Research on commercially electric wheelchairs and improving the running performance of passive link of joystick-type 6-wheel electric wheelchairs on uphill and downhill roads Part 1

As the number of elderly people increases, the demand for electric wheelchairs is increasing. Among them is a joystick-type 6-wheel electric wheelchair. It has three wheels, the central wheel of which is the driving wheel in side view. This structure allows the left and right drive wheels to rotate in the opposite direction, resulting in an extremely small turning radius compared to other types. On the other hand, it is difficult to ensure the grounding performance of the wheels, including the drive wheels, due to changes in the road surface outdoors because it has 6 wheels, so it is mainly intended for indoor use. In this paper, I studied how to improve the grounding performance of the drive wheels and other wheels by using a newly devised passive link. I devised a parallel double rocker link mechanism that connects six wheels with four sets of rocker links. I found a way to improve it. As a result, it was confirmed that the prototype vehicle using the parallel double rocker link satisfies the JIS requirements.