated forward or backward by inching the switch 31, the front two wheels 22 are raised or lowered together with the fork 23 having a built-in bearing 23 a and capable of turning 360 ° in a horizontal plane.
The fork 43 in FIG. 4 and the fork (not numbered) 63 in FIG. 7, FIG. 9, FIG. 10, and FIG. 11 described later have the same structure as the fork 23 incorporating the bearing 23a and the front two wheels (numbered). Without connecting).

In the present invention, when a pair of male and female screws used for raising and lowering the front two wheels is a ball screw, the coefficient of friction becomes extremely small, so that the raising and lowering of the front two wheels becomes lighter.
However, since the pitch of the screw is rough, it is easy to turn due to vibration during movement, etc. Therefore, in order to prevent this, it is essential that the motor 30 has a brake.

  The compression coil spring 29 provided between the upper end in the cylindrical bracket 21 and the female screw shaft 24 bears a load applied to the male screw shaft 28 with its urging force, so that the load torque when the electric motor 30 is rotated is reduced. It can be reduced by the amount of the urging force, and an energy saving effect can be obtained.

  When the rear two wheels 1e are braked and the front two wheels 22 are lifted, the wheelchair tilts forward and the left and right footrests 4 are seated with their feet on as shown by 4 'in FIG. 2, and the patient tilts forward. The upper body is naturally pushed forward with the help of the seat, can be easily raised by holding the main body frame 1 without opening and closing the footrest, and can be moved on the floor as it is.

  When riding, step on the footrest 4 ', which is tilted forward as shown in FIG. 2, sits down, and the two front wheels 22 are lowered to return to the original normal state of FIG. The vehicle can be started immediately by a simple operation by simply releasing the manual brake (not shown) of the wheel 1e.

  FIG. 4 is a side view in a case where a manual ratchet wrench 50 is used instead of the electric motor 30, and is a side view in a normal posture during traveling of the wheelchair, and FIG. 5 is a side view in the forward tilt direction. 6 is an LL cross-sectional view of FIG.

5 and 6, a male screw shaft 48 that can only rotate and restrains vertical movement is screwed onto the female screw shaft 44 that is loosely fitted to the cylindrical bracket 41, and an effective rotation direction is set forward by a ratchet claw 50 c. If the patient who is riding the ratchet wrench 50 pushes and pulls in the front-rear direction in a horizontal plane, the male screw shaft 48 pulls up the screwed female screw shaft 44, and the two wheels 42 rise before the wheelchair. It is a side view of the wheelchair in which the whole leans ahead, and is a side view in the state where footrest 4 landed on the floor.

  The patient's right male screw shaft 48 is the right screw and the left screw is the left screw. The left and right ratchet pawls 5 are turned forward and the left and right ratchet wrench grips 50b are held forward and backward to row the boat. When pushing and pulling in the direction, the left and right front wheels rise simultaneously, the wheelchair tilts forward, and the left and right footrests 4 land almost simultaneously. The ratchet wrench 50 does not prevent the patient from getting on and off before or after the operation-it is always directed rearward as shown by 50 'in FIG. 5, and can be removed from a part of the body frame 1 although not shown. When tethered with a tape or the like, it can withstand vibration during traveling, and therefore the front two wheels 42 are safe without moving up and down during traveling, and there is no fear of getting entangled with a patient's clothing or string.

FIG. 6 is a cross-sectional view taken along the line L--L in FIG. 4. A ratchet wrench 50 is fitted to a shaft head 48 a of a male screw shaft 48 formed in a quadrangle, and a grip 50 b is held and pushed in the front-rear direction in a horizontal plane. For example, the key groove 47 of the female screw shaft 44 extends along the key 46 fixed to the cylindrical bracket, and the female screw shaft 44 allows the front wheel 42 to be raised or lowered together with the fork 43 without rotating. The structure of the ratchet wrench 50 is well known in the market, and by switching the effective rotation direction of the ratchet pawl 50c, a bolt tightening tool that can select either the front or rear effective rotation direction is provided. Similar structure.
The shape of the male screw shaft head 48a is not limited to a quadrangular shape, and may be other plural polygonal shapes.

Further, a male screw shaft 48 is screwed onto a female screw shaft 44 that is loosely fitted to a cylindrical bracket 41 provided on the side surface of the main body frame 1, and the ratchet wrench 50 is manually pushed and pulled to rotate the male screw shaft 48 in a forward direction. Alternatively, by rotating in reverse, the key groove 47 formed in the female screw shaft 44 follows the key 46 fixedly provided on the cylindrical bracket 41 and supports the front wheel 42 without rotating the female screw shaft 44. It can be moved up and down.

Since the compression coil spring 49 is mounted in the cylindrical bracket 41, the load applied to the female screw shaft 44 is borne by the urging force, so that the force (torque) for rotating the grip 50b of the wrench 50 applied to the male screw shaft 48 is increased. ) Is reduced, and the length of the arm of the wrench 50 can be reduced by an amount corresponding to the torque reduction.

FIG. 7 shows another embodiment of the present invention, which is a longitudinal sectional view of the right front wheel when the front wheel 62 is lowered, and FIG. 8 is a plan view taken along line MM of FIG. A fork 63 that supports the front wheel 62 is connected to a male screw shaft 64 that can turn 360 ° in a horizontal plane and has a key groove 64a. The male screw shaft 64 has a worm gear that has a female screw at its center. 67 is screwed, and the movement in the vertical direction is restricted with respect to the hazard prevention cover 69 fixed by a plurality of bolts 69a, and only rotation is possible.

If the tumbler switch 31 is tilted forward or backward and the electric motor directly connected to the worm 65a is rotated forward or backward, the electric motor meshes with the worm gear 67 and is decelerated and screwed into the male screw shaft 64 to rotate. The male screw shaft 64 formed with the key groove 64a moves up and down without rotating along the key 64b fixed to the bracket 61.

In FIG. 7, a base plate 66 is welded to the left and right side surfaces 1a and 1b of the wheelchair body frame 1, and a pair of worms 65a and worm gears 67, a compression coil spring 68, a male screw shaft 64, The front two wheels 62 including the hazard prevention cover 69 and the fork 63 are integrated into one unit and fixed to the base plate 66 with a plurality of bolts 66a.
The compression coil spring 68 bears an urging portion of the load applied to the worm gear.

FIG. 8 is a cross-sectional plan view taken along the line MM in FIG. 7 and is decelerated by the worm gear 67 meshing with the worm 65 a in the bracket 61, and is screwed onto the male screw 64 by a female screw portion formed at the center of the worm gear 67. The left and right electric motors 65 are simultaneously controlled to rotate by the tumbler switch 31 so that the front two wheels are simultaneously raised or lowered to enable the footrest 4 to be detached and attached.

,
FIG. 9 shows a small spur gear 113 directly connected to the electric motor 112 and a male screw shaft 116 loosely fitted to the cylindrical portion of the bracket 111 so as to be able to move up and down and restrain the movement in the vertical direction so that only rotation is possible. When the electric motor 112 is rotated forward or reverse by the tumbler switch 31, the front two wheels are raised or lowered, the wheelchair can be tilted forward or returned, and the footrest 4 can be detached. It is the side view which cut the principal part of the other Example longitudinally. A key groove 116a of the male screw shaft 116 extends along the key 115 fixed to the cylindrical portion below the bracket 111, and the male screw shaft 116 can be lifted and lowered together with the front two wheels without rotating.

The compression coil spring 117 is inserted between the inner top portion of the hazard prevention cover 111b and the shaft top portion of the male screw shaft 116, and bears the load applied to the female screw portion of the large spur gear 114 by its urging force. Therefore, the load torque applied to the motor 112 is reduced.

In FIG. 10, the small bevel gear 123 directly connected to the electric motor 122 is meshed with the large bevel gear 124 screwed on the male screw shaft 126 to decelerate, and the tumbler switch 31 controls the normal rotation or reverse rotation to connect to the front two wheels. The key groove 126a of the male threaded shaft 126 extends along the key 125 fixed to the cylindrical portion of the bracket 121 provided on the side surface of the main body frame 1 and moves the male threaded shaft 126 up and down without rotating, thereby tilting the wheelchair forward or forward. It is the side view which cut through the principal part of the other Example which returns to a previous attitude | position, and attaches / detaches a footrest. The compression coil spring 127 is provided between the top of the hazard prevention cover 128 provided on the bracket 128 and the top of the male screw shaft 126, and reduces the load applied to the female screw of the large bevel gear 124 by the biasing force.

In FIG. 11, a pair of small-diameter timing pulley 133 and large-diameter 134 are coupled by a timing belt 139 to decelerate, and the electric motor 132 is rotated forward or reverse by the tumbler switch 31 and connected to the front two wheels to form a keyway 136a. The male threaded shaft 136 can be moved up and down without rotating along a key 135 fixed to the bracket 131. When the front two wheels are raised, the wheelchair is tilted forward, and when it is lowered, the normal posture before the forward tilt is achieved. It is the side view which cut through the principal part of the other Example which returns to step S4 and makes the footrest 4 possible to desorb.
The compression coil spring 137 inserted between the male screw shaft 136 in the hazard prevention cover 138 provided on the upper portion of the bracket 131 reduces the load applied to the female screw portion of the large-diameter timing pulley 134 by its urging force.
Although not shown, the pair of large and small timing pulleys 133 and 134 and the belt 139 can be replaced with a pair of large and small chain gears and chains.

Among the above-described embodiments, FIGS. 1 to 6 are those in which a male screw is directly connected to an electric motor or a ratchet wrench and screwed directly to a female screw shaft to raise and lower the front two wheels. FIGS. As described in detail, it can be broadly classified into two types: a pair of large and small worms, spur gears, bevel gears, timing pulleys, or chain gears that decelerate and raise and lower the front two wheels.
The former is suitable for light weight children and the elderly, and the latter is suitable for heavy patients because the torque is increased by decelerating.

If all of the motors 30, 65, 112, 122, 132 used in the above embodiment are equipped with electromagnetic brakes, the front two wheels may be used for vibration during wheelchair traveling or collision with other vehicles while parked. Can prevent unexpected accidents that occur up and down without the patient's knowledge.

In the case of FIGS. 1 to 3, the electric motor 30 may be provided with a speed reducer, or may be replaced with an electric actuator that is directly connected to the front two-wheel fork 23 and can be moved up and down.

With a simple mechanism that lifts and lowers the front two wheels of a conventional wheelchair using a pair of male and female screws, the patient can descend directly from the riding position on the floor without opening and closing the footrest, and vice versa. Since it is possible to sit directly from the footrest on the floor, both the patient and the caregiver can save a lot of time, and it is safe and hygienic, speedy getting on and off, its energy saving effect is very large, industrial applicability is sufficient Will.

1 Wheelchair body frame 1a Part of wheelchair body frame 1d Foot support
4 Footrest 5 Blank portion 21 Cylindrical bracket 22 Front two wheels 23 Fork 23a Bearing 24 Female threaded shaft 27 Keyway 28 Male threaded shaft 29 Compression coil spring 30 Electric motor 31 Tumbler switch
41 cylindrical bracket 43 fork 44 female screw shaft 46 key 48 male screw shaft 48a shaft head 49 compression coil spring 50 ratchet wrench 50c ratchet claw 61 cylindrical bracket 63 fork 64 male screw shaft 64a key groove 64b key 65 electric motor 65a worm 66 base Plate 67 Worm gear 68 Compression coil spring 69 Hazard prevention cover 111 Bracket 111b Hazard prevention cover 112 Electric motor
113 Small spur gear
114 spur gear
115 keys
116 Male threaded shaft 116a Keyway 117 Compression coil spring
121 Bracket 122 Electric motor
123 Small bevel gear
124 large bevel gear 125 key 126 male screw shaft 127 compression coil spring 128 hazard prevention cover 131 bracket 132 electric motor 133 small timing pulley 134 large timing pulley 136 male screw shaft 137 compression coil spring 138 hazard prevention cover 139 timing belt

Claims (4)

A main frame, two large-diameter rear wheels for driving, and a female screw shaft that is loosely fitted to a cylindrical bracket provided on both the left and right sides of the main body frame to form a key groove are along a key fixed to the cylindrical bracket. The wheelchair is connected to the front two wheels to be able to move up and down, and the front two wheels are lifted if the male screw shaft screwed to the female screw shaft is rotated forward or reverse using an electric motor or a manual ratchet wrench. Alternatively, the mechanism can be lowered, and when the two front wheels are raised, the whole wheelchair is tilted forward and the footrest is landed, and when the two wheels are lowered, the footrest is released and can return to the posture before the forward tilt. A wheelchair that leans forward. The main frame, two large-diameter rear wheels for driving, and the male screw shaft loosely fitted in the cylindrical part of the bracket provided on the left and right side surfaces of the main body frame to form the key groove are the keys fixed to the cylindrical part of the bracket. The worm gear, or the spur gear, the bevel gear, the timing pulley, or the chain gear that has a female screw formed in the center, can be moved up and down to restrain the movement in the vertical direction, and can only turn. The rotating means of the same kind that is screwed onto the male screw shaft and paired therewith is meshed, or connected to the rotating means by a timing belt or chain, and decelerated, and the rotating means is used by using an electric motor. The male screw shaft is provided in the bracket so that the male screw shaft can be raised or lowered by rotating forward or backward, and when it is raised, the entire wheelchair is tilted forward and the footrest is landed. posture Wheelchair to be tilted forward and said that you can return. Between the top of the cylindrical bracket provided on both sides of the wheelchair, or the top of the hazard prevention cover provided on the cylindrical part of the bracket, and the female screw shaft or the male screw shaft that moves up and down connected to the front two wheels The wheelchair tilting forward according to claim 1 or 2, further comprising a compression coil spring. The wheelchair body frame has a blank portion in front of and behind the support shaft of the front two wheels that are raised and lowered, and the wheelchair body frame is always in the range of 360 ° within the horizontal plane at any position during the time when the front two wheels are raised or lowered. The wheelchair tilting forward according to any one of claims 1 to 3, wherein the wheelchair is shaped to freely turn without interfering with a portion.

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