SE539988C2 - Device which is a hybrid of a personal lift and a height-adjustable seat and a method for using the device as a personal lift - Google Patents

Abstract

Lifting device (1) which is a hybrid of a personal lift and a height-adjustable seat (8), the lifting device having a stand (2) which constitutes a base plane of the lifting device, a frame (3) fixed to said stand at an angle ( v) in relation to a vertical plane across the site, a rail (4c) located vertically in the frame (3), a carriage (7) which is arranged to be displaceable along the rail (4c), a drive mechanism (4) which drives the carriage ( 7) from a first position to a second position of the rail, a platform (5) which is anchored to the carriage (7), and where the lifting device (1) in a first use of the platform (5) has a seat (8a) for a user of the seat (8), where the seat further at an edge of the seat (8a) facing the carriage (7) has a backrest (8b) extending upwards from the seat (8a), where the seat (8) by means of the drive mechanism ( 4) can be moved from a minimum seat height to a maximum seat height, and in a second use of the platform (5) it has a footboard for a standing user, where the footboard can be displaced by means of the drive mechanism (4) from a lowest standing height to a highest standing height, and where the lifting device (1) further has a hand rest (14) which forms an upward extension of the backrest (8b), this hand rest (14) is intended to support the user standing on the footboard when lifting or lowering by means of the drive mechanism (4).

Description

The present invention relates to a lifting device in the form of a combined height-adjustable seat for a user sitting on the seat and a lift for single users, where a target group for the lifting device is primarily persons with reduced mobility in terms of mobility or persons. who experience some degree of uncertainty due to, for example, poor balance or the like and therefore without iconic meaning being disabled. In this document, the term personal lift refers to a single lift for a user who lifts standing within living spaces and where the personal lift is used as an equivalent to, for example, a step so that the user can reach areas that he cannot reach standing on a floor.

PRIOR ART

Aids in the form of wheelchairs of various kinds have been known for a long time to serve as support for people with disabilities due to mobility impairments. Such wheelchairs can be used in care facilities or in home environments for people with mobility impairments, whether impaired mobility is of a long-term or transient nature. Even people who, for reasons of age, without being ill for that reason, are weak may have the use of a wheelchair from time to time.

A traditional wheelchair comprises a frame and is equipped with a seat and wheel-arranged so that the chair becomes mobile. Some wheelchairs are equipped with electric drive units for the wheels so that they can be driven by the user without the assistance of someone who sets the wheels in rotation manually. Such chairs thus generally solve the problem of mobility in the ground floor for people with reduced mobility, but do not contribute to opportunities to be able to move vertically sitting or standing, so that these people are given increased opportunities to perform tasks that require mobility in height.

There are also chairs on the market intended for people with reduced mobility, where a seat can be raised or lowered by means of a drive unit. This makes it easier for the pre-user to move between different pieces of furniture with different seat heights, as well as to be able to more easily place himself in a sitting position on the seat, as well as to get out of the chair. Such chairs with a height-adjustable seat can also be provided with wheels or rollers in order to be able to be rolled to the desired location. See, for example, the document US 20150351985. Control means which can be operated with buttons, scar control or voice recognition instruments can be integrated with the chair so that the user can control its movement on his own.

Despite the help a person with a slight mobility impairment has when using a chair with a raised and lowered seat according to the prior art, there are still many simple tasks at home or in another place that cannot be performed by him. A lifting device of the type shown in the present invention provides increased mobility and the possibility of performing your types of simpler tasks.

DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION.

According to one aspect of the invention, it consists of a lifting device which is a hybrid of a personal lift and a height-adjustable seat, the lifting device having a rack which constitutes a base plane of the lifting device, a frame fixed to said rack at an angle relative to a vertical plane across the site, a rail located vertically in the frame, a carriage arranged to be displaceable along the rail, a drive mechanism which drives the carriage from the first position to a second position of the rail, a platform anchored to the carriage, and where the lifting device at a first use of the platform has a seat for a user of the seat, where the seat further at an edge of the seat facing the carriage has a backrest extending upwards from the seat, where the seat is displaced by means of the drive mechanism from a lowest seat height to a highest seat height, and at a other uses of the platform, it has a footboard for a standing user, where the footboard by means of the drive mechanism can be f is extended from a lowest standing height to a highest standing height, and there the lifting device further has a hand rest which forms an extension upwards of the backrest, this hand rest being intended as support for the user standing on the footboard when he lifts or lowers by means of the drive mechanism.

The stand has a front and rear end, where the lower part of the frame is fixed to the stand in a front part of the stand and across it. The frame preferably has the shape of a drawer frame with a greater extent in length than width and in addition a depth which is limited to a fraction of its width, e.g. 1A of the width. This depth can of course be varied depending on the design of the frame and depending on the material therein. The frame is inclined backwards and in relation to the place has an angle that can be between 60 and 85 degrees, preferably between 70 and 80 degrees. When using a personal lift of the type shown, this is placed in front of and next to the control area that the user wants to reach. The stable at the base of the lift prevents it from being placed completely against e.g. a wall or cabinet which includes the area the user wishes to reach, through which the user can end up too far from said area if he lifts along a vertically arranged frame. One reason why the frame is advantageously tilted backwards, ie. away from the user, is that the user is moved closer to said area the higher he lifts along that inclined frame. Of course, the frame can be designed in a different way than described here. This selection frame provides the device with said angular arrangement with favorable conditions for building a light construction. This arrangement also enables a distinctive efficiency in terms of the hybrid functionality and gives the device a sleek shape.

The place described above is in a preferred embodiment consisting of two members which are connected in parallel with each other by means of the lower parts of the frame. The place is provided at the bottom with roller means, in the form of balls, rollers or wheels. As an example, the roller means can be realized by means of balls in the front and rear end of the slides mentioned.

The drive mechanism which can displace the platform in height, which is used as a seat and footboard, respectively, consists of an actuator which has a rail where a slide table can climb along the rail by means of a motor. Such a device is known in the art, where the rails can, for example, be a cylindrical shaft with a helical groove, along which the slide table climbs. Since the seat / footboard is attached to a slide that is fixed to the slide table, it / it follows the movement of the slide table in height.

The platform used for the seat resp. footboard is when used as a seat covered with a cushion, suitably divided into two halves. When the platform is to be used as a footboard in front of a person standing, the two halves of the cushion are folded up to the sides, whereby the footboard is exposed and can serve as a base for the person standing on the footboard, when it moves in height. Another alternative is, of course, that the cushion is made removable and removed from the seat when using the device as a personal lift. Another variant is that the cushion in its entirety is folded up completely to one side of the platform. As mentioned, in addition to a seat, the seat also has a backrest. In this backrest, or the sides of the wide one, a hand rest for a standing is arranged. The hand rest can advantageously be made extendable in height. Armrests are set up next to the seat. These can be attached to the backrest. In a more advanced embodiment, the armrests are connected to the extendable palm rest, whereby a person who is lifted from the footboard while standing also has security in the form of support on both sides of the body. At the lower part of the frame, drive wheels are arranged. These drive wheels consist of wheels or rollers which abut against the surface on which the stable rests, usually an indoor floor. A motor which can be controlled by the user drives said drive wheels, so that the lifting device in the form of the seat resp. the passenger lift can be driven to desired locations. According to one aspect of the invention, there is provided a device having features according to the features specified in claim 1.

According to a further aspect of the invention, there is provided a method according to claim 13, wherein the device is used as a personal lift Further embodiments of the invention are presented in the dependent claims.

The lifting device generally outlined above significantly increases mobility at home or in another stay such as e.g. in care facilities or nursing homes for a person with a disability. The lifting device is both a piece of seating furniture and a motorized tool that can be used by the user to be able to perform minor work at heights that are not normally seen as accessible to the elderly and people with mobility impairments. It can then be a matter of reaching up to ceilings, higher cabinets, high shelves, etc. with the help of the function as a personal lift. A person who uses the personal lift can perform the work such as changing lamps, painting or wallpapering. In this type of work task in the home, the function as a personal lift is an attractive instrument even for ordinary people, as they do not have to climb a ladder and where further the lifting height can be controlled from controls on the handrest. The lifting device as a whole can also be moved to different positions by the user, which as a further advantage means that he can reach different working positions without having to rise to the floor level for these for fl surfaces. The invention can be used in individual households or institutions, where persons obtain the product for reasons such as increased convenience, reduced risk of fall and increased safety for a user. An object of the invention is that this should contribute to a reduced number of fall accidents in the areas of use mentioned and that especially older people should be able to cope in the home on their own for as long as possible.

DESCRIPTION OF THE FIGURES Figure 1 schematically shows the lifting device according to an aspect of the invention in a perspective view.

Figure 2 is an exploded view of the lifting device according to Figure 1.

Figure 3a shows the lifting device in a plan view from the side.

Figure 3b shows the lifting device in a plan view from the front.

Figure 4 shows the lifting device used as a personal lift with the platform in the lowest position. Figure 5 shows the lifting device used as a personal lift with the platform hoisted to its upper position.

DESCRIPTION OF THE EMBODIMENTS In the following, a number of embodiments of the invention are described with reference to the accompanying drawings. The drawings only schematically show the principle of the device and do not claim to show in scale any proportions between different elements thereof.

Figure 1 shows an embodiment of the invention according to an aspect thereof. As mentioned, the invention is a hybrid of a seat and a personal lift and is called a lifting device. For the sake of simplicity, the invention is sometimes mentioned below with the short name lift, which is given reference number 1. The lift 1 is in its lower part provided with a stand 2, which supports the ground, which is assumed to be a floor. In the version of the invention shown here, the stand 2 is made by means of two slides 2a, 2b. The runners 2a, 2b extend in parallel with each other from a front part of the lift 1 to a rear part of the lift and the sides of the rear lift 1. The front part of the lift 1 refers to the part thereof which opens towards a person who intends to sit on or stand up on the lift. In a front part of the stand 2, slightly in front of its center, a frame 3 is attached to the stand 2. The frame 3 is configured as a box frame, i.e. it essentially has a shape similar to a rectangle. In relation to the place 2, the frame is arranged across the place, ie. at right angles to the longitudinal direction of the opposite. Furthermore, the frame 3 is arranged to tilt slightly backwards on the lift 1. The inclination backwards of the frame 3 is preferably in the range 70 to 80 degrees in relation to the plane of the device 2. The sides of the box frame are formed of flat beams, where these are of a metal, metal composite or composite plastic. The width of the flat beams forms the depth of the drawer frame, which means that the drawer frame can accommodate drive mechanisms and other components for maneuvering the seat and passenger lift within its volume expansion. In a specific embodiment, the top height of the frame 3 above the stand 2 is approximately 77 cm and the inclination of the frame backwards is approximately 73 degrees.

Inside the frame, a linear actuator 4 is arranged in height and in the plane of the frame 3. The function of the linear actuator is to be the driving mechanism which in the lifting device can raise and lower the platform 5 which serves as a seat base for a seat 8a in the height-adjustable seat 8 and as a footboard in the function as a personal lift. The linear actuator 4 is.eX. of the type ball screw driven or belt driven unit and are not reported in their function here, as these units are well known technology. The actuator 4 is provided in its lower part with a single drive motor 4a for driving a slide table 4b, which with the aid of the drive motor 4a can be displaced vertically along a rail 4c in the extent of the linear actuator.

Furthermore, in the plane of the frame 3, parallel guides 6 are mounted to the extent of the frame 3 in height. These guides 6 are moreover arranged in parallel with the longitudinal axis of the linear actuator 4, along which the slide table 4b can run. A carriage 7 is arranged to run the outward guides 6 and is guided by these. The carriage 7 is coupled to the above-mentioned slide table 4b and will thus be displaced along the frame 3 according to position settings of the slide table along the linear actuator 4, where the position settings are made by controlling the motor 4a.

The seat 8 in the lifting device consists of the seat 8a, which has the platform 5 as a base, and in addition a backrest 8b. The platform 5 consists in the embodiment of a framework 5a with an associated cover plate 5b. The backrest 8b comprises a supporting frame 5c, which is connected to the frame 5a belonging to the seat 8a. On the supporting frame 5c a casing 9 for the backrest 8b is provided, for instance by being pulled over the supporting frame 5c. The seat 8a has a pad 10 which, in this embodiment, is divided into two halves in the longitudinal direction of the lifting device. The seat 8 is attached to the carriage 7 by the supporting frame 5c of the backrest being fastened to the carriage, for example by means of fastening elements such as screws, bolts, rivets or by welding.

A frame 11 in the form of two rods is arranged to be displaceable in height inside the backrest 8b and therein guided by guides 12 arranged in the housing 9 of the backrest 8b. The guides 12 can be provided with tubes or rails. The supports 12 may be arranged inside the backrest or be mounted along one of the sides of the backrest (including the back of the backrest). Armrests l3 are connected to the stand ll. These armrests 13 are arranged at a height so that at a lower position of the stand 11 they are substantially at arc height for a person sitting on the seat 8a.

The lifting device 1 is intended to lift a person standing on the platform 5 in an alternative use. In this use, the two halves of the pad 10 are folded on the sides, i.e. up to resp. armrest 13. This exposes the platform 5, which is used as a footboard for a person standing up on the platform at the front end of the lifting device. To provide safety against falls when lifting the platform 5 with a single user standing on the footboard, the user can pull a handrail 14, which is shown at the upper end of the stand 11, from the backrest guides 12. The handrail 14 is lifted to a height approximately corresponding to the user's waist height. When the user enters the footboard, the platform 5 is preferably lowered to a low height above the base of the lifting device, for example the lowest standing height. The user of the personal lift then operates the actuator 4 by means of guide means 15 preferably mounted on the handrest 14, at the seat 8a or on one of the armrests 13 (as shown in Fig. 3b), so that the actuator drives the platform 5 to a selected position setting in height . This means that the user is free to choose a position for the platform 5 between the lowest and highest position setting. The highest position for the platform is, for example, 60 cm above the base of the lifting device. A standing user of the personal lift can in this maximum position reach the ceiling in the most living spaces and thereby perform tasks at this height. It is worth noting that in the embodiment shown, the armrests 13 follow the handrest 14 to the higher position settings, whereby the user also receives protection at the sides and thereby feels increased safety without the risk of sideways falls. Of course, it is possible to control the height positions of the actuator by wireless remote control or by voice control.

The previously mentioned drive wheels 16 are mounted in a greenhouse 17. The greenhouse 17 is mounted behind the frame 3 between the runners 2a, 2b and abuts against the base of the lifting device. Should the stand 2 instead of the slides have a covering plate, the greenhouse is arranged in a single opening in the plate. The drive wheels 16 are, for example, rubber wheels or rubber rollers. In order to be able to turn with the lifting device 1 when it is propelled by the drive wheels 16, there is a drive wheel at each end of the drive housing 17. The drive wheels are rotated by means of a motor (not shown) at resp. drive wheels. By means of the motors driving the drive wheels 16 at different rotational speeds via control devices integrated in the control means 15, the lifting device can be driven in different directions. The drive wheels can also be rotated in different directions of rotation so that the lifting device can be driven both forwards and backwards.

When the lifting device 1 is used for a standing user, a larger support surface may be required in place 2 so that the lifting device used as a personal lift will not be able to tip. This is solved by the runners 2a, 2b being extendable in their longitudinal direction. Respective med2a, 2b are for this reason formed with an outer elongate case 20, which encloses the front ten 21 and a rear ten 22. These two ten 21, 22 are normally fully inserted the close-lift device 1 is used as a seat. By pulling the tines 21, 22 out of their case 20, the supporting surface of the stand 2 is extended in fixed positions by means of a ball arranged in the air which is resiliently pressed against one of the holes 23 in the case 20 accommodated in a row, whereby the length of the members 2a, 2b can be varied as desired. The runners can thus be extended both backwards and forwards.

In a more advanced variant of the lifting device, secondary actuators can be installed inside the runners 2a, 2b, where the secondary actuators can be controlled to push out the tines 211, 22 displaceable in the case 20. Suitably the secondary actuators are synchronized with the control of the actuator 4 height adjustment the platform 5, so that the tines 21, 22, respectively, with 2a, 2b are extended in relation to the height which the platform 5 occupies at each occasion. In this way, the support surface of the lifting device is adapted to the height that the platform 5 of the personal lift occupies for each occasion.

The drive motor 4a in the actuator 4 is powered by a rechargeable battery pack which in the embodiment is arranged inside the frame 3. Charging contact for charging the battery pack can be mounted on the frame 3. The motors driving the drive wheels 16 are also powered by a rechargeable battery pack, which can be the same battery pack. that which drives the actuator 4 drive motor or constitute a separate second battery pack.

The inclination to the rear of the frame 3 and thus a corresponding inclination of the actuator 4 means that the platform 5 is moved towards the rear part of the lift 1. Through this arrangement a user can approach a wall, curtain or other object which the user wishes without the stand 2 having its support surface prevents it from coming close to said object, which would be the case in many contexts if the platform was lifted e.g. vertically upwards.

In order for the lifting device 1 to be used both as an external seat 8 and as a personal lift, it should be easy to surface over a surface, such as a floor, rolling means are arranged at the underside of the stand 2. Suitably the rolling means are arranged in the outer corner of the stand. The rolling means in the shown embodiment consist of balls 18 which are stored in ball holders arranged under the place 2.

In a simpler variant of the lift 1, drive wheels 16 do not exist for moving the lift 1. In this case, the roller means 18 are locked automatically when the lift 1 is loaded, so that this income can roll away in an undesired manner. In the variant of the lift which comprises drive wheels 16, the drive wheels themselves have the braking function, whereby function with automatic locking of the roller means 18 is not required in this variant.

When the lifting device 1 is used as a personal lift, it is advantageous that the handrest 14 is equipped with a tray 25, where the user can temporarily store tools or other objects in connection with the user performing some work standing on the personal lift or simply storing an object to be lifted or taken down from a shelf, cabinet, curtain rod, etc. Such a washer 25 can be fixedly mounted to the palm rest 14 (see Fig. 3a) or designed to be quickly attached to the palm rest.

With the platform 5 lowered to its lowest position, its height above the substrate according to the embodiment shown is 10 cm. Raised to its uppermost position according to the same embodiment, the height of the platform 5 above the ground in a standard embodiment is 60 cm. In some countries, or for living spaces, where the ceiling height indoors is more than 240 cm, the device can be designed to achieve a maximum lifting height that is e.g. 75 cm.

Claims (1)

A lifting device (1) which is a hybrid of a personal lift and a height-adjustable seat (8), wherein the lifting device has: - a stand (2) which constitutes the base plane of the lifting device (1), - a frame (3 ) fixed to said stand (2) at an angle relative to a vertical plane transverse to the stand (2), - a rail (4c) located vertically in the frame (3) with a slide table (4b) displaceable longitudinally (4c), - a slide (7) connected to the slide table (4b), - a drive motor (4a) which drives the carriage (7) from a first position to a second position of the hose rail (4c), - a platform (5) anchored to the carriage (7 ), characterized in that: - in a first use of the platform (5), it forms a base for a seat (8a) in a front part of the lifting device for a user of the seat (8), the seat further at an edge of the seat (8a) facing the carriage (7) has a backrest (8b) extending upwards from the seat (8a) in a rear part of the lifting device, and where the seat can be displaced by means of the drive motor (4a) from n a minimum seat height to a maximum seat height, - in a second use of the platform (5) this constitutes a footboard for a standing user, where the footboard can be displaced by means of the drive motor (4a) from a minimum standing height to the highest standing height, and - a handrest (l4 ) which constitutes an upward extension of the backrest (8b) is designed to function as a support for the user standing on the footboard when he lifts or lowers by means of a drive motor (4a). The lifting device according to claim 1, wherein said drive motor (4a), rail (4c) and slide table (4b) constitute components included in a linear actuator (4). The lifting device according to claim 2, wherein the linear actuator is operated from control means (15) which are installed both on the hand rest (14) and next to the seat (8). The lifting device according to claim 2, wherein the stand (2) is configured by means of two slides (2a, 2b) where the respective slats (2a, 2b) extend along each side of the lifting device in the longitudinal direction of the frame (2). The lifting device according to claim 4, wherein the stand (2) is provided with forward and rearwardly extendable tines (21, 22) at the sides of the stand, whereby the area of the support surface of the stand (2) can be made larger by pulling out said tines (21, 22). The lifting device according to claim 5, wherein the stand (2) is rollable over a surface by rolling means are arranged at the underside of the stand (2), preferably by balls (18) being stored in ball holders at the underside of the stand (2). The lifting device according to any one of the preceding claims, wherein the frame (3) is inclined backwards relative to the stand (2), so that an angle (v) between the frame (3) and the stand (2) is between 60 and 90 degrees and preferably between 70 and 80 degrees. The lifting device according to claim 7, wherein the seat (8a) on the platform (5) is provided with a single-seat cushion (10), which is divided into two halves which are arranged to be foldable armrests (13) arranged at each side of the seat (8), whereby the platform (5) is exposed and serves as a footboard during the use of the lifting device as a personal lift. The lifting device according to claim 8, wherein it is equipped with drive wheels (16) fixed at the stand (2) and arranged to abut against the ground on which the lifting device supports and said drive wheels are operated from the control means (15), whereby the lifting device (1) the user can be driven by control of driving the drive wheels by means of electric motors over the ground. The lifting device according to claim 9, wherein at least one drive wheel (16) is arranged at the respective side thereof, wherein the lifting device can be steered in the desired direction by access. drive wheels (16) are caused to rotate at different rotational speeds or in different directions of rotation. The lifting device according to claim 10, wherein the hand rest (14) is displaceable in height in that the hand rest has a stand (11) formed of tubes or rods, wherein said stand 12. 13. 14. 12 (11) can be displaced upwards or downwards via controls ( 12) located inside or next to the backrest (Sh) and where these guides (12) are realized by tubes or rails. The lifting device according to claim 11, wherein the armrests (13) are connected to the handrest (14), the armrests following the handrest (14) when it is displaced upwards, whereby the armrests (13) have side guards for a user standing on the platform (5). Method for using the lifting device according to claim 12, when this is used as a personal lift, the method being characterized by the steps: - the halves of the seat cushion (10) are folded to the side to make the platform (5) accessible as a footboard, - the hand rest (14) is pulled out of its controls (12), - the linear actuator (4) is controlled by means of the control means (15) to drive the platform (5) to an elevated position which is a position of ascent selected by the user, which corresponds to a level of the pre-platform (5) between 10 cm and 25 cm above the base of the lifting device. the platform (5) is entered by a user standing on it, - the linear actuator (4) is controlled by means of the control means (15) to drive the platform (5) upwards to a height position selected by the user. Method according to claim 13, further characterized by the step: - the tines (21, 22) are instead (2) pulled out before the user's boarding on the platform (5).