JPH1067271A - Wheeled chair lifter - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To improve visual confirmation property at night when a platform is arranged on the ground by providing an illumination lamp which shines on the platform on a support frame which can travel up to the ground outside of a vehicle or a descent position arranged in the vicinity of it. SOLUTION: When a door is opened to get on and off an automobile by a wheeled chair, an illumination lamp 11 is lit automatically due to the change- over of a door switch which is interlcoked with the door. When a lift device 5 is operated to move a support frame 1 between a storage position in the automobile and a descent position outside of the automobile, the illumination lamp 11 moves together with the support frame 1 so that a platform 2 supported by the support frame 1 is illuminated at all times. Furthermore, a piston rod of a hydraulic cylinder as the lift device is connected with a basic end part of an upper arm 5a of two arms 5a, 5b which constitute a lift arm 5, and the lift arm 5 is turned vertically due to the expansion and shrinkage of the hydraulic cylinder to move the support frame 1.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a device for storing a wheelchair in a vehicle, and more particularly to a wheelchair lifter that can raise and lower the wheelchair between the ground and the floor of the vehicle.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, as a wheelchair lifter, for example, a wheelchair lifter described in an instruction manual of NISSAN CARAVAN HOMY chair cab (issued by OTEC Japan Co., Ltd. in March 1996) is known. This conventional wheelchair lifter will be described with reference to FIG. 2, which is a side view of an embodiment of the present application. A support frame 1 is provided near a rear opening of a vehicle.
A plate-like platform 2 is attached to the pallet. The support frame 1 is configured to be movable between a storage position (a) disposed in the vehicle as shown in the drawing and a lowered position (b) where the tip abuts on the ground. Are configured to be slidable back and forth with respect to the support frame 1. Therefore, when storing the wheelchair C, after opening the back door 3, the platform 2 is slid backward with respect to the support frame 1, and thereafter,
When the support frame 1 is moved from the storage position (a) to the lowered position (b), the platform 2 comes into contact with the ground.
Then, move the wheelchair C onto the platform 2 and
Next, when the support frame 1 is moved from the lowered position (b) to the storage position (a), and the platform 2 is slid forward, the wheelchair C is stored in the vehicle as shown.

[0003]

By the way, in the above-described conventional wheelchair lifter, as shown in FIG. 10, an illuminating lamp 01 is provided at an upper end of a rear pillar 02 to improve workability at night. (For example, the first
See pages 0-12). In addition, as shown in FIG. 11, it is considered to provide a similar illuminating light 01 on the inner surface of the vehicle of the back door 3.

[0004] However, in such a conventional technique, in any case, when the platform is lowered to the ground, there is a problem that the distance between the illumination lamp and the platform is long and the amount of light is insufficient. Insufficient light at the tip of the platform where the vehicle gets on and off.
When the capacity of the illumination lamp is increased to obtain a sufficient amount of light, there is a problem that the cost is increased and the user feels dazzling. When the wheelchair is stored in the vehicle, the wheelchair is fixed to the platform so as not to move.However, the work is performed outside the vehicle, that is, in a state where the platform is on the ground in order to secure a sufficient working space. Is common. However, according to the prior art, when this work is performed at night, the shadow of the wheelchair due to the illumination is cast on the platform, and the visibility of the fixing device provided on the platform is poor, resulting in poor workability.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The present invention has been made in view of the above-mentioned conventional problems, and it has been proposed that the platform can be disposed on the ground without increasing the capacity of the illuminating lamp, that is, without increasing the cost or feeling dazzling. The purpose is to improve night visibility when the vehicle is in the dark.

[0006]

Means for Solving the Problems In order to achieve the above object, an invention according to claim 1 is provided by a lift device provided in a vehicle, from a storage position stored in the vehicle to a ground outside the vehicle or in the vicinity thereof. In a wheelchair lifter provided with a support frame movably supported to a lowering position arranged in the wheelchair, and a platform formed in a substantially flat plate shape so that a wheelchair can be placed on the support frame,
An illumination lamp for illuminating a platform is provided on the support frame. Further, in the invention according to claim 2, the lighting switching circuit for switching on / off of the illumination lamp includes a light switch for switching on / off of a vehicle light, and a door for opening and closing an opening for entering and exiting a wheelchair. Connected to an interlocking door switch, the lighting control circuit is configured to turn on the illuminating lamp only when the light switch is operated to the lighting side and only when the door is opened, and to turn off the lighting at other times. It is characterized by having. According to a third aspect of the present invention, the wheelchair lifter according to the first or second aspect is provided in an opening on a rear surface of the vehicle which is opened and closed by a back door of the vehicle, and support frames are provided on left and right sides of the opening. The platform may be supported at the lower ends of these support frames so as to be slidable in the front-rear direction, and the illumination lamp may be provided at an intermediate portion between the two support frames. According to a fourth aspect of the present invention, an operation switch for operating the lift device may be provided at a position near a position where an illuminator is arranged when the support frame is arranged at a storage position.

[0007]

According to the present invention, the illuminating lamp is turned on when the user gets on and off the vehicle by a wheelchair at night. Then, when the lift device is operated to move the support frame between the storage position inside the vehicle and the descending position outside the vehicle, the illuminating light also moves together with the support frame, and the platform supported by the support frame is always illuminated. Therefore, even when the platform is placed on the ground and separates from the vehicle body, the platform is illuminated by the illumination lamp provided on the support frame located outside the vehicle at this time, so that high visibility can be obtained with a small amount of light.

According to the second aspect of the present invention, when a door is opened to perform getting on and off by a wheelchair in a state where a light switch is operated to a lighting side at night to turn on a light of a vehicle, a door switch interlocked therewith is provided. The lighting is automatically turned on by the switching. It should be noted that the reverse, that is, even if the light switch is operated to the lighting side with the door open, the illuminating lamp is turned on.

Next, an example of the operation of the apparatus will be described in more detail based on the third aspect of the invention. When riding on a vehicle with a wheelchair, the platform is slid backward with respect to the support frame to open the rear of the vehicle. Then, the support frame is moved from the storage position in the vehicle to the descent position outside the vehicle by operating the lift device, and is brought closer to the ground. Accordingly, the platform also descends and approaches the ground or is grounded. In this state, the platform is illuminated by a lamp provided on a support frame disposed outside the vehicle together with the platform. Then, when the wheelchair is put on the platform, and then the support frame is moved from the lowered position to the storage position by the lift device, the wheelchair is raised together with the platform to the height of the floor of the vehicle. Thereafter, when the platform is slid forward, the wheelchair is stored in the vehicle together with the platform.

According to the fourth aspect of the present invention, when the illuminating lamp is turned on at the time of getting on and off the wheelchair at night, the support frame is placed in the storage position.
An operation switch provided in the vicinity is illuminated. Therefore, the operability of the lift device is improved. Further, in the case where the configuration for turning on / off the illumination lamp is the configuration of the invention according to claim 2, the door is opened in order to get on and off by a wheelchair in a state where the light switch is turned on to the lighting side. When automatically turned on, the operation switch provided in the vicinity thereof is immediately illuminated, and the operation of the lift device is easy.

[0011]

Embodiments of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings. The main configuration of the wheelchair lifter according to the embodiment is the same as that of the prior art, and will be briefly described. As shown in FIG. 1, the wheelchair lifter includes support frames 1, 1 and a platform 2. That is, as shown, support frames 1, 1 and lift arms 5, 5 constituting a shift device are provided on the left and right of an opening 4 which is opened and closed by a back door 3 provided at a rear portion of the vehicle body. The lift arm 5 is composed of two arms 5a and 5b forming a parallel link. As shown in FIG. 2, the lift frame 5 is the same as that of the prior art while keeping the support frame 1 standing as shown in FIG. Is configured to be movable between the storage position (a) and the descent position (b). Returning to FIG. 1, a piston rod (not shown) of a hydraulic cylinder 6 (shown only on the right side) as a lift device is provided at the base end of the upper arm 5a of the two arms 5a and 5b constituting the lift arm 5. The lift arm 5 is turned up and down by the expansion and contraction of the hydraulic cylinder 6 to move the support frame 1.

The platform 2 is supported between the distal ends of both support frames 1. That is, guide rails 2a are provided on the left and right sides of the platform 2, and by inserting rollers (not shown) provided at the end of the support frame 1 into the guide rails 2a, the platform 2 is moved in the vehicle longitudinal direction with respect to the support frame 1. Is slidably supported. The forward and backward sliding is performed by driving a motor (not shown) provided at the lower end of the support frame 1 on the left side in the figure. At the rear end of the platform 2, there is provided a flapper 2b which eliminates a step between the platform 2 and the ground in a lying state and serves as a wheelchair stop in a standing state. Also,
On the upper surface of the platform 2, as shown schematically in FIG.
Is provided so that the wheelchair C placed on the platform 2 can be fixed.

In FIG. 5, reference numeral 7 denotes a casing for accommodating the left lift arm 5 and the hydraulic cylinder 6. A main switch 8 for driving the motor and the hydraulic cylinder 6 is provided at a lower rear portion of the casing 7. A remote control switch 10 for operating the motor and the hydraulic cylinder 6 is held by a holder 9 provided above the holder 9.

Next, the main configuration of the present embodiment will be described. Returning to FIG. 1, an illumination lamp 11 is provided at an intermediate portion of each support frame 1. This illumination light 11 has 10
A capacity of about w is used, which is lower than that of the prior art. As shown in FIG. 6, the illuminating lamp 11 includes a light switch 13 for illuminating a width lamp of a vehicle (not shown) and a lighting switching circuit 15 connected to a back door switch 14 that is linked with opening and closing of the back door 3. The light switch 13 is turned on (closed) to the lighting side, and is turned on only when the back door switch 13 is closed in response to the opening of the back door 3.

Next, the operation of the present embodiment will be described. When the wheelchair lifter of the present embodiment is not used,
As shown in the storage position (a) of FIG. 2, the support frame 2 is disposed inside the vehicle, and the platform 2 is disposed on the floor of the vehicle, and is housed inside the vehicle. Next, when the wheelchair C is stored at night, the back door 3 is opened with the light switch 13 kept ON. Thus, when the back door switch 14 is closed, the illumination lamp 11 is turned on. At this time, as shown in FIG. 7, when the support frame 1 is located at the storage position, the illuminating lamp 11 is located near the main switch 8 and the remote control switch 10, so that both switches 8, 10 are at night. Operation is easy.

Next, after the main switch 8 is turned on to make the apparatus drivable, in this embodiment, when the get-off button 10a of the remote control switch 10 is pressed, first, the remote control switch 10 is provided at the lower end of the support frame 1. The motor (not shown) rotates forward and the platform 2 slides backward and moves to the position shown in FIG. 3C. When the backward sliding is completed, the hydraulic cylinder 6 is shortened and the lift arm 5 is moved. Start the downward rotation. Therefore, the support frame 1 moves rearward and downward while maintaining the upright posture, and accordingly, the platform 2 also moves to the lower rear position (b) in the drawing while maintaining a state parallel to the vehicle floor.

Thereafter, when the lower end of the support frame 1 and the platform 2 are grounded, the pushing operation of the get-off button 10a is stopped, and the driving of the hydraulic cylinder 6 is stopped.

Next, as shown in FIG. 8, after the flapper 2a is folded down, the wheelchair C is moved onto the platform 2. At this time, the illumination lamp 11 is provided on the support frame 1 and is lit at a position very close to the platform 2, so that the illumination lamp 11 is sufficiently illuminated even if the capacity of the illumination lamp 11 is low.
It has excellent visibility and does not hinder the work of getting in the wheelchair C.

After the wheelchair C is put on the platform 2 in this way, the wheelchair C is fixed to the platform 2 by the fixture 12. This is preferably performed at this point because it is easier to obtain a working space outside the vehicle than inside the vehicle, as described in the section of the prior art. Is illuminated by the illumination lamp 11, the work can be easily performed. In particular, in the present embodiment, since the illuminating lamp 11 is arranged at a height similar to that of the handrail of the wheelchair C and is arranged on the left and right, the shadow of the wheelchair C on the platform 2 is less likely to occur, and it is visually recognized. Excellent workability and good workability.

When the work of fixing the wheelchair C is completed, the flapper 2 is raised, and then the ride button 10b of the remote control switch 10 is pressed. As a result, the hydraulic cylinder 6 performs the extension drive, and the lift arm 5 rotates upward, whereby the support frame 1 moves to the storage position,
Thereafter, the motor further performs reverse drive, and the platform 2 slides forward and moves on the floor of the vehicle. Thereafter, when the back door 3 is closed, the illumination lamp 11 is turned off.

As described above, in the embodiment of the present invention, since the illuminating lamp 11 is provided at the intermediate portion between the left and right support frames 1, when the platform 2 is grounded on the ground, the illuminating lamp 11 and the support frame 1 are mounted outside the vehicle. It has an effect that the platform 2 can be reliably illuminated even with a small capacity and good visibility can be obtained. Particularly, even when the work of fixing the wheelchair C on the platform 2 is performed,
The shadow due to the wheelchair C hardly occurs on the platform 2 and the visibility is excellent. As described above, since it is not necessary to increase the capacity, the visibility can be improved without incurring an increase in cost due to an increase in the capacity. Moreover, in the present embodiment,
The position of the illuminating lamp 11 is configured such that the support frame 1 is disposed near the main switch 8 and the remote control switch 10 in the storage position where the support frame 1 is disposed in the vehicle. The effect of improving is also obtained. Further, in the embodiment,
Turning on / off the illumination light 11 is performed by the light switch 13 of the vehicle.
In addition, since it is configured to be connected to the back door switch 14 and automatically turned on and off, the operation of turning on and off can be omitted, and the effect of turning on and off at an accurate timing can be obtained.

Although the embodiment has been described with reference to the drawings, the present invention is not limited to this embodiment. In the embodiment, the one provided near the opening that is opened and closed by the back door at the rear of the vehicle is shown, but the present invention can also be applied to the one provided near the opening that is opened and closed by the side door on the side of the vehicle. As the support frame, a structure different from that shown in the embodiment can be used. An example is shown in FIG. 9. In this structure, a lift device 25 is provided at a front end of an opening 24 that is opened and closed by a slide door 23 provided on a side surface of the vehicle, and the lift device 25 is directed in a vertical direction. The vehicle is leveled about the axis of the vehicle and is movably mounted inside and outside the vehicle, and the support frame 21 is supported by the lift device so as to be vertically movable,
A platform 22 is supported by the support frame 21. An illumination lamp 211 is provided on the support frame 21.
Is provided. Note that the basic structure of this device, that is, the structure excluding the illumination lamp 211, is described in Japanese Patent Application No. Hei.
It is described in detail in the specification and the drawings of No. 63260, and thus the description is omitted.

[0023]

As described above, the wheelchair lifter according to the first aspect has a configuration in which the supporting frame supporting the platform on which the wheelchair is mounted is provided with the illuminating lamp for illuminating the platform. However, the platform can be sufficiently illuminated at any position inside or outside the vehicle, and the effect that night visibility can be improved without increasing the cost is obtained. Further, according to the second aspect of the present invention, the illuminating light can be automatically turned on simply by opening the door for getting on and off while the light switch of the vehicle is turned on, and the effect of being excellent in usability can be obtained. . According to the third aspect of the present invention, the platform can be illuminated from the left and right, and high visibility can be obtained. According to the fourth aspect of the present invention, the illumination lamp is turned on because the operation switch for operating the lift device is disposed when the support frame is disposed at the storage position when the support frame is disposed at the storage position. At this point, the operation switch is illuminated by the illumination lamp, and an effect that the operability is excellent is obtained.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a perspective view of a wheelchair lifter according to an embodiment of the present invention as viewed obliquely from the rear of a vehicle.

FIG. 2 is a side view showing the operation of the embodiment.

FIG. 3 is a perspective view showing the operation of the embodiment.

FIG. 4 is a perspective view showing a fixture provided on the platform according to the embodiment.

FIG. 5 is a perspective view showing a main part of the embodiment.

FIG. 6 is a circuit diagram illustrating a lighting switching circuit according to the embodiment;

FIG. 7 is a perspective view showing a main part of the embodiment.

FIG. 8 is a perspective view showing the operation of the embodiment.

FIG. 9 is a perspective view of another embodiment, as viewed obliquely from the front of the vehicle.

FIG. 10 is a perspective view showing a conventional technique.

FIG. 11 is a perspective view showing a conventional technique.

[Explanation of symbols]

 REFERENCE SIGNS LIST 1 support frame 2 platform 3 back door 4 opening 5 lift arm (lift device) 6 hydraulic cylinder (lift device) 7 casing 8 main switch (operation switch) 9 holder 10 remote control switch (operation switch) 11 illumination light 12 fixture 13 Light Switch 14 Back Door Switch 15 Lighting Switching Circuit C Wheelchair

Claims (4)

[Claims] 1. A support frame movably supported by a lift device provided in a vehicle from a storage position stored in the vehicle to a lowered position located on or near the ground outside the vehicle, and the support frame. A wheelchair lifter comprising: a platform which is supported on the platform and is formed in a substantially flat plate shape so that the wheelchair can be placed thereon; and an illumination light for illuminating the platform is provided on the support frame. 2. A lighting switch circuit for switching on / off of an illumination lamp includes a light switch for switching on / off a light of a vehicle, and a door switch linked to a door for opening / closing an opening for a wheelchair. Connected, wherein the lighting control circuit is configured to turn on the illumination lamp only when the light switch is operated to the lighting side and only when the door is opened, and to turn off the light in other cases. The wheelchair lifter according to claim 1, wherein 3. The wheelchair lifter according to claim 1, wherein the wheelchair lifter is provided at an opening on a rear surface of the vehicle which is opened and closed by a backdoor of the vehicle, and a support frame is provided at right and left sides of the opening. A wheelchair lifter, wherein the platform is slidably supported in a front-rear direction at a lower end of the wheelchair, and the illumination lamp is provided at an intermediate portion between both support frames. 4. An operation switch for operating the lift device is provided at a position near a position where an illuminator is arranged when the support frame is arranged at a storage position. 4. The wheelchair lifter according to any one of items 1 to 3.