611 Development of Level Holding Seat for Electric-Powered Wheelchair
Details
It is often difficult for handicapped people using the electric-powered wheelchairs to maintain their posture against external forces. Therefore, it is important to reduce the instability in driving the wheelchair under the various road conditions. In this study, the level holding seat mechanism available for the general electric-powered wheelchairs has been proposed. In order to occur the torque by the driver's weight and the range of inclination angle, the level holding seat was constructed by the link mechanism with the linear actuator. A prototype model of level holding mechanism was made practically. The effect of the proposed mechanism was evaluated by the running tests with electric-powered wheelchair. As the results, the stability of the driver and wheelchair system increase by this level holding seat mechanism.
