JP2022152508A - Floor of wheelchair loading space in vehicle - Google Patents

Abstract

To facilitate temporary fastening of a wheelchair on an inclined floor of a wheelchair loading space in a vehicle.SOLUTION: There is provided a floor of a wheelchair loading space in a vehicle, in which, an engagement groove 30 is provided in an inclined floor 18 which is inclined so that, a rear side of a wheelchair advance direction A is lower. The engagement groove 30 includes engagement parts 44 locking respectively casters 28 of the wheelchair. A locking face 46 being a groove side face of each engagement part 44 is inclined so as to be wider frontward and narrower rearward in an advance direction A. The caster 28, upon contacting the locking face 46, changes a direction crossing an inclination direction. Thereby, motion of the wheelchair which is going to go down on the inclination, can be suppressed.SELECTED DRAWING: Figure 3

Description

TECHNICAL FIELD The present invention relates to a vehicle floor having a space for loading a wheelchair, and more particularly to a floor structure.

Vehicles capable of loading a wheelchair on which a user is seated are known. When loading and unloading a wheelchair from a vehicle, install a slope so as to bridge the floor of the wheelchair loading space and the road surface. Because the slope is sloping, the floor of the wheelchair loading space is also slanted so that the front in the wheelchair entry direction is higher and the rear is lower.

Patent Document 1 below discloses a vehicle (1) provided with a space for mounting a wheelchair (100) in the rear portion thereof. When loading a wheelchair, the ramp (50) is deployed so as to be continuous with the floor panels (mid floor panel 12, rear floor panel 13) of the wheelchair loading space, and an electric winch (40) is used to mount the ramp (50). pull up the wheelchair. The floor panel (mid-floor panel 12) of the wheelchair mounting space is formed with a concave portion (12b1) in which the casters (front wheels 101) of the wheelchair are placed in order to determine the mounting position of the wheelchair. Note that the member names and reference numerals in parentheses above are those used in Patent Document 1 below, and are not related to the member names and reference numerals used in the description of the embodiments of the present application.

JP 2013-63705 A

When a person pushes a wheelchair onto a ramp to load it onto a vehicle, it must be temporarily secured until the wheelchair is fixed in the loading space. In particular, when the floor of the wheelchair loading space is inclined along with the slope, it is desired that the wheelchair be securely temporarily fixed.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION An object of the present invention is to easily and reliably temporarily fix a wheelchair in a wheelchair loading space having an inclined floor.

The floor of the wheelchair loading space according to the present invention is slanted so that the rear is lower with respect to the approach direction of the wheelchair, and the floor is provided with two locking surfaces so that the left and right casters of the reversing wheelchair come into contact with each other. The two locking surfaces are arranged in a tapered shape so that the front side is wider and the rear side is narrower with respect to the entering direction of the wheelchair.

When the casters of the wheelchair come into contact with the locking surface arranged in a tapered shape, the casters are oriented in a direction intersecting the inclined direction of the floor and cannot roll along the inclination.

Also, the locking surface may be a stepped surface of a step formed on the floor. Alternatively, the locking surface may be a side surface of a groove formed in the floor.

The casters come into contact with the locking surface and turn in a direction that intersects the inclination direction of the floor, thereby preventing the casters from rolling along the inclination and temporarily fixing the wheelchair.

1 is a diagram showing a schematic configuration of a vehicle having a wheelchair mounting space; FIG. It is a figure which shows the caster of a wheelchair. It is a schematic diagram showing the shape of the floor of the wheelchair loading space. It is a figure which shows the behavior of a caster, and is a figure which shows the state before contacting a locking surface. It is a figure which shows the behavior of a caster, and is a figure which shows the state when contact|abutted to a locking surface. It is a figure which shows the behavior of a caster, and is a figure which shows the state which changed direction finally, after contacting a locking surface.

An embodiment of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings. In the following description, terms representing relative positions and orientations, such as front, rear, left, right, up, and down, represent relative positions and orientations with respect to the vehicle, unless otherwise specified. In each figure, the arrow FR points forward, the arrow UP points upward, and the arrow LH points leftward.

FIG. 1 is a side view schematically showing a vehicle 10 on which a wheelchair can be mounted. The vehicle 10 has a wheelchair loading space 14 in which a wheelchair 12 is loaded at the rear. FIG. 1 shows a state in which a user 16 is seated on a wheelchair 12 . The wheelchair loading space 14 has a floor 18 on which the wheelchair is placed. When the wheelchair 12 is loaded, it is fixed by a belt (not shown) or the like. At least one side of the wheelchair loading space 14 can be opened for loading and unloading of the wheelchair. In this vehicle 10, an opening for getting on and off a wheelchair 12 is formed by opening a rear back door 20. As shown in FIG. When getting on and off the wheelchair 12, a slope plate 24 is bridged between the floor 18 and the ground 22 as indicated by a dashed line in the figure. The slope plate 24 is folded and stored in the rear portion of the wheelchair loading space 14 when not in use.

The floor 18 is inclined so that the opening side is lower toward the opening for getting on and off. The vehicle 10 is inclined so that the rear is lower. The floor 18 may be formed of a steel plate floor panel 26 that is part of the vehicle body. Engagement grooves 30 with which casters 28 of the wheelchair 12 are engaged are formed in the floor panel 26 . The wheelchair 12 has drive wheels 32 to which a user applies a driving force, and casters 28 positioned in front of the drive wheels 32 and having a smaller diameter than the drive wheels 32 . As shown in FIG. 2, the casters 28 have wheels 34 and forks 38 that are attached to a frame 36 (see FIG. 1) of the wheelchair 12 and rotatably support the wheels 34 . The fork 38 includes a shaft portion 40 attached to the frame 36 so as to be capable of turning in a horizontal plane around a vertical turning axis S when the wheelchair 12 is placed horizontally, and extending obliquely downward from the lower end of the shaft portion 40. includes an arm portion 42 that rotatably supports the wheel 34 at. Caster 28 is pivotable about pivot axis S offset from ground contact point T of wheel 34 .

3A and 3B are diagrams schematically showing the floor panel 26 forming the floor 18, where (a) is a plan view and (b) is a cross-sectional view taken along line BB. The floor 18 may be formed by a floor panel 26 formed by bending a steel plate into a predetermined shape. The floor panel 26 is bent so that an engagement groove 30 is formed on its upper surface. The cross-sectional shape of the engagement groove 30 is substantially rectangular, and the side surface of the groove is a plane perpendicular to the plane defined by the floor 18 or a vertical plane. The engagement groove 30 has two left and right engagement portions 44 extending obliquely with respect to the front-rear direction. The left and right locking portions 44 correspond to the left and right casters 28 of the wheelchair 12, respectively. When the casters 28, particularly the wheels 34, contact the rear side surface of the engagement groove 30, particularly the side surface 46 of the engaging portion 44, the wheels 34 stop rotating and the wheelchair 12 stops moving rearward. Hereinafter, the side surface 46 of the locking portion 44 will be referred to as "locking surface 46".

The engaging portion 44 of the engaging groove 30, particularly the engaging surface 46, extends obliquely with respect to the entering direction A (the front-rear direction in the vehicle 10) in which the wheelchair 12 enters the wheelchair loading space 14. The interval between the locking surfaces 46 is arranged in a tapered shape with a wider front side and a narrower rear side with respect to the approach direction A. As shown in FIG. The angle of the locking surface 46 with respect to the entry direction A of the wheelchair 12 may range from 15 to 25°, and is 20° in this embodiment. In addition, the interval b1 between the left and right locking surfaces 46 at the front end in the approach direction A of the wheelchair 12 should be greater than or equal to the interval between the left and right casters of a general wheelchair, and the interval b1 at the rear end should be less than or equal to the interval between the left and right casters. . The width of the engagement groove 30 is set to a width sufficient for the wheel 34 to come into contact with the bottom surface of the groove when the caster 28 is engaged with the engagement groove 30 . The depth of the engaging groove 30, that is, the height of the locking surface 46, is 15 to 25% of the diameter of a caster wheel of a general wheelchair, which is 150 mm, and can be, for example, 20 to 30 mm. The height of the locking surface 46 is 25 mm in this embodiment.

4 to 6 are diagrams for explaining the behavior of the caster 28 when the caster 28 comes into contact with the locking surface 46. FIG. Figures 4-6 specifically show the left caster 28, with the right caster 28 being symmetrical therewith. When the wheelchair 12 is mounted on the vehicle 10, the slope board 24 is bridged between the ground 22 and the wheelchair 12 is pushed to climb the slope board 24. - 特許庁The wheelchair 12 is advanced into the wheelchair mounting space 14 so that the casters 28 go over the locking surface 46.例文帳に追加FIG. 4 shows the relationship between the caster 28 and the locking surface 46 at this time. A shaft portion 40 of the fork of the caster 28 is positioned forward in the approach direction A of the wheelchair 12 . When the wheelchair 12 is retracted from this state, the wheels 34 of the casters 28 come into contact with the locking surfaces 46 (see FIG. 5). At this time, the wheel 34 comes into contact with the locking surface 46 behind the grounding point T of the wheel 34 in the approach direction A, and the force F received by the wheel 34 from the locking surface 46 rotates the wheel 34 counterclockwise in the drawing. produces a moment M that causes it to swivel. Due to this moment M, the wheel 34 turns and becomes a direction that intersects the entering direction A of the wheelchair 12 as shown in FIG. As a result, the casters 28 function as stoppers that prevent movement of the wheelchair 12 in the approach direction A. As shown in FIG. In addition, the approach direction A of the wheelchair 12 is the same as the inclination direction of the floor 18 , and the casters 28 contact the locking surface 46 so that the casters 28 intersect the inclination direction of the floor 18 . FIG. 3 shows the left and right casters 28 oriented to intersect the tilt direction. The left and right casters 28 are positioned in an inverted V shape so that the shafts 40 are on the far side from each other. Since the casters 28 are oriented so as to intersect the inclination direction of the floor 18 , the casters 28 function as stoppers against the movement of the wheelchair 12 trying to descend the inclination of the floor 18 . Therefore, even if the caregiver who pushes the wheelchair 12 releases the wheelchair 12 to fix it with a belt or the like, the wheelchair 12 does not move backward and is temporarily secured.

The locking surface 46 may be formed as a stepped surface having a higher rear portion with respect to the entering direction A of the wheelchair 12 . For example, in the floor panel 26 described above, if the front portion of the engagement groove 30 is formed flush with the bottom of the engagement groove 30, the locking surface 46 becomes a stepped surface. Moreover, the locking surface 46 may be formed as a wall surface of a flat wall.

Although the floor panel 26 described above is a part of the vehicle body, the locking surface 46 may be formed by placing another member on the floor panel on which the locking surface 46 is not formed. For example, the locking surface 46 can be formed by placing a plate material having an upper surface shape similar to that of the floor panel 26 . Further, the engaging surface 46 can be formed by placing a plate member having the same shape as the portion behind the engagement groove 30 of the floor panel 26 .

10 vehicle, 12 wheelchair, 14 wheelchair mounting space, 18 floor, 24 slope plate, 26 floor panel, 28 caster, 30 engagement groove, 32 driving wheel, 34 wheel, 36 frame, 38 fork, 40 shaft, 42 arm , 44 locking portion, 46 locking surface.

Claims (3)

On the floor of the vehicle's wheelchair space,
The floor is inclined so that the rear side is lower with respect to the approach direction of the wheelchair, and the floor is provided with two locking surfaces so that the left and right casters of the wheelchair that moves backward are in contact with each other,
The two locking surfaces are arranged in a tapered shape so that the front side is wide and the rear side is narrow with respect to the entering direction of the wheelchair.
Wheelchair loading space floor. 2. The floor of the wheelchair loading space according to claim 1, wherein said locking surface is a stepped surface of a step formed on said floor. A floor of a wheelchair loading space according to claim 1, wherein said locking surface is a side surface of a groove formed in said floor.

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