Electric power-assisted wheelchair
AssigneeYamaha Hatsudoki Kabushiki Kaisha
InventorsAtsushi Uchiyama, Hiroaki Ogata
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
A power-assisted wheelchair wherein the power-assist for the wheels is based upon the manual force exerted on both of the wheels. The power-assist is continued for a brief time period after manual power input is stopped. The continuing assist is provided equally to each wheel so that the wheelchair will coast in a straight direction. The wheels of the wheelchair are readily detachable with the backing plate prime mover and transmission for driving the wheel.
Claims12
A power-assisted manually operated wheelchair having a seat for a rider, a pair of ground engaging wheels disposed on opposite sides of said seat, each of said wheels having a hand rim for operation by a rider seated in said seat to turn said wheels and manually propel said wheelchair, prime mover means associated with each of said wheels for selectively assisting manual force applied to said wheels, a pair of force sensors each associated with a respective of said hand rims for sensing the manual force applied thereto, and control means for controlling said prime mover means so that the power-assist provided to each wheel is related to the force sensed by both of said force sensors.
A power-assisted manually operated wheelchair having a seat for a rider, a pair of ground engaging wheels disposed on opposite sides of said seat, each of said wheels having a hand rim for operation by a rider seated in said seat to turn said wheels and manually propel said wheelchair, prime mover means associated with each of said wheels for selectively assisting manual force applied to said wheels, a pair of force sensors each associated with a respective of said hand rims for sensing the manual force applied thereto, and control means for controlling said prime mover means so that the power-assist provided to each wheel is related to the force sensed by each of said force sensors, said control means continuing to supply assist power to both of said wheels for a time period only after manual force is application to both of the hand rims is discontinued.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.