JPH0614963A - Wheelchair - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To provide a wheelchair capable of freely changing direction in a narrow corridor or a narrow place for a direction change. CONSTITUTION:A wheelchair is provided with rear wheels 24, 34 and front wheels constituted of casters F, F, it is traveled when the rear wheels 24, 34 are driven by driving motors 22, 23, and the rear wheels 24, 34 are fitted to the wheelchair main body steerably independently, respectively. The wheelchair is provided with a steering motor 36 steering the rear wheels 24, 34 to direct the axles of the rear wheels 24, 34 to the center position of the wheelchair main body and a control device controlling the driving motors 22, 23 to rotate the wheelchair main body centering on the center position.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a wheelchair driven by a drive motor.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, such a wheelchair is designed to run by rotating a rear wheel by a drive motor, and to change direction by using a caster for a front wheel.
When traveling on a normal road, it will not cause any problems.

[0003]

However, a wheelchair may be used in a room or the like, and in the room, a corridor or the like serving as a passage is narrow, and since there are many furnitures in the room, there are many narrow places. In these corridors and narrow places, it is impossible to make a U-turn of a wheelchair with only the casters of the front wheels, which is very inconvenient.

Therefore, the present invention has been made in view of the above problems, and an object of the present invention is to provide a wheelchair whose direction can be freely changed even in a narrow corridor or a narrow place to change its direction.

[0005]

In order to achieve the above object, the present invention is a wheelchair which comprises front wheels composed of rear wheels and casters, and which is driven by driving a rear wheel by a drive motor. And a steering means for steering the respective wheels of the rear wheels so that the wheels of the rear wheels are attached to the wheelchair body so that they can be steered independently of each other, and the axles of the wheels of the rear wheels are directed to the center position of the wheelchair body. Rotation control means for controlling the drive motor to rotate the wheelchair body around the center position.

[0006]

According to the present invention, according to the above-mentioned structure, the rear wheels are steered by the steering means so that the axles thereof are directed to the central position of the wheelchair body, and the rotation control means controls the drive motor to rotate the wheelchair body. Is rotated around the center position.

[0007]

Embodiments of the wheelchair according to the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings.

In FIGS. 1 and 2, reference numeral 10 denotes a wheelchair body, which comprises a box portion 11 and a seat 12 provided on the box portion 11.

The box portion 11 is composed of side plates 13, 13, a bottom plate 14, a top plate 15 and an intermediate plate 16, and drive boxes 20, 30 are rotated in the box portion 11 by vertical holding shafts 21, 31. It is held and provided freely. The vertical holding shafts 21 and 31 are fixed to the bottom plate 14 and the middle plate 16.

The drive boxes 20 and 30 have drive motors 22 and 32 and speed reducers 23 and 33 built therein, and rear wheels 24 and 34 that are rotationally driven by the drive motors 22 and 32 are attached to the drive boxes 20 and 30. On the upper surface of the drive box 20, 30,
The fan-shaped gears 25 and 35 are, as shown in FIG.
The vertical holding shafts 21 and 31 are attached so as to pass through the center of curvature of 35a.

A steering motor (steering means) 36 is provided between the top plate 15 and the middle plate 16 of the box portion 11,
A drive gear 37 that meshes with the gear 35 is provided on the drive shaft 36 a of the steering motor 36. Further, the drive gear 37 meshes with a connecting gear 38 that meshes with the gear 25, and as the steering motor 36 is driven, as shown in FIG.
4 is such that the axles 24a, 34a are steered so as to face the center P of the wheelchair body 10.

Reference numeral 40 denotes a control box. In the control box 40, as shown in FIG. 5, a control device 41 for controlling the drive motors 22 and 32 and the steering motor 36.
Is provided. This control device 41 uses the drive motor 2
It functions as a rotation control unit that controls the wheels 2 and 32 to rotate the wheelchair body 10 around the center P. Also, FIG.
Further, in FIG. 2, reference numeral 50 denotes casters F, F which are front wheels.
This frame 50 is fixed to the top plate 16 of the box part 11, and the frame 50 is provided with the armrest parts 50a and 50b and the backrest part 50c that supports the back seat 12a of the seat 12. ing.
The armrest part 50a is provided with an operation part 51, and the operation part 51 is provided with various switches 52 for performing forward movement, backward movement, direction change and the like. Reference numeral 53 is a battery for driving the motors 22, 32, 36, 54 is a foot rest, and 55 is a stop bumper. When an object collides with the stop bumper 55, the control device 41 drives the drive motors 22, 32 and the steering motor 36. It is supposed to stop.

Next, the operation of the wheelchair constructed as described above will be described.

First, when moving forward, the forward switch 52 of the operating portion 51 is operated. By this operation, the drive motors 22 and 32 are driven to rotate the rear wheels 24 and 34, whereby the wheelchair body 10 is moved forward.

When changing the traveling direction, the direction switch 52 of the operating portion 51 is operated. By this operation, the control device 4 is controlled so that the rotation speeds of the drive motors 22 and 32 are different.
The wheelchair body 10 is controlled to move to the left or right direction.

When the wheelchair body 10 comes into a narrow corridor or a narrow place and wants to change the direction, the traveling is stopped and then the turning switch 52 of the operating portion 51 is operated. By this operation, the control device 41 drives the steered motor 36 to move the rear wheels 24, 34 to their axles 24a, as shown in FIG.
The steering wheel 34a is steered toward the center P of the wheelchair body 10. Then, for example, when clockwise is selected by operating a selection switch (not shown), as shown in FIG.
4, 34 rotate in the direction shown by arrow K in the figure. At this time, the casters F, F are oriented as shown in the figure, so that the wheelchair body 10 turns clockwise around the center P as a fulcrum.

As described above, the wheelchair body 10 has its center P.
Since it turns with the fulcrum as a fulcrum, it is easy to change the direction in a narrow corridor or a narrow place, and it is easy to use indoors.

Further, in the above embodiment, the caster is not steered directly by the steered motor 36, but like the rear wheels 24, 34, a steered motor and gears are provided and steered by the steered motor. You may.

[0019]

According to the present invention, each wheel of the rear wheels is steered by the steering means so that its axle is directed to the central position of the wheelchair body, and the rotation control means controls the drive motor to thereby rotate the wheelchair body. Since the wheelchair is rotated about the center position, the wheelchair body turns around the center as a fulcrum, and it is easy to change the direction in a narrow corridor or a narrow place, and the wheelchair body is easy to use indoors.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a perspective view showing a schematic configuration of a wheelchair according to the present invention,

FIG. 2 is a rear view showing the rear part of the wheelchair,

FIG. 3 is a plan view showing a steering mechanism for rear wheels,

FIG. 4 is a plan view showing a state where the rear wheels are steered,

FIG. 5 is a block diagram showing a control system of a drive motor,

FIG. 6 is an explanatory diagram showing a state of turning around the center of the wheelchair body as a fulcrum.

[Explanation of symbols]

 22,32 Drive motor 24,34 Rear wheel 36 Steering motor (steering means) 41 Control device (rotation control means) F caster

 ─────────────────────────────────────────────────── ─── Continuation of the front page (71) Applicant 000235923 Mitsuhisa Hikita 1632-20 Mure, Mure-cho, Kida-gun, Kagawa Prefecture Applicant 000238441 Yasuo Takeda 937-21 Asano, Kagawa-cho, Kagawa-gun (72) ) Inventor Takeshi Imoto 368-4, Ichinomiya-cho, Takamatsu-shi, Kagawa (72) Inventor Takao Shigematsu 910-6 Ichinomiya-cho, Takamatsu-shi, Kagawa (72) Inventor Jun Yamashita 51-128 Ko, Fukukaku-cho, Matsuyama-shi, Ehime (72) ) Inventor Nobuto Sato 52-30, Ryuo, Aibatake, Ishii-cho, Meisai-gun, Tokushima Prefecture (72) Inventor Mitsuaki Hikita 1632-20 Mure, Mure-cho, Kida-gun, Kagawa Prefecture Inventor Yasuo Takeda Kagawa, Kagawa Prefecture 937-21 Asano, Kagawa-gun

Claims (1)

[Claims] 1. A front wheel comprising rear wheels and casters,
A wheelchair that travels by driving rear wheels with a drive motor, wherein each wheel of the rear wheels is attached to a wheelchair body so that the wheels can be steered independently of each other, and the axle of each wheel of the rear wheels is A steering means for steering each wheel of the rear wheels so as to face the center position, and a rotation control means for controlling the drive motor to rotate the wheelchair body around the center position are provided. Wheelchair