JP3472782B2 - Electric wheelchair operating device - Google Patents

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to an operating device for steering an electric wheelchair and adjusting speed.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art An electric wheelchair driven by an electric motor is provided with an operating device for steering and speed adjustment, and an occupant operates an operating lever tiltably provided on the operating device by hand. By doing so, it is possible to proceed in a desired direction at a desired speed. That is, the occupant can move the wheelchair forward or backward by tilting the operation lever forward or backward, and can rotate the wheelchair left or right by tilting left or right, and adjust the tilt angle of the operation lever. The wheelchair running speed can be adjusted by.

[0003]

By the way, various proposals have been made for such an operating device (for example, Japanese Utility Model Publication No. 60-41954, Japanese Utility Model Publication 5-2115).
No. 2), the case is so small that any operating device does not hinder the occupant's entry / exit. Therefore, the occupant cannot place his / her hand on the upper surface of the case during the operation, especially the muscular strength of the arm. It may be difficult for an occupant who has lowered the vehicle to continue the operation of manually operating the operation lever while keeping the arm in a predetermined posture while traveling.

Therefore, it is conceivable to provide the operating device with a means for holding the occupant's hand during operation, but such a means is not necessary for the occupant whose arm muscle strength is sufficient.

The present invention has been made in view of the above circumstances, and the object of the present invention is to enable a occupant with a handicapped arm to operate by attaching a support plate if necessary. An object of the present invention is to provide an operating device for an electric wheelchair that can improve operability and reduce physical fatigue.

[0006]

In order to achieve the above object, the invention according to claim 1 is an electric wheelchair in which an operation lever for steering and speed adjustment of an electric wheelchair is tiltably held in a case. In the operating device, a support plate formed in a substantially L-shape in plan view for holding an occupant's hand is provided with a fixing portion provided at one end of the support plate .
Possible to the mounting Rukoto removably to the operating lever through an outer periphery
So, if it can be attached to either side of the case
Both sides of the support plate can be mounted upside down
By pulling, the holding part is
It is characterized in that it is biased to one of the left and right sides .

Therefore, according to the first aspect of the present invention, if a support plate is attached to an occupant having a disability, the occupant can easily operate the operation lever while placing his / her hand on the support plate. It is possible to improve operability and reduce physical fatigue. Further, since the support plate can be attached to and detached from the case, it is not necessary to attach the support plate to an occupant with free arms, and it is possible for both occupants with free arms and non-free occupants. Can respond flexibly.

[0008] Also, with also can be attached to the left and right either side of the to case the plate for support, support pre
By attaching the front and back of the
Align the holding part to the left or right side of the operating lever.
Because he tried to make him squeeze
No, you can use a common support plate
It

[0009]

Furthermore, since the mounting plate for support on the operating lever through an outer periphery of the to case, pre for the support
Only one mounting point for the base plate is needed.
The mounting structure and the detaching work are simplified.

[0011]

According to a second aspect of the invention, in the first aspect of the invention, after the support plate is fitted into the outer periphery of the operating lever penetrating portion of the case, it is screwed into the outer periphery of the operating lever penetrating portion. It is characterized in that it is fixed by a screw member, and the protective cover of the operation lever is fitted into the collar portion of the screw member.

Therefore, according to the second aspect of the present invention, since the mounting screw member of the support plate is also used for mounting the protective cover of the operation lever, the number of parts can be reduced and the structure can be simplified. Further, since the flange portion of the screw member has a large diameter, if the screw member is screwed to the outer periphery of the operation lever penetrating portion of the cover while holding the flange portion, the screw member can be tightened with a large torque, The support plate can be securely fixed to the case.

[0014]

BEST MODE FOR CARRYING OUT THE INVENTION Embodiments of the present invention will be described below with reference to the accompanying drawings.

First, a schematic structure of an electric wheelchair equipped with an operating device according to the present invention will be described with reference to FIG.

FIG. 7 is a side view of the electric wheelchair 1. The electric wheelchair 1 is foldable, and the front and rear portions of a pipe frame-shaped body frame 2 can be moved by a pair of left and right casters 3 and wheels 4. It is configured to support.

By the way, the vehicle body frame 2 has a pair of left and right back pipes 2a standing upright at the rear portion, and the upper end portions of the respective back pipes 2a are bent toward the rear of the vehicle body. The grip 7 is attached.

The back pipe 2 of the vehicle body frame 2
A pair of left and right elbow pipes 2b extending horizontally from the intermediate height position of a to the front of the vehicle body are bent at a substantially right angle from their front ends and extend vertically downward, and the casters 3 are rotatably supported by their lower ends. There is. Further, a seat (not shown) made of cloth on which an occupant should sit is stretched on the horizontal portions of the pair of left and right seat pipes 2c arranged below the elbow pipe 2b.
The front portion of the seat pipe 2c (leg pipe 2c-
1) extends obliquely downward toward the front of the vehicle body. A pair of left and right steps 8 is attached to the lower end of the leg pipe 2c-1 of the seat pipe 2c.
A stay 9 extending diagonally upward toward the front of the vehicle body is attached to the upper end of the right leg pipe 2c-1 (to the right of the occupant seated on the seat). An operating device 10 according to the invention is attached.

By the way, each of the pair of left and right wheels 4 is rotatably supported by a bracket (not shown) attached to the vehicle body frame 2, and the outside of each wheel 4 should be manually rotated by an occupant. A ring-shaped hand rim 11 is provided. A battery 12 is detachably attached to the right wheel 4 side.

Although the electric wheelchair 1 has an electric unit incorporated in the hub 4a of each wheel 4, each electric unit is driven by electric power supplied from the battery 12 (not shown). Of the electric motor, a power transmission device (not shown) that transmits the power of the electric motor to the wheels 4 to rotate and drive the same, a controller (not shown) that controls the output of the electric motor, and the like.

Next, details of the configuration of the operating device 10 according to the present invention will be described with reference to FIGS. Incidentally, FIG.
2 is a broken side view of the operating device, FIG. 2 is a view in the direction of arrow A in FIG. 1, FIG. 3 is a plan view of the operating device, FIG. 4 is a plan view of a support plate, and FIG. 5 is a view B of FIG. FIG. 6 is a sectional view taken along line CC in FIG.

The operating device 10 is a rectangular box-shaped case 1.
3, the operation lever 14 is tiltably held, and the operation lever 14 is provided at the upper end of the lever shaft 14a.
A coil spring 15 for returning the operating lever 14 to a vertical neutral state is provided on the outer periphery of the lever shaft 14a. The portion of the lever shaft 14a of the operating lever 14 exposed to the outside of the case 13 is covered with a stretchable bellows-shaped rubber boot 16. In addition, the front of the case 13 is shown in FIGS.
As shown in, a power switch 17 for turning the power on / off and a speed mode switch 18 for switching the traveling speed in two steps are provided.

Thus, in the operating device 10 according to the present invention, the support plate 2 for holding the hand of the occupant.
0 is detachably attached to the upper surface of the case 13. As shown in FIG. 4, the support plate 20 is formed in a substantially L shape in a plan view, and is formed by covering a metal plate 21 made of iron with an elastic body 22 made of rubber as shown in FIG. There is. Then, as shown in FIG. 4, in the fixing portion 20a of the support plate 20, a circular hole 21a is formed in the metal plate 21, and the circular hole 21a of the metal plate 21 is formed.
The periphery of is exposed over a predetermined width (that is, not covered by the elastic body 22), and a rectangular cutout groove 21b for preventing rotation is formed at a portion opposite to that portion. In addition, as shown in FIGS. 5 and 6, the upper and lower surfaces of the holding portion 20b connected to the fixing portion 20a of the support plate 20 can be surely held by the occupant's hand so that the hand can be held by the holding portion 20b.
Sloped hook portion 20b-
1 is formed.

Thus, the support plate 20 has symmetrical surfaces on both sides, and can be commonly used regardless of the dominant arm of the occupant as described later.

Here, the mounting structure and the mounting procedure of the support plate 20 will be described with reference to FIG.

A cylindrical boss portion 13a is integrally erected on a portion of the upper surface of the case 13 through which the operation lever 14 penetrates, and the support plate 20 is provided on the boss portion 13a.
The circular hole 21a of the case 13 is fitted, and at this time, the notch groove 21b (see FIG. 4) formed around the circular hole 21a is formed in the case 13
The support plate 20 is prevented from rotating by engaging with a projection (not shown) formed on the outer periphery of the boss portion 13a.
When the occupant is right-handed, the support plate 20 is fitted in a direction in which the holding portion 20b is located on the right side (upper side in FIG. 3) as shown by the solid line in FIG. In some cases, the operating device 10 is mounted on the body frame 2
After being set on the left side (leg pipe 2c-1 on the left side) of the support plate 20 as shown by the chain line in FIG.
With the front and back reversed, the holding portion 20b is fitted in the direction in which it is located on the left side (lower side in FIG. 3).

When the support plate 20 is fitted onto the outer periphery of the boss portion 13a of the case 13 as described above, a cylindrical screw member 23 having a large-diameter collar portion 23a at the upper end is screwed onto the outer periphery of the boss portion 13a. The support plate 20 is attached to the upper surface of the case 13 by wearing. still,
When the screw member 23 is turned and screwed to the outer periphery of the boss portion 13a, the screw member 23 can be turned by holding the large-diameter collar portion 23a, so that the screw member 23 can be tightened with a large torque. The support plate 20 can be securely fixed to the case 13.

After that, when the peripheral edge of the lower end portion of the dust boot 16 is fitted into the collar portion 23a of the screw member 23, the work of attaching the support plate 20 to the case 13 is completed.
The support plate 20 can be removed from the case 13 in the reverse order of the above.

Thus, the occupant moves the wheelchair 1 forward or backward by turning on the power switch 17 provided on the operating device 10 and then tilting the operating lever 14 forward or backward, and by moving the wheelchair 1 leftward or rightward. 1 can be turned left or right, and the operation lever 14
The traveling speed of the wheelchair 1 can be adjusted by adjusting the tilt angle of the wheelchair. When the operation lever 14 is operated, an occupant with a disability can place his / her hand on the support plate 20 attached to the case 13 and can easily operate the occupant. Physical fatigue is reduced. At this time, since the catch 20b-1 is formed on the support plate 20, the occupant's hands do not come off the support plate 20 due to vibration during traveling.

Further, since the support plate 20 can be attached to either the left or right side of the case 13 as described above, the common support plate 20 can be used regardless of the dominant arm of the occupant. Further, since the support plate 20 is attachable to and detachable from the case 13, it is not necessary to attach the support plate 20 to the case 13 for an occupant having a free arm, and the occupant having a free arm is inconvenient. It is possible to flexibly deal with any of the occupants.

Further, in the operating device 10 according to the present invention, since the support plate 20 can be attached to the case 13 at one place, the attachment structure and the attaching / detaching work of the support plate 20 are simplified.

Further, in the operating device 10 according to the present invention, the screw member 23 for attaching the support plate 20 is also used for mounting the rubber boot 16, so that the number of parts of the operating device 10 is reduced and the structure is simple. Be promoted. Although the screw member 23 is used as a female screw in the present embodiment, it may be used as a male screw.

[0033]

As is apparent from the above description, claim 1
According to the invention described above, if the support plate is attached to the occupant with limited mobility, the occupant can easily operate the operation lever with his / her hand resting on the support plate, which improves the operability. And it is possible to reduce physical fatigue. Further, since the support plate can be attached to and detached from the case, it is not necessary to attach the support plate to an occupant with free arms, and it is possible for both occupants with free arms and non-free occupants. The effect of being able to respond flexibly is obtained.

Further, it is possible to obtain the effect that the occupant can use the common support plate regardless of the dominant arm.

Further, the mounting position of the support plate is 1
Since it suffices to place it, there is an effect that the mounting structure and the detaching work of the support plate can be simplified.

According to the second aspect of the invention, since the screw member for mounting the support plate is also used for mounting the protective cover of the operating lever, the number of parts can be reduced and the structure can be simplified. Further, since the flange portion of the screw member has a large diameter, if the screw member is screwed to the outer periphery of the operation lever penetrating portion of the cover while holding the flange portion, the screw member can be tightened with a large torque, The effect that the support plate can be securely fixed to the case is obtained.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a cutaway side view of an operating device according to the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a view in the direction of arrow A in FIG.

FIG. 3 is a plan view of the operating device according to the present invention.

FIG. 4 is a plan view of a support plate.

5 is a view in the direction of arrow B in FIG.

6 is a cross-sectional view taken along the line CC of FIG.

FIG. 7 is a side view of an electric wheelchair including the operating device according to the present invention.

[Explanation of symbols]

1 electric wheelchair 10 Operating device 13 cases 13a Boss (operation lever penetration part) 14 Operation lever 16 Rubber boots (protective cover) 20 Support plate 23 Screw member 23a collar part

Front page continuation (58) Fields surveyed (Int.Cl. ⁷ , DB name) A61G 5/04 B62J 1/28

Claims (2)

(57) [Claims] 1. An operating device for an electric wheelchair in which an operating lever for steering an electric wheelchair and adjusting a speed thereof is tiltably held in a case, and has a substantially L-shape in a plan view for holding an occupant's hand. A molded support plate with a fixing part provided at one end thereof.
By <br/> with Rukoto to the operating lever through outer periphery taken up detachably in the case and Replacing in left or right side of the casing
And the front and back of the support plate
By attaching it in reverse, the holding part is
Make it bias to either the left or right side of the work lever
Electric wheelchair of the operating device, characterized in that the. 2. The support plate is fitted into the outer periphery of the operation lever penetrating portion of the case, and then fixed by a screw member screwed onto the outer periphery of the operation lever penetrating portion, and the operation plate is fixed to the collar portion of the screw member. electric wheelchair of the operating device according to claim 1, wherein the protective cover of the lever is fitted.