Elevated height wheelchair
AssigneePride Mobility Products Corporation
InventorsJames P. Mulhern, Stephen J. Antonishak
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
The present disclosure includes a wheelchair configured to reposition an occupant between a lowered and a raised position. The wheelchair can include a frame, a seat moveable relative to the frame, a drive wheel, one or more pairs of arm assemblies, and one or more sensors. The arm assembly includes a wheel configured to move from a first spatial location when the wheelchair is operating on flat, level ground to a second spatial location that is different than the first spatial location. Arm limiters can selectively engage the arm assembly based on at least one of a seat position, position of the arm assembly, and surface conditions of ground surface. The arm limiters can limit the range of motion of the arm assembly and sometimes other operational aspects of the chair.
Claims21
A powered wheelchair comprising:
- a frame;
- a lift mechanism supported by the frame:
- a seat supported by the lift mechanism, the lift mechanism configured to move the seat between a lowered position and a raised position;
- a pair of drive wheels;
- at least one drive coupled to the frame and configured to apply a torque to at least one of the drive wheels;
- an arm assembly including an arm member pivotably coupled to the frame, and a wheel rotatably coupled to the arm member;
- an inclination sensor configured to detect whether the frame is in a level position relative to a horizontal plane or an unleveled position relative to the horizontal plane;
- and
- a controller operatively coupled to the inclination sensor, the controller being configured, in response to input from an input device to operate the wheelchair in an elevated motion mode, to (i) power the at least one drive such that the wheelchair is capable of moving at a maximum raised-seat drive speed when the seat is in the raised position and the frame is in the level position, and (ii) power the at least one drive such that the wheelchair is capable of moving at a maximum raised-inhibited drive speed that is less than the maximum raised-seat drive speed when the seat is in the raised position and the frame is in the unleveled position.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.