2004 Volume 16 Issue 2 Pages 66-71
Electric powered wheelchair users are increasing and the improvement of riding comfort is desired.The tilting of body at the time of acceleration and deceleration is one of factors related to the riding quality. In the case of electric powered wheelchair, a speed control is performed through a joystick, and the acceleration and deceleration become rapid. Consequently, the operator's trunk tends to swing and the riding quality becomes poor. In this study, a control system for reducing the body tilting of electric powered wheelchair was designed. The relation between body tilting and the riding quality was investigated, and an optimal control corresponding to individual user was proposed. A state feedback control using an optimal regulator and a Kalman filter as the state observer, which is based on a modeling of electric powered wheelchair system including the operator(h-EPW system: human-Electric Powered Wheelchair system), was adopted. The system is based on a model in which only forward and backward body tilting is considered. The effect of reducing in body tilting with this control is confirmed by simulation. The body tilting in forward and backward directions was reduced even in turning of electric powered wheelchair, and it could turn conveniently. The control system is applied to the auxiliary power unit of wheelchair and the reduction effect of body tilting and its controllability was verified.
