JP2019042425A - Wheelchair attachment - Google Patents

Abstract

To facilitate structure of a wheelchair that is movable in an arbitrary direction.SOLUTION: The wheelchair attachment includes a piece of bodywork, two spheres, and an auxiliary sphere. The bodywork provided in the wheelchair attachment is loaded with a pair of rear wheels of the wheelchair. The two spheres included in the wheelchair attachment are freely rotatably held by the bodywork, and are arranged along a shaft nearly parallel to the axle of the pair of rear wheels to hold the bodywork. The auxiliary sphere included in the wheelchair attachment is freely rotatably held in the wheelchair, and is arranged in a position different from that of the shaft where the two spheres are arranged to support the bodywork.SELECTED DRAWING: Figure 1

Description

  The present technology relates to wheelchair attachments. In particular, it relates to a spherical drive wheelchair attachment.

  Traditionally, wheelchairs used in the medical and welfare field each have two front wheels and a rear wheel, and can be moved by the user rotating a hand rim connected to the rear wheels. It can also be moved by the assistant operating the handle. A caster that can rotate 360 ° is used for the front wheel of this wheelchair. On the other hand, the rear wheels are attached to a common axle, and a configuration in which only forward and reverse travel is possible is adopted. Therefore, when the wheelchair is moved in the lateral direction or in the oblique direction, it is necessary to switch back and forth while moving the wheelchair back and forth, which reduces the convenience.

  Therefore, there has been proposed an electrically-driven moving device capable of moving a wheelchair in any direction and saving power. This moving device is a device configured to be movable in an arbitrary direction using a motor or the like, and by applying to a wheelchair or the like, the convenience can be improved as compared with a manual wheelchair. As such a moving device, there has been proposed a moving device in which three driving balls are disposed on a carriage. This moving device is disposed at a position where three drive spheres form the apex of a triangle, and contacts with both adjacent drive spheres to simultaneously rotate and drive these two drive spheres. It further comprises a rotor. These rotors are respectively driven by three motors, and move the moving device in all directions by changing the rotational directions of the three rotors (see, for example, Patent Document 1).

JP 2010-030360

  The above-mentioned prior art is disclosed as a mobile device such as an electric wheelchair. However, in order to configure a wheelchair, it is necessary to separately prepare a vehicle body provided with a chair, a handrail, and the like and attach it as a moving device of the vehicle body. Therefore, there is a problem that the configuration of the wheelchair becomes difficult.

  The present technology has been made in view of the above-described problems, and aims to simplify the creation of a wheelchair that can move in any direction.

  According to an embodiment of the present technology, a vehicle body on which a pair of rear wheels of a wheelchair is placed, and the vehicle body rotatably supported by the vehicle body and disposed along an axis substantially parallel to an axle of the pair of rear wheels A wheelchair attachment comprising two supporting spheres and an auxiliary sphere rotatably supported on the vehicle body and disposed at a position different from an axis on which the two spheres are disposed to support the vehicle body. According to such an aspect of the present technology, the rear wheel of the wheelchair is mounted, whereby the body of the wheelchair attachment attached to the wheelchair is supported by the two spheres and the auxiliary sphere. Also, since the two spheres are disposed along an axis substantially parallel to the axle of the rear wheel of the wheelchair, and the auxiliary sphere is disposed at a position different from the axis, a triangle having a base connecting the two spheres is used. At least one of the auxiliary spheres is placed diagonally of the base when assumed. Since these two spheres and the auxiliary sphere are rotatably held by the vehicle body, the wheelchair attachment can move in any direction. Movement in any direction of the wheelchair attached with the wheelchair attachment is assumed.

  Also, in this aspect, the two spheres may be held by a ball caster abutting on each of the spheres. According to such an aspect, the two spheres can be rotatably held by the ball caster.

  Further, in this aspect, a drive roller may be further provided which is in pressure contact with each of the two spheres and is rotationally driven. According to such an aspect, the two spheres are rotated and driven by the press-contacted drive roller. A motorized wheelchair attachment is envisaged.

  Further, in this aspect, two drive rollers may be provided as the drive rollers, which are disposed for each of the two spheres and rotationally driven on rotation axes orthogonal to each other. According to such an aspect, an effect is provided that the sphere is rotationally driven by two drive rollers orthogonal to each other. The moving directions based on the rotational drive to the sphere by the respective drive rollers are vector-added, and the movement of the sphere in the added direction is assumed.

  Further, in this aspect, the drive roller configured to rotationally drive the two spheres on the rotation axis parallel to the axle and the drive roller configured to rotationally drive the two spheres on the rotation axis perpendicular to the axle. It may be provided as According to this aspect, the sphere is driven by the drive roller rotationally driven on the rotation axis parallel and perpendicular to the wheel shaft of the wheelchair, and the sphere is rotated in the direction corresponding to the parallel and perpendicular to the forward and backward direction of the wheelchair. It brings about the effect of being driven. Simplification of control of the drive roller when moving the wheelchair back and forth is assumed.

  Further, in this aspect, the two spheres may be held by the three ball casters that abut on the sphere from diagonally above. This brings about the effect that the sphere is supported by three points from diagonally above. Stabilization of the support of the sphere is assumed.

  Further, in this aspect, the apparatus further comprises an auxiliary roller which is disposed to face each of the drive rollers and sandwiches the sphere together with the drive roller, and the two spheres respectively contact the sphere from the vertical direction. The above may be held by a caster. This brings about the effect that the sphere is supported at the top and nipped by the drive roller and the auxiliary roller. The drive roller is configured to support and drive the sphere, and simplification of the configuration of the wheelchair attachment is assumed.

  Further, in this aspect, a wheel locking portion for locking the rear wheel placed on the vehicle body to the vehicle body may be further provided. This brings about the effect that the rear wheel of the wheelchair is locked to and mounted on the vehicle body. A rigid fixation of the wheelchair to the wheelchair attachment is assumed.

  The wheelchair attachment according to the present technology has an excellent effect of easily configuring a wheelchair movable in any direction.

It is a figure showing an example of composition of a wheelchair attachment concerning a 1st embodiment of this art. It is a figure showing an example of composition of a wheelchair attachment concerning a 1st embodiment of this art. It is a figure showing an example of the attachment method of the wheelchair attachment concerning a 1st embodiment of this art. It is a figure showing an example of movement of a wheelchair attachment concerning a 1st embodiment of this art. It is a figure showing an example of composition of a wheelchair attachment concerning a modification of a 1st embodiment of this art. It is a figure showing an example of composition of a wheelchair attachment concerning a 2nd embodiment of this art. It is a figure showing an example of composition of a wheelchair attachment concerning a 3rd embodiment of this art.

Next, a mode for carrying out the present technology (hereinafter, referred to as an embodiment) will be described with reference to the drawings. In the following drawings, the same or similar parts are given the same or similar reference numerals. However, the drawings are schematic, and the ratio of dimensions of each part and the like do not necessarily match the actual ones. Moreover, it is a matter of course that parts having different dimensional relationships and ratios among the drawings are included. The embodiments will be described in the following order.
1. First Embodiment Second embodiment 3. Third embodiment

<1. First embodiment>
[Configuration of wheelchair attachment]
FIGS. 1 and 2 are diagrams showing an example of the configuration of a wheelchair attachment according to a first embodiment of the present technology. FIG. 1 is a top view showing a configuration example of a wheelchair attachment 1, and FIG. 2 is a side view showing a configuration example of the wheelchair attachment 1. The wheelchair attachment 1 shown in FIGS. 1 and 2 includes a car body 10, a cover 11, wheel locking portions 12 and 14, wheel stops 13 and 15, ball caster supports 16 to 18, balls 20 and 21 and so on. , Drive rollers 22-25 and motors 30-33. Further, the wheelchair attachment 1 in the same figure further includes power transmission parts 34 to 37 and ball casters 40 to 46. For convenience, in FIG. 2, the description of the motors 30 to 33 and the power transmission units 34 to 37 is omitted.

  The vehicle body 10 mounts a member that constitutes the wheelchair attachment 1. The vehicle body 10 can be made of metal on a flat plate. As described later with reference to FIG. 3, when the wheelchair attachment 1 is attached to a wheelchair (wheelchair 2), the rear wheels (rear wheels 3 and 4) of the wheelchair 2 are mounted on the vehicle body 10 and fixed to the vehicle body 10. Ru. Thereby, the wheelchair attachment 1 is connected to the wheelchair 2. The long circles described by alternate long and short dash lines in FIG. 1 represent the rear wheels 3 and 4 of the wheelchair 2. The pair of rear wheels 3 and 4 of the wheelchair 2 are respectively mounted on the wheel mounting portions 60 and 61 of the vehicle body 10 shown in FIG. The cover 11 is a cover that protects a motor 30 and the like described later. The cover 11 is attached between the wheel mounting portions 60 and 61 of the vehicle body 10. Details of the method of attaching the wheelchair attachment 1 to the wheelchair 2 will be described later.

  The wheel locking portions 12 and 14 lock the rear wheels 3 and 4. The wheel locking portions 12 and 14 lock the rear wheels 3 and 4 together with the wheel stoppers 13 and 15 when the rear wheels 3 and 4 are mounted on the wheel mounting portions 60 and 61. The wheel locking portions 12 and 14 can be configured, for example, by a lever and a stopper that is opened and closed by the lever to limit the movement of the rear wheels 3 and 4. The wheel stoppers 12 and 14 represented by the dotted and solid lines in FIG. 1 represent the open and closed states of the stopper, respectively. With the stoppers open, the rear wheels 3 and 4 are mounted on the vehicle body 10 and placed on the wheel mounts 60 and 61. Thereafter, the rear wheel 3 is pinched by the wheel locking portion 12 and the wheel stopper 13 by closing the stopper. Similarly, the rear wheel 4 is nipped by the wheel locking portion 14 and the wheel stopper 15. As a result, the rear wheels 3 and 4 are locked to the wheel mounting portions 60 and 61. Fixing of the wheelchair 2 to the vehicle body 10 is possible.

  Under the present circumstances, although the rear wheels 3 and 4 are locked between the spherical bodies 20 and 21 and the ball caster 46 mentioned later, if the center of gravity of the wheelchair 2 is locked in the position which becomes near the spherical bodies 20 and 21. It is suitable. It is because the burden in the case of management of the wheelchair 2 is reduced. In addition, a fixing tool for firmly fixing the rear wheels 3 and 4 to the wheel mounting portions 60 and 61, for example, a binding band or the like can be further provided. The locking of the rear wheels 3 and 4 can also be automated. For example, in the wheel locking portions 12 and 14 described above, the lever may be operated automatically by a solenoid or the like.

  Spheres 20 and 21 are rotatably held by the vehicle body 10 to move the wheelchair attachment 1. The spheres 20 and 21 are disposed on axes parallel to the axles of the rear wheels 3 and 4. Also, the balls 20 and 21 are held by three ball casters, respectively. Specifically, the spherical body 20 is held by abutting on the ball casters 40 to 42, and the spherical body 21 is held by abutting on the ball casters 43 to 45. The ball casters 40 to 42 are attached to a ball caster support portion 16 disposed on the vehicle body 10, and balls 50 to 52 are rotatably disposed on the ball casters 40 to 42, respectively. That is, when the ball caster 40 or the like abuts on the sphere 20, the balls 50 to 52 abut on the sphere 20. Thereby, the sphere 20 is rotatably held by the vehicle body 10.

  Similarly, the ball casters 43 to 45 are attached to a ball caster support 17 disposed on the vehicle body 10, and balls 53 to 55 are rotatably disposed on the ball casters 43 to 45, respectively. The balls 53 to 55 abut on the sphere 21 and the sphere 21 is rotatably held by the vehicle body 10. As shown in FIG. 2, the spheres 20 and 21 are disposed so as to protrude to the lower part of the vehicle body 10 through the openings 62 and 63 disposed in the vehicle body 10 and contact the floor or the like to support the wheelchair attachment 1 Do. By rotating these spheres 20 and 21 in an arbitrary direction, movement and turning in any direction of the wheelchair 2 to which the wheelchair attachment 1 is attached can be made. For the spheres 20 and 21, for example, spheres made of resin such as polycarbonate and hard rubber such as urethane rubber can be used.

  As mentioned above, the ball casters 40 to 42 and 43 to 45 contact the spheres 20 and 21 from diagonally above the spheres 20 and 21 respectively. Therefore, as shown in the figure, the spheres 20 and 21 are held at three points, and the spheres 20 and 21 can be held stably. As described later, since the drive rollers 22 and the like are pressed against the spheres 20 and 21, lateral forces are applied to the spheres 20 and 21. Further, when the wheelchair attachment 1 moves, a force opposite to the moving direction is applied to the spheres 20 and 21. Even when such a lateral force is applied, the holding stability of the sphere 20 etc. can be improved by holding the sphere 20 etc. at three points.

  Further, on the vehicle body 10, a ball caster 46 is further disposed. The ball caster 46 includes a ball 56 and is disposed on the vehicle body 10 via a ball caster support 18. As shown in FIG. 2, the ball caster 46 is disposed so as to protrude to the lower portion of the vehicle body 10 through the opening 64 disposed in the vehicle body 10. At this time, the ball 56 abuts on the floor surface or the like. The vehicle body 10 is supported by the ball 56 and the balls 20 and 21. The ball caster 46 is located at a position different from an axis parallel to the axles of the rear wheels 3 and 4. That is, the ball 56 is disposed at a position different from the axis in which the spheres 20 and 21 are disposed. Thus, the balls 20 and 21 and the ball 56 support the vehicle body 10 at three points, and the wheelchair attachment 1 is stably supported on the floor surface or the like. The ball 56 is an example of the auxiliary sphere described in the claims.

  The configuration of the wheelchair attachment 1 is not limited to this example. For example, it may be configured to have a plurality of ball casters including the ball caster 46. Specifically, in the vehicle body 10 of FIG. 1, a trapezoidal shape with the ball caster 46 shifted in either the left or right direction and one ball caster added to make the line connecting the spheres 20 and 21 an upper or lower base. These ball casters can be arranged at vertex positions. Further, in the vehicle body 10 of FIG. 1, two ball casters may be added to be disposed one by one on the left and right of the ball caster 46 (for example, at positions adjacent to the wheel stoppers 15 and 13). When the wheelchair 2 is relatively large or when it is necessary to get over the step in the wheelchair 2 to which the wheelchair attachment 1 is attached, the wheelchair attachment 1 is supported more stably by arranging a plurality of ball casters on the vehicle body 10 can do.

  The driving rollers 22 to 25 are rollers that drive the balls 20 and 21. The drive rollers 22 to 25 are disposed in pressure contact with the balls 20 and 21 and rotationally drive the balls 20 and 21. Drive rollers 22 and 23 drive ball 20 and drive rollers 24 and 25 drive ball 21. Also, the drive rollers 22 to 25 can be arranged, for example, at positions (heights) in which the respective rotation axes are included in a horizontal plane passing through the centers of the spheres 20 and 21.

  The drive rollers 22 to 25 are rotationally driven by motors 30 to 33, respectively. Power transmission units 34 to 37 are disposed between the motors 30 to 33 and the drive rollers 22 to 25 respectively. The power transmission units 34 to 37 transmit power of the motor 30 and the like to the drive roller 22 and the like, and can be configured by, for example, a plurality of engaged gears. The power transmission units 34 to 37 can change the rotational speed of the motor 30 or the like.

  As described above, the drive rollers 22 to 25 are disposed in pressure contact with the balls 20 and 21. Thereby, a frictional force is generated between the drive roller 22 and the like and the ball 20 and the like. By strengthening the frictional force between the drive roller 22 and so forth and the spherical body 20 and the like from the rolling frictional force between the spherical body 20 and so forth and the floor surface etc. when the weight of the user of the wheelchair 2 and the wheelchair 2 is applied, The movement of the wheelchair attachment 1 attached to the wheelchair 2 by the balls 20 and 21 becomes possible. It is necessary to press the drive roller 22 etc. against the sphere 20 etc. based on a predetermined pressure considering the rolling friction force between the sphere 20 etc. and the floor surface etc.

  The drive rollers 22 to 25 are pressed against the balls 20 and 21 in the direction orthogonal thereto, respectively. For example, the drive rollers 22 and 23 are in pressure contact with the spherical body 20 in the X and Y directions in FIG. When the two drive rollers 22 and 23 orthogonal to each other rotate to drive the ball 20, the direction of the driving force in the ball 20 causes the driving force applied by the two drive rollers 22 and 23 to the ball 20. It becomes the direction which added the vector. Therefore, by individually controlling the rotations of the two drive rollers 22 and 23, the sphere 20 can be driven in any direction. Further, by making the drive directions of the drive rollers 22 and 23 to the sphere 20 orthogonal, interference of the drive force of the drive rollers 22 and 23 can be prevented. Similarly, the drive rollers 24 and 25 are pressed against the ball 21 from the X and Y directions to drive the ball 21 in any direction. As described above, by supporting the wheelchair attachment 1 using the sphere 20 or the like having a high degree of freedom in rotation, the wheelchair attachment 1 can be obtained even in a simple configuration in which two drive wheels (spheres 20 and 21) are arranged. It can be moved in any direction.

  The drive rollers 23 and 25 also rotationally drive the balls 20 and 21 respectively on the rotation axis parallel to the axles of the rear wheels 3 and 4 of the wheelchair 2. On the other hand, the drive rollers 22 and 24 rotationally drive the balls 20 and 21 respectively on the rotation axis perpendicular to their axles. Here, a drive roller having a rotation axis parallel to the axles of the rear wheels 3 and 4 of the wheelchair 2 and a drive roller having a rotation axis perpendicular to the axle are respectively a first drive roller and a second drive roller. It is called. In such a configuration, the wheelchair attachment 1 can be moved forward and backward by rotationally driving the drive rollers 23 and 25 (first drive roller). At that time, the drive rollers 22 and 24 (second drive rollers) can be stopped, and the drive method of the drive rollers 22 to 25 can be simplified. The details of the driving method of the driving rollers 22 to 25 will be described later.

  Electric power is supplied to the motor 30 and the like by a power supply device (not shown), and the rotation is controlled by a control device (not shown). In addition, the control of the control device can stop the rotation of the motor 30 and the like. For example, by shorting between the power supply input lines of the motor 30 or the like, the rotation due to the external force applied to the motor 30 or the like can be limited. This corresponds to a brake that utilizes the electromagnetic force between the stator of the motor 30 and the like and the rotor. Usually, the brakes of the wheelchair 2 are attached to the rear wheels 3 and 4. Therefore, when the wheelchair attachment 1 is applied to the wheelchair 2, a new brake is required to replace the brake attached to the rear wheels 3 and 4. Therefore, the wheelchair 2 connected to the wheelchair attachment 1 can be stopped by causing the motor 30 or the like to play a role of a brake.

[Installation of wheelchair attachment]
Drawing 3 is a figure showing an example of the attachment method of the wheelchair attachment concerning a 1st embodiment of this art. The figure is a figure explaining a mode that the wheelchair attachment 1 is attached to the wheelchair 2 provided with the rear wheels 3 and 4. FIG. As shown in a in the figure, the wheelchair 2 is retracted to make it ride on the wheelchair attachment 1. At this time, the rear wheels 3 and 4 are mounted on the wheel mounting portions 60 and 61 of the wheelchair attachment 1. Thereafter, the levers of the wheel locking portions 12 and 14 are operated to fix the rear wheels 3 and 4. B and c in the figure represent the rear wheels 3 and 4 mounted on the wheelchair attachment 1.

  By using the spheres 20 and 21 as wheels, the height of the vehicle body 10 can be lowered, and the burden on attaching the wheelchair attachment 1 to the wheelchair 2 can be reduced. Changes in the vehicle height and tilt of the wheelchair 2 after attachment of the wheelchair attachment 1 can be made small, and convenience for the user of the wheelchair 2 can be improved.

[Movement of wheelchair attachment]
Drawing 4 is a figure showing an example of movement of a wheelchair attachment concerning a 1st embodiment of this art. The figure is a top view which simplifies and represents the wheelchair attachment 1 attached to the wheelchair 2. As shown in FIG. The four long circles in the figure represent the front wheels 5 and 6 and the rear wheels 3 and 4 of the wheelchair 2. Moreover, a and b in the same figure are the figures showing the example in the case of advancing the wheelchair 2 respectively, and the case of making it move diagonally.

  At a in the figure, the drive rollers 23 and 25 (first drive roller) are rotated in the direction of the arrow, and the rotation of the drive rollers 22 and 24 (second drive roller) is stopped. The spheres 20 and 21 are rotationally driven in the direction of the arrow by the first drive roller. Thereby, the wheelchair 2 and the wheelchair attachment 1 are advanced in the direction of the outline arrow described in a in the same figure. The wheelchair 2 and the wheelchair attachment 1 can be retracted by rotating the first drive roller in the direction opposite to a in FIG. In any case, when the center of gravity of the wheelchair 2 including the user is located in the middle of the spheres 20 and 21, the above-mentioned forward and backward movement can be performed. When the position of the center of gravity deviates from the middle of the spheres 20 and 21, it is necessary to control the driving force (torque) of the motor 31 or 33 which rotationally drives the drive rollers 23 and 25 according to the deviation of the position of the center of gravity. . This is to correct the deviation of the orbit.

  In b in the figure, the drive rollers 22 to 25 are rotated in the direction of the arrow. That is, the first drive roller and the second drive roller are simultaneously rotated. As described above, the spheres 20 and 21 are driven in directions in which the drive forces of the drive rollers 22 and 23 and the drive rollers 24 and 25 are vector-added, respectively. Therefore, as indicated by the arrows in the figure, the rotation directions of the spheres 20 and 21 are along the oblique rotation axis. Such rotation of the spheres 20 and 21 applies a thrust to the wheelchair attachment 1 in the upper right direction in the figure. However, under the influence of the frictional force between the front wheels 5 and 6 which are non-driving wheels, the wheelchair 2 and the wheelchair attachment 1 turn counterclockwise. Therefore, also in this case, the torques of the motors 30 to 33 are controlled to generate clockwise driving force on the balls 20 and 21. As a result, the counterclockwise rotation described above can be canceled, and the wheelchair 2 and the wheelchair attachment 1 can be moved in the upper right direction indicated by the white arrow b in FIG.

  The control device described above controls the rotation speed and direction of the drive rollers 22 to 25 by controlling the rotation of the motors 30 to 33 based on the instruction of the user, and drives the spheres 20 and 21. That is, when the control device receives an instruction for forward / backward movement or direction change by a joystick operated by the user, the control device calculates the rotational direction and rotational speed of the spheres 20 and 21 according to the instruction. Next, the control device controls the rotation by selecting the motors 30 to 33 in accordance with the calculated rotation direction and the like. At this time, the torque control of the motors 30 to 33 is performed according to the situation. The movement of the wheelchair 2 and the wheelchair attachment 1 can be controlled by such a procedure. The control device may also calculate in advance the relationship between the rotation of the spheres 20 and 21 and the motion of the wheelchair 2 and the wheelchair attachment 1 and perform PID control with the movement speed instructed by the user as the target value. it can. As described above, by controlling the wheelchair attachment 1 attached to the wheelchair 2, the wheelchair 2 and the wheelchair attachment 1 can be moved in all directions while maintaining the postures.

[Modification]
The wheelchair attachment 1 described above uses four motors (motors 30 to 33) to drive the drive rollers 22 to 25 and the like, but a method of driving the drive rollers 22 and the like by three motors can also be adopted .

[Movement of wheelchair attachment]
Drawing 5 is a figure showing an example of composition of a wheelchair attachment concerning a modification of a 1st embodiment of this art. This figure shows the arrangement of the drive roller 22 etc. and the motor 30 etc. in the wheelchair attachment 1. The wheelchair attachment 1 in the same figure differs from the wheelchair attachment 1 described in FIGS. 1 and 2 in that a belt 38 is provided instead of the motor 32 and the power transmission unit 36. As described in FIG. 4, when the rotation directions and speeds of the drive rollers 22 and 24 are equal, these drive rollers 22 and 24 can be driven by a common motor. Specifically, as shown in FIG. 5, the rotation of the motor 30 is transmitted to the drive roller 24 by the belt 38. At this time, the belt 38 is connected to the drive rollers 22 and 24 by pulleys. Thereby, the drive rollers 22 and 24 can be simultaneously rotationally driven by the motor 30. The wheelchair attachment 1 can be configured by three motors, and the configuration of the wheelchair attachment 1 can be simplified. The power may be transmitted by a plurality of gears instead of the belt 38.

  When the axles of the rear wheels 3 and 4 of the wheelchair 2 and the axis on which the spheres 20 and 21 are disposed are at substantially the same position and the center of gravity is positioned between the spheres 20 and 21, the drive roller 23 and 25 can be configured to be rotationally driven by a common motor.

  As described above, according to the first embodiment of the present technology, the electric wheelchair is configured by mounting and fixing the rear wheel of the wheelchair on the wheelchair attachment 1 movable in any direction. can do. A simple procedure makes it possible to make a normal wheelchair an electric wheelchair movable in any direction.

<2. Second embodiment>
The wheelchair attachment 1 according to the first embodiment described above supports the ball 20 and the like by three ball casters (ball casters 40 to 42). On the other hand, the wheelchair attachment 1 of the second embodiment of the present technology differs from the first embodiment in that the ball caster supporting the ball 20 etc. is eliminated.

[Configuration of wheelchair attachment]
Drawing 6 is a figure showing an example of composition of a wheelchair attachment concerning a 2nd embodiment of this art. In the figure, a is a top view showing a configuration example of the wheelchair attachment 1, and b in the figure is a side view showing a configuration example of the wheelchair attachment 1. The wheelchair attachment 1 in the same figure differs from the wheelchair attachment 1 described in FIGS. 1 and 2 in that it includes ball casters 47 and 48 instead of the ball casters 40 to 45 and the ball caster supports 16 and 17. In addition, the wheelchair attachment 1 in the same figure further includes auxiliary rollers 26 to 29.

  The ball casters 47 and 48 hold the balls 20 and 21. The ball casters 47 and 48 are attached to the cover 11 and abut against the balls 20 and 21 from the vertical direction. Balls 57 and 58 are rotatably disposed on ball casters 47 and 48, respectively. That is, balls 57 and 58 abut on spheres 20 and 21, respectively.

  The auxiliary rollers 26 to 29 are disposed to face the drive rollers 22 to 25 respectively, and are rollers that sandwich the balls 20 and 21 together with the drive rollers 22 to 25. Specifically, the auxiliary roller 26 is disposed to face the drive roller 22 to sandwich the sphere 20, and the auxiliary roller 27 is disposed to face the drive roller 23 to sandwich the sphere 20. Similarly, the auxiliary roller 28 is disposed to face the drive roller 24 to sandwich the sphere 21, and the auxiliary roller 29 is disposed to face the drive roller 25 to sandwich the sphere 21. The auxiliary rollers 26 to 29 are disposed on the vehicle body 10 via the auxiliary roller supports 70 to 73, respectively.

  The driving rollers 22 to 25 in the second embodiment of the present technology are pressed against the balls 20 and 21 by sandwiching the balls 20 and 21 together with the auxiliary rollers 26 to 29. At this time, the drive roller 22 and the like, the auxiliary roller 26 and the like are disposed at positions (heights) in which the rotation axes are included in the horizontal plane passing through the centers of the spheres 20 and 21. Further, the spheres 20 and 21 are held by the drive roller 22 and the auxiliary roller 26 in the X and Y directions in the same figure, and are held in the Z direction by the ball caster 57 and the like. Thereby, the spheres 20 and 21 are respectively held by the apex and four orthogonal points near the equator. Thereby, the positions of the spheres 20 and 21 are fixed.

  In the second embodiment of the present technology, the spheres 20 and 21 are held at a predetermined pressure by the drive roller 22 and the like and the auxiliary roller 26 and the like. Thus, the drive roller 22 and the like can be pressed into contact with the sphere 20 and the like.

  As described above, according to the second embodiment of the present technology, the balls 20 and 21 are held in the horizontal direction by the drive rollers 22 to 25 and the auxiliary rollers 26 to 29 sandwiching the balls 20 and 21, respectively. . For this reason, the ball casters necessary for holding the balls 20 and 21 can be reduced to two ball casters respectively held from the vertical direction, and the configuration of the wheelchair attachment 1 can be simplified.

[Modification]
The above-described wheelchair attachment 1 holds the balls 20 and 21 by one ball caster 47 and 48 respectively, but, like the wheelchair attachment 1 in the first embodiment of the present technology, the ball is cast by three ball casters It is also possible to adopt a configuration in which 20 and 21 are held respectively. For example, the ball casters 40-45 in FIGS. 1 and 2 are disposed on the cover 11 and the ball caster supports 16 and 17 are omitted. Interference between the drive rollers 22 to 25 and the auxiliary rollers 26 to 29 and the ball casters 40 to 45 can be prevented, and the spherical balls 20 can be held by the three ball casters while arranging the auxiliary rollers 26 etc. . Thereby, the balls 20 and 21 can be held more firmly to the vehicle body 10.

<3. Third embodiment>
In the wheelchair attachment 1 of the first embodiment described above, the ball 20 and the like are driven by the drive roller 22 and the like. In contrast, the wheelchair attachment 1 according to the third embodiment of the present technology differs from the first embodiment in that the drive roller 22 and the like are omitted and the configuration of the wheelchair attachment is manual.

[Configuration of wheelchair attachment]
FIG. 7 is a diagram showing a configuration example of a wheelchair attachment according to a third embodiment of the present technology. In the figure, a is a top view showing a configuration example of the wheelchair attachment 1, and b in the figure is a side view showing a configuration example of the wheelchair attachment 1. The wheelchair attachment 1 of the same figure does not need to be equipped with the drive rollers 22-25, the motors 30-33, and the power transmission parts 34-37 compared with the wheelchair attachment 1 demonstrated in FIG. That is, the wheelchair attachment 1 in the same figure is configured by rotatably supporting two balls 20 and 21 and a ball 56 disposed on a ball caster 46 on the vehicle body 10. By adopting a configuration in which the drive mechanism is omitted, the configuration of the wheelchair attachment 1 can be simplified.

  Similar to the wheelchair attachment 1 described in FIGS. 1 and 2, attaching the wheelchair attachment 1 to the wheelchair 2 by mounting and locking the rear wheels 3 and 4 of the wheelchair 2 to the wheel mounting portions 60 and 61 it can. In place of the sphere 20 and the ball casters 40 to 42 and the sphere 21 and the ball casters 43 to 45, two ball casters may be disposed. In this case, the configuration of the wheelchair attachment 1 can be further simplified. By attaching such a wheelchair attachment 1 to the wheelchair 2, the wheelchair 2 can be configured as a manual wheelchair that can move in any direction.

  As described above, according to the third embodiment of the present technology, the balls 20 and 21 and the ball 56 are rotatably supported on the vehicle body 10, and the drive mechanism of the balls 20 and 21 is omitted. Thereby, the structure of the wheelchair attachment 1 can be simplified.

  Finally, the description of each embodiment described above is an example of the present technology, and the present technology is not limited to the above-described embodiment. For this reason, even if it is a range which does not deviate from the technical idea concerning this art even if it is except each embodiment mentioned above, it is needless to say that various change is possible according to a design etc.

  Further, the processing procedure described in the above embodiment may be regarded as a method having a series of these procedures, and a program for causing a computer to execute the series of procedures or a recording medium storing the program. You may catch it. As the recording medium, for example, a CD (Compact Disc), a DVD (Digital Versatile Disc), a memory card or the like can be used.

Reference Signs List 1 wheelchair attachment 2 wheelchair 3, 4 rear wheel 5, 6 front wheel 10 vehicle body 11 cover 12, 14 wheel locking portion 16-18 ball caster support portion 20, 21 sphere 22-25 drive roller 26-29 auxiliary roller 30-33 motor 34 to 37 power transmission unit 38 belt 40 to 48 ball caster 50 to 58 ball 60, 61 wheel mounting unit 70 to 73 auxiliary roller support unit

Claims (8)

A vehicle body on which a pair of rear wheels of a wheelchair are placed;
Two spheres rotatably supported by the vehicle body and disposed along an axis substantially parallel to an axle of the pair of rear wheels to support the vehicle body;
A wheelchair attachment comprising: an auxiliary sphere rotatably supported by the vehicle body and disposed at a position different from an axis where the two spheres are disposed to support the vehicle body.   The wheelchair attachment according to claim 1, wherein the two spheres are held by a ball caster abutting on each of the spheres.   3. The wheelchair attachment according to claim 2, further comprising a drive roller that is pressed against and rotationally driven to each of the two balls.   4. The wheelchair attachment according to claim 3, wherein the drive roller is provided with two drive rollers, which are arranged for each of the two spheres and rotationally driven on rotation axes orthogonal to each other.   A drive roller for driving the two spheres to rotate on a rotational axis parallel to the axle and a drive roller for rotating the two spheres on a rotational axis perpendicular to the axle are provided as the drive roller. Wheelchair attachment as described.   The wheelchair attachment according to claim 3, wherein the two spheres are held by the three ball casters that contact the spheres obliquely from above. The driving roller further includes an auxiliary roller disposed opposite to the driving roller and holding the ball together with the driving roller.
The wheelchair attachment according to claim 3, wherein the two spheres are held by the ball casters respectively abutting the spheres in a vertical direction.   The wheelchair attachment according to claim 1, further comprising a wheel locking portion that locks the rear wheel placed on the vehicle body to the vehicle body.

Images