JP6185252B2 - wheelchair - Google Patents

Description

  The present invention relates to a wheelchair, and more particularly to a wheelchair suitable for use by a person who has a physical disability and needs assistance (hereinafter referred to as a person requiring assistance) during bathing.

  2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, a bathing wheelchair has been used when bathing a person who needs assistance such as an elderly person or a physically handicapped person (see, for example, Patent Documents 1 to 3). For example, as disclosed in Patent Document 1 and Patent Document 2, some bathing wheelchairs are used in a state where the seat surface is tilted (tilted state) during bathing. The reason why the seat surface is tilted when taking a bath is, for example, to make it easier for a bather sitting on a chair in a bathtub or to make it difficult for a bather to drop out of a chair. is there.

  In addition, some wheelchairs for bathing have a chair part that does not separate from the carriage part (for example, see Patent Document 1) and a chair part that separates from the carriage part (for example, see Patent Documents 2 and 3). In a bathing wheelchair in which the chair part is not separated from the carriage part, for example, the entire wheelchair is placed in a bathtub, so that the bather can bathe in hot water. In a bathing wheelchair in which the chair part is separated from the carriage part, the chair part is moved to the chair receiving part in the bathtub, so that the bather can bathe in the hot water in the bathtub.

JP 2006-239025 A JP-A-5-123362 JP 2012-66013 A

  By the way, the bathing wheelchair (for example, refer patent document 2, 3 grade | etc.) Of the structure which moves a chair part to the chair receiving part in a bathtub and takes a bath tends to become high in relation to a bathtub. If the seat surface becomes too high, there may be a problem that it is difficult to perform an operation of transferring a bather to a bathing wheelchair, for example, from a bed or another wheelchair. In addition, in a conventional bathing wheelchair, the chair portion is heavy because the tilt mechanism for tilting the seat surface is provided in the chair portion, and the operability when moving the chair portion to the chair receiving portion in the bathtub is not necessarily There was a problem that it was not good.

  In view of the above points, an object of the present invention is to provide a bathing wheelchair that can appropriately change the height of a seating surface according to the situation and can reduce the burden on an assistant.

  In order to achieve the above object, the wheelchair of the present invention is mounted with a trolley part that is movably provided, a frame that is rotatably supported by the trolley part and can be tilted, and a seating surface that is tilted on the frame. It is the structure (1st structure) provided with the chair part supported.

  According to this structure, the wheelchair which can change the inclination and height of a seat surface simultaneously by changing the inclination of a flame | frame can be provided. Moreover, according to this structure, since it is not necessary to provide the tilt mechanism which changes the inclination of a seat surface in a chair part, a chair part can be lightened. For this reason, according to the wheelchair of this structure, the burden of an assistant can be reduced.

  In the wheelchair of the first configuration, when the frame is in a horizontal state, the seat surface is inclined from the horizontal state, and when the frame is inclined at a predetermined angle from the horizontal state, the seat surface is A configuration (second configuration) in which the height is lowered while being horizontal is preferable. According to this configuration, when the seating surface is horizontal, the height of the seating surface can be lowered, so that the burden on the assistant when the bather is transferred from the bed or the like to the bathing wheelchair can be reduced. Moreover, since it can raise the support position of a chair part, inclining a seat surface in the case of bathing, it is easy to match with the convenience of a bathtub (bathing apparatus).

  The wheelchair having the first or second configuration preferably has a configuration (third configuration) further including auxiliary means for assisting the inclination change of the frame. According to this configuration, the assistant can easily change the inclination of the frame using the assisting means, so that the burden on the assistant can be reduced.

  In the wheelchair having any one of the first to third configurations, the chair portion is preferably configured to be movably mounted on the frame and separable from the frame (fourth configuration). According to this structure, it is easy to transfer the bather who sat on the chair part into the bathtub.

  In the wheelchair having the fourth configuration, a rail is provided on the frame, and when the frame is in a horizontal state, a configuration in which the upper surface of the rail is horizontal (fifth configuration) is adopted. It's okay.

  ADVANTAGE OF THE INVENTION According to this invention, while being able to change the height of a seat surface appropriately according to a condition, the wheelchair for bathing which can reduce a burden of a caregiver can be provided.

The schematic side view which shows the structure of the wheelchair for bathing which concerns on embodiment of this invention The schematic side view which shows the structure of the wheelchair for bathing which concerns on embodiment of this invention, The figure which shows the state from which the inclination of the intermediate | middle frame was changed from the state shown in FIG. The figure for demonstrating the height fluctuation | variation of the seat surface in the wheelchair for bathing which concerns on embodiment of this invention. Schematic side view showing the configuration of a conventional bathing wheelchair and a bathing apparatus used in combination with the bathing wheelchair FIG. 4 is a schematic plan view showing a configuration when the bathing wheelchair and the bathing apparatus shown in FIG. 4 are viewed from above. The figure which shows the state which the seat surface part of the wheelchair for bathing tilted from the state shown in FIG.

  Hereinafter, a wheelchair (bathing wheelchair) according to an embodiment of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the drawings. However, prior to the description of the bathing wheelchair according to the embodiment, in order to facilitate understanding of the present invention, the configuration of a conventional bathing wheelchair and its problems will be described. In the following description, there are cases where specific numbers are given with respect to size, angle, etc., but these values are merely examples, and do not limit the scope of application of the present invention.

<Problems with conventional bathing wheelchairs>
FIG. 4 is a schematic side view showing a configuration of a conventional bathing wheelchair 100 and a bathing apparatus 200 used as a pair with the bathing wheelchair 100. In FIG. 4, the bathing wheelchair 100 is placed on the bathing apparatus 200. FIG. 5 is a schematic plan view showing a configuration when the bathing wheelchair 100 and the bathing apparatus 200 shown in FIG. 4 are viewed from above. As shown in FIGS. 4 and 5, a conventional bathing wheelchair 100 is configured to include a carriage unit 110 and a chair unit 120 disposed on the upper side of the carriage unit 110.

  The carriage unit 110 includes a carriage frame 111 and four casters 112 provided at the four corners at the bottom of the carriage frame 111. Due to the presence of the casters 112, the carriage unit 110 can travel on the floor surface F. In addition, two rails 113 extending in the width direction of the bathing wheelchair 100 (in the direction perpendicular to the paper surface in FIG. 4) are provided on the upper portion of the carriage unit 110 with an interval in the front-rear direction (left-right direction in FIG. 4). It has been.

  The chair 120 includes a seat surface 121 on which a bather (a person who needs assistance) sits, a backrest 122 used as a backrest by a seated person seated on the seat 121, and a seated person sitting on the seat 121 sits on his / her foot. And a footrest portion 123 to be placed. The seat surface portion 121 and the backrest portion 122 are supported by a curved first chair frame 124 disposed on the back surface thereof. Further, the footrest portion 123 is supported by a second chair frame 125 that is provided so as to be rotatable with respect to the first chair frame 124.

  In addition, a third chair frame 126 is provided below the seat surface portion 121, and the two roller portions 127 provided at intervals in the front-rear direction are supported by the third chair frame 126. Yes. The chair part 120 is attached to the carriage part 110 so that these two roller parts 127 engage with the two rails 113 provided on the carriage part 110. That is, the chair part 120 is attached to the carriage part 110 so as to be horizontally movable along the rail 113. The chair unit 120 can be switched between a state in which the chair unit 120 can move on the carriage unit 110 and a state in which the chair unit 120 cannot move by a lock mechanism (not shown).

  6 is a view showing a state in which the seat surface portion 121 of the bathing wheelchair 100 is tilted (tilted) from the state shown in FIG. In this tilted state, the seating surface of the seating surface portion 121 is tilted at a predetermined angle (about 20 ° here) so that the rear side is lowered from the horizontal state (the state shown in FIG. 4). At this time, the seat back 121 and the backrest 122 are tilted. This tilt state can be realized, for example, by providing the first chair frame 125 so as to be rotatable by a predetermined angle with respect to the third chair frame 126. In FIG. 6, the location indicated by the symbol X is the center of rotation.

  The bathing wheelchair 100 is configured such that the footrest portion 123 also rotates (lifts up by a predetermined angle) in conjunction with the tilt of the seat surface portion 121 by a link mechanism (not shown). Further, a state where the seat surface part 121 is not tilted (state shown in FIG. 4) and a state where the seat surface part 121 is tilted (state shown in FIG. 6) can be switched by a switching mechanism (not shown) provided in the chair part 120. .

  Next, a conventional bathing apparatus 200 used as a pair with the bathing wheelchair 100 will be described. The bathing apparatus 200 includes a bathtub 210, a tank 220 provided on the back side of the bathtub 210, and a lift unit 230.

  An opening 212 is formed on one side wall 211 (the side wall on the near side in FIG. 4) of the bathtub 210 so as to cut out the substantially upper half thereof. The opening 212 can be opened and closed by a door 213 provided so as to be slidable in the vertical direction. The chair portion 120 of the bathing wheelchair 100 is transferred to the chair receiving portion 232 (details will be described later) provided in the bathtub 210 through the opening portion 212.

  Since the opening 212 does not reach from the upper surface to the lower part of the side wall 211, but only reaches about half from the upper surface, the bath 210 is in a state in which hot water has entered (a state in which about half of the hot water has entered) ), The bather can enter and leave the bathtub 210. For this reason, it is possible to reduce the capacity of the tank 220 for storing hot water to be put in the bathtub 210 and to suppress the bather from feeling cold by storing hot water in a short time.

  On the back side of the bathtub 210 (the side on which the tank 220 is provided), a lift unit 230 that can be moved up and down is disposed. An arm 231 is attached to the lift unit 230. A chair receiving portion 232 on which the chair portion 120 can be placed is provided on the distal end side of the arm 231 (see FIG. 5). The arm 231 is provided not only to move up and down as the lift unit 230 moves up and down, but also to swing in a direction parallel to the longitudinal direction of the bathtub 210 (left and right direction in FIG. 5). For this reason, the position of the chair receiving portion 232 can be moved in the vertical direction and the horizontal direction in the bathtub 210.

  On the upper surface of the chair receiving portion 232, two rails 232a arranged in parallel with a gap in the longitudinal direction of the bathtub 210 (left and right direction in FIG. 5) are provided. The chair receiving portion 232 is provided with an auxiliary plate portion 233 that can be folded to the side surface (the side surface opposite to the side attached to the arm 231).

  When the auxiliary plate 233 is not folded, the auxiliary plate 233 protrudes out of the bathtub 210 through the opening 212. When the door 213 is closed or the chair receiving portion 232 is lowered by the lift portion 230, the auxiliary plate portion 233 is lifted by the door 213 or the side wall 211 and folded. Two rails 233a are also provided on the auxiliary plate portion 233, and the rail 233a of the auxiliary plate portion 233 is in a state where the auxiliary plate portion 233 is opened (a state in which the auxiliary plate portion 233 is substantially horizontal without being lifted). And the rail 232a of the chair receiving part 232 will be in a substantially continuous state.

  When a person requiring assistance is bathed, the person requiring assistance is placed on the bathing wheelchair 100 and the bathing apparatus 200 is placed at a predetermined position (the state of FIG. 4 is applicable). At this point, the door 213 of the bathtub 210 is open (the door 213 is lowered and the opening 212 is exposed). At this time, about half of hot water may be stored in the bathtub 210.

  When the bathing wheelchair 100 is set at a predetermined position, the seat surface portion 121 is tilted as shown in FIG. Further, when the bathing wheelchair 100 is set at a predetermined position, the rail 113 of the carriage unit 110, the rail 232a of the chair receiving unit 232, and the rail 233a of the auxiliary plate unit 233 are set to have the same height. Adjusted. In this example, the arm 231 is moved so that the chair receiving portion 232 is disposed on the left and right ends of the bathtub 210, so that the height of the rail 232 a and the rail 233 a matches the height of the rail 113 of the carriage portion 110. It has become.

  When the seat surface portion 121 is tilted, a lock mechanism (not shown) is released, and the chair portion 120 can move on the rail 113. The chair 120 is moved on the rails 113, 232a, and 233a by the assistant. Thereby, the chair part 120 is transferred to the chair receiving part 232 provided in the bathtub 210. When the transfer of the chair portion 120 is completed, the chair portion 120 is fixed to the chair receiving portion 232 by a lock mechanism (not shown). Moreover, the door 213 of the bathtub 210 is closed. In this state, the chair receiving portion 232 is lowered by the lift portion 230, and the bather sitting on the chair portion 120 can be immersed in the hot water in the bathtub 210. At this time, hot water is appropriately added from the tank 220 into the bathtub 210. Since the seat surface of the seat surface portion 121 is inclined from the horizontal, it is difficult for the bather to slip out of the seat surface portion 121 and drop off. In addition, when a bather goes out of the bathtub 210, operation reverse to what was mentioned above is performed.

  In the above-described configuration, since the opening 212 is provided only in the substantially upper half, the height of the rail 113 of the bathing wheelchair 100 must be increased. In this example, the upper surface of the door 213 of the bathtub 210 (the door 213 in the lowered state) has a height of 420 mm from the floor F, and the upper surface of the rail 113 so that the chair portion 120 is not caught on the door 213 of the bathtub 210. Needs to be 450.5 mm above the floor F. As a result, in the conventional bathing wheelchair 100, the seating surface becomes high (for example, the height is 495 mm from the floor F). Since the seating surface is high in this way, it is difficult to transfer a bather to the bathing wheelchair 100 from a bed, a stretcher or the like. Further, since the chair portion 120 is provided with a tilt mechanism for tilting the seat surface portion 121, the chair portion 120 is heavy, and the work of transferring the chair portion 120 from the cart portion 110 to the chair receiving portion 232 in the bathtub 210 is difficult. It is a thing.

<Embodiment of wheelchair of the present invention>
The bathing wheelchair according to the embodiment of the present invention is configured to solve the above-described problems. In addition, the bathing wheelchair which concerns on embodiment of this invention is comprised supposing using with the bathing apparatus 200 mentioned above and a pair.

  FIG. 1 is a schematic side view showing a configuration of a bathing wheelchair 1 according to an embodiment of the present invention. As shown in FIG. 1, the bathing wheelchair 1 includes a carriage unit 10, a chair unit 20 disposed on the upper side of the carriage unit 10, and an intermediate frame 30 disposed between the carriage unit 10 and the chair unit 20. It is equipped with.

  The carriage unit 10 includes a carriage frame 11 and casters 12 provided at the four corners of the lower part of the carriage frame 11. Due to the presence of the casters 12, the carriage unit 10 can travel on the floor surface F. On the rear side of the carriage frame 11, a standing frame 11a that extends higher than the other parts is provided.

  The chair portion 20 includes a seat surface portion 21 and a backrest portion 22. A first chair frame 23 that supports the seat surface portion 21 in an inclined state is provided below the seat surface portion 21. The seat surface portion 21 is fixed to the first chair frame 23. Further, a second chair frame 24 extending upward is fixedly arranged behind the first chair frame 23 (rightward in FIG. 1). The backrest portion 22 is supported by the second chair frame 24. In addition, the 1st chair frame 23 and the 2nd chair frame 24 may be provided integrally by one member, and may be provided by a separate member. Further, the first chair frame 23 is provided with roller portions 25 at an end portion on the front side (left side in FIG. 1) and an end portion on the rear side (right side in FIG. 1), respectively.

  The intermediate frame 30 disposed between the cart unit 10 and the chair unit 20 is rotatably supported by the standing frame 11 a of the cart unit 10. That is, the intermediate frame 30 is attached to the carriage unit 10 so that its inclination can be changed. The intermediate frame 30 is an example of a frame capable of changing an inclination according to the present invention.

  The intermediate frame 30 is provided with two rails 31 extending in the width direction of the wheelchair 1 (direction perpendicular to the paper surface in FIG. 1). The two rails 31 are arranged at a predetermined interval. The chair portion 20 is mounted and supported on the intermediate frame 30 in a state where the roller portion 25 provided on the lower side of the chair portion 20 is engaged with the rail 31 provided on the intermediate frame 30. The seat surface 21 a of the chair portion 20 is inclined with respect to the intermediate frame 30. In addition, the chair part 20 can be switched to the state which can move on the rail 31 (intermediate frame 30), and the state which cannot move by the locking mechanism not shown. When the chair part 20 can move on the rail 31, the chair part 20 can be separated from the intermediate frame 30.

  The bathing wheelchair 1 includes an electric actuator 40 that is fixed to the carriage frame 11 of the carriage unit 10. The distal end side of the movable portion 40a (expands and contracts) of the actuator 40 is fixed at an appropriate position on the front side (left side in FIG. 1) of the intermediate frame 30. The actuator 40 is an example of auxiliary means that assists in changing the inclination of the intermediate frame 30 of the present invention. Further, the expansion and contraction of the movable portion 40a may be, for example, using electromagnetic force or using hydraulic pressure.

  In the state shown in FIG. 1, the movable part 40a of the actuator 40 is in a contracted state. In this state, the intermediate frame 30 is inclined from the horizontal. The upper surface 31a of the rail 31 provided in the intermediate frame 30 is also inclined from the horizontal. That is, in FIG. 1, the chair part 20 is supported by the intermediate frame 30 inclined from the horizontal. However, since the chair portion 20 is supported by the intermediate frame 30 so that the seat surface 21a of the chair portion 20 is inclined, the seat surface 21a is horizontal when the movable portion 40a of the actuator 40 is contracted. It has become. The bathing wheelchair 1 is used in this state (the state shown in FIG. 1) when transferring a bather by the wheelchair 1.

  When the movable portion 40a of the actuator 40 is extended from the state shown in FIG. 1, a force in the push-up direction is applied to the front side of the intermediate frame 30, so that the intermediate frame 30 has the rotation axis C located near the upper end of the standing frame 11a. Rotates as the center. Note that the direction of rotation is the clockwise direction in FIG.

  As shown in FIG. 2, the movable portion 40a of the actuator 40 is provided so as to extend until the intermediate frame 30 becomes horizontal. In this state, the upper surface 31a of the rail 31 provided in the intermediate frame 30 is also horizontal, and the height of the upper surface 31a of the rail 31 from the floor surface F is 450.5 mm. On the other hand, the seating surface 21a of the seating surface portion 21 is inclined from the horizontal (about 20 °). That is, when the movable part 40a extends to a predetermined position, a state for sliding the chair part 20 on the carriage part 10 to the chair receiving part 232 (see FIG. 5) of the bath apparatus 200 is obtained.

  By the way, since the rotation center C of the intermediate frame 30 is obliquely below the seat surface portion 21, the height of the seat surface 21a when the movable portion 40a of the actuator 40 extends from the contracted state as shown in FIG. Becomes higher. On the other hand, when the movable portion 40a of the actuator 40 is contracted from the extended state, the height of the seating surface 21a is reduced. That is, when the bather is transported by the wheelchair 1 (the state of FIG. 1), the seat surface 21 can be used in a low state (the height from the floor surface F is 450 mm; conventionally, 495 mm). The work load when the assistant transfers the bather from the bed to the bathing wheelchair 1 can be reduced. On the other hand, when the chair part 20 is transferred to the chair receiving part 232 in the bathtub 210, the height of the rail 31 (in a horizontal state) is set to the chair holder in the bathtub 210 while the seat surface 21a is inclined. The height of the rail 232a of the portion 232 can be adjusted.

  In the configuration of the present embodiment, a mechanism for tilting the seating surface 21 a is provided in addition to the chair portion 20. For this reason, compared with the conventional bathing wheelchair 100, the chair part 20 can be made light and the work burden of the assistant who transfers the chair part 20 on the trolley | bogie part 10 to the chair receiving part 232 in the bathtub 210 can be reduced. Furthermore, since a mechanism for tilting the seat surface 21a is provided under the chair portion 20, the center of gravity can be lowered, and the bathing wheelchair 1 has good stability.

  The embodiment described above is an exemplification of the present invention, and the scope of application of the present invention is not limited to the configuration of the embodiment described above. That is, the configuration of the embodiment described above may be changed as appropriate within the scope of the technical idea of the present invention. In some cases, the present invention may be applied to wheelchairs other than bathing wheelchairs.

  For example, in the embodiment described above, the auxiliary means for assisting the change in the inclination of the intermediate frame 30 is the electric actuator 40. However, the auxiliary means is not limited to an electric type, and may be a manual type (for example, a configuration that uses a foot pedal or the like to move the auxiliary means). Further, the auxiliary means may be constituted by, for example, a spring or the like instead of the actuator in which the movable part expands and contracts. In some cases, an auxiliary means for assisting the inclination change of the intermediate frame 30 may not be provided.

  Moreover, it is natural that the chair 20 of the bathing wheelchair 1 described above may be appropriately provided with, for example, a footrest, a headrest, a gripping part gripped by a seated person sitting on the chair 20 and the like.

1 Wheelchair for bathing 10 Carriage part 20 Chair part 21a Seat 30 Intermediate frame
31 rail 31a upper surface of rail 40 actuator (auxiliary means)

Claims (4)

A trolley part provided movably;
A frame that is rotatably supported by the carriage unit and can change its inclination;
A chair portion mounted and supported in a state where the seat surface is inclined to the frame;
Equipped with a,
When the frame is in a horizontal state, the seating surface is inclined from the horizontal state,
The wheelchair is characterized in that when the frame is inclined at a predetermined angle from a horizontal state, the seating surface becomes horizontal and the height decreases . The wheelchair according to claim 1, further comprising auxiliary means for assisting in changing the inclination of the frame . The wheelchair according to claim 1 or 2, wherein the chair portion is movably mounted on the frame and is separable from the frame . Rails are provided on the frame,
The wheelchair according to claim 3 , wherein an upper surface of the rail is horizontal when the frame is in a horizontal state .

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