Title:Development of a simple electrically powered driving system for a hand propelled wheelchair.
Author:Ikuo YONEDA, Ichiro HIROSE, Takuya FUJIKI, Kouichi WADA, Tsutomu HASHIZUME (Tokyo Metropolitan Technical Aid Center)Minoru SUZUKI (Tokyo Metropolitan Rehabilitation Center)Masafumi KAGAMI, Katsuhiko TORII, Masahiro NAGANAWA (Imasen Technical Institute Co. Ltd.)
Proceedings of 12th Japanese Conference of Advancement of Rehabilitation Technology,vol.12,pp. 65-68(August,1997)
Keywords:
Author to whom correspondence should be addressed:
Ikuo YONEDA (Tokyo Metropolitan Technical Aid Center)
TEL:03-3235-8578


Abstract:
This paper describes a simple electrically powered driving system for a hand propelled wheelchair, which aimed for a low price powered wheelchair with foldable mechanism. Goals of development were as follows: 1)Easy to remove batteries and a motor. 2)Foldable. 3)Available to put into a trunk of a regular car. 4)Loose weight using small batteries for travels. 5)Low price. Internal gears were set on both rear wheels. Two regular gears connected to motors, which was on the flames of the back rest, mesh with the gears on wheels. There was a safety mechanism on this system that automatically applied brake when the wheelchair stopped. These motorize unit can be easily put on and off with the wheelchair. All electrical parts were commercialized ones for powered wheelchairs. Whole weight was 35kg. Since this powered wheelchair was smaller than regular one, the minimum turning radius of this wheelchair was 10cm shorter than it of regular one. Therefore, it was assumed to be suitable for a use in home. One of modification considered was transferring the force from motors to brand new hand rims using friction.