Wheelchairs are an essential mobility tool for the elderly and infirm as well as those with lower limb disabilities. With increased accessibility, the range of motion for wheelchair users has gradually increased, but stairs have greatly restricted wheelchairs. Current manual and electric wheelchairs can travel on flat surfaces with a slope of fewer than 12 degrees, but they cannot cross stair steps, grooves, or cans. This requires further development of stair-climbing wheelchairs. A stair-climbing wheelchair refers to a special wheelchair that can assist people with limited mobility to go up and down stairs.
Here is the consistent list:
l The classification of stair-climbing wheelchairs
l The key technologies of stair-climbing wheelchairs
The classification of stair-climbing wheelchairs
Now there are two main types of stair-climbing wheelchairs: continuous type and intermittent type.
1、Among them, the continuous type stair climbing electric wheelchair is more widely used. Its main feature is that there is only one set of support devices in the process of climbing stairs, and it relies on this set of support devices to carry out the continuous movement to realize the function of a stair-climbing wheelchair going up and down stairs. According to its motion actuator, it can be divided into two kinds: star wheel mechanism and crawler wheel mechanism. The main structure of the stair climbing wheelchairs currently purchased by domestic consumers is the planetary wheel structure.
2、The main feature of the intermittent stair-climbing electric wheelchair is that it has two sets of support devices. Two sets of support devices alternately support achieve the function of going up and down the stairs. The stair-climbing process of this mechanism is similar to that of a person going up and down stairs, and some people call it a walking stair-climbing wheelchair. Among them, tracked wheelchairs are more mature in their application, but their movement on flat ground is far less than that of conventional wheelchairs.
The key technologies of stair-climbing wheelchairs
1、Climbing mechanism design: climbing structure is the center of the overall structural design of the stair-climbing wheelchairs system as well as the core. Star-wheel, leg and foot, and crawler structures can all achieve stair climbing. Among the three types of climbing structures mentioned above, the advantages are different. However, in recent years, in the research and development work of building climbing devices, composite climbing facilities are still the main research direction.
2、Anti-backward tilting facilities: In order to effectively ensure the safety of stair climbing work, we must ensure that the overall center of gravity of the stair climbing wheelchair and the user is continuously maintained in the middle of the support device and the stair support point. The relevant climbing system is used on a flat surface, so it will be influenced by its inertia and produce a backward tilt. To effectively solve the above problem, anti-tilt facilities should be placed at the rear end of the system structure. To ensure that the overall safety of the stair climbing process is effectively safeguarded, relevant locking facilities should be installed. If the tilt angle of the stair-climbing wheelchairs exceeds the relevant stability, the locking facility should immediately lock the equipment within the plan so that the support facility stops above the stair steps in time.
The above is for you to tell the basic introduction of stair-climbing wheelchairs, I hope it will be helpful to you. For more information, please visit other sections of this site. Our website is www.brothermedical.com.