JP6920726B2 - Wheelchair attachment - Google Patents

Description

The present technology relates to wheelchair attachments. More specifically, the present invention relates to a spherically driven wheelchair attachment.

Conventionally, wheelchairs used in the medical and welfare fields are each provided with two front wheels and a rear wheel, and the user can move the wheelchair by rotating a hand rim connected to the rear wheel. It can also be moved by the assistant operating the push handle. Casters that can rotate 360 ° are used for the front wheels of this wheelchair. On the other hand, the rear wheels are mounted on a common axle, and a configuration that allows only forward and reverse is adopted. For this reason, when the wheelchair is moved in the lateral direction or the diagonal direction, it is necessary to change the direction while moving the wheelchair back and forth, which reduces convenience.

Therefore, an electric moving device has been proposed that allows the wheelchair to move in any direction and saves labor. This moving device is a device configured to be movable in an arbitrary direction using a motor or the like, and by applying it to a wheelchair or the like, convenience can be improved as compared with a manual wheelchair. As such a moving device, a moving device in which three driving spheres are arranged on a carriage has been proposed. In this moving device, three driving spheres are arranged at positions forming the vertices of a triangle, and three driving spheres are rotated and driven at the same time by contacting both of the driving spheres arranged adjacent to each other. Further equipped with a rotor. These rotors are driven by three motors, respectively, and move the moving device in all directions by changing the rotation directions of the three rotors (see, for example, Patent Document 1).

JP-A-2010-030360

The above-mentioned prior art is disclosed as a moving device such as an electric wheelchair. However, in order to form a wheelchair, it is necessary to separately create a vehicle body equipped with chairs, handrails, etc. and attach it as a moving device for the vehicle body. Therefore, there is a problem that the wheelchair is difficult to configure.

This technique was made in view of the above-mentioned problems, and aims to simplify the creation of a wheelchair that can move in any direction.

An aspect of the present technology is to mount a pair of rear wheels of a wheelchair on a vehicle body, and the vehicle body is rotatably held on the vehicle body and arranged along an axis substantially parallel to the axles of the pair of rear wheels. It is a wheelchair attachment including two supporting spheres and an auxiliary sphere that is rotatably held by the vehicle body and is arranged at a position different from the axis on which the two spheres are arranged to support the vehicle body. According to such an aspect of the present technology, when the rear wheel of the wheelchair is placed, the vehicle body of the wheelchair attachment attached to the wheelchair is supported by two spheres and an auxiliary sphere. Further, since the two spheres are arranged along an axis substantially parallel to the axle of the rear wheel of the wheelchair and the auxiliary sphere is arranged at a position different from the axis, a triangle having the line connecting the two spheres as the base is formed. At least one of the auxiliary spheres is arranged diagonally to the base when assumed. Since these two spheres and the auxiliary sphere are rotatably held by the vehicle body, the wheelchair attachment can move in any direction. It is assumed that the wheelchair with the wheelchair attachment will move in any direction.

Further, in this embodiment, the two spheres may be held by ball casters that abut on each of the spheres. In such an aspect, the two spheres have the effect of being rotatably held by the ball casters.

Further, in this embodiment, a drive roller that press-contacts and rotationally drives each of the above two spheres may be further provided. In such an aspect, the two spheres are rotationally driven by the pressure-welded drive rollers. Wheelchair attachments are expected to be electrified.

Further, in this embodiment, two drive rollers arranged for each of the two spheres and rotationally driven on rotation axes orthogonal to each other may be provided as the drive rollers. In such an aspect, the sphere is rotationally driven by two orthogonal driving rollers. The movement direction based on the rotational drive to the sphere by each drive roller is vector-added, and the movement of the sphere in the added direction is assumed.

Further, in this embodiment, the drive roller for rotationally driving the two spheres on a rotation axis parallel to the axle and the drive roller for rotationally driving the two spheres on a rotation axis perpendicular to the axle are respectively. May be provided as. According to this aspect, the sphere is driven by a drive roller that is rotationally driven on a rotation axis parallel to and perpendicular to the axle of the wheelchair, and the sphere rotates in a direction corresponding to the direction parallel and perpendicular to the forward / backward direction of the wheelchair. It has the effect of being driven. It is expected that the control of the drive roller when moving the wheelchair back and forth will be simplified.

Further, in this embodiment, the two spheres may be held by the three ball casters that come into contact with the sphere from diagonally above. This has the effect that the sphere is supported by three points from diagonally above. Stabilization of sphere support is expected.

Further, in this embodiment, the drive rollers are further provided with auxiliary rollers that are arranged to face each other and sandwich the sphere together with the drive rollers, and the two spheres are in contact with the sphere from the vertical direction. The casters may hold the above. As a result, the sphere is supported at the apex and is sandwiched by the driving roller and the auxiliary roller. The drive roller is configured to support and drive the sphere, and it is expected that the configuration of the wheelchair attachment will be simplified.

Further, in this aspect, a wheel locking portion for locking the rear wheels mounted on the vehicle body to the vehicle body may be further provided. As a result, the rear wheel of the wheelchair is locked to the vehicle body and placed on the vehicle body. It is assumed that the wheelchair is firmly fixed to the wheelchair attachment.

The wheelchair attachment according to the present technology has an excellent effect of easily constructing a wheelchair that can move in any direction.

It is a figure which shows the structural example of the wheelchair attachment which concerns on 1st Embodiment of this technique. It is a figure which shows the structural example of the wheelchair attachment which concerns on 1st Embodiment of this technique. It is a figure which shows an example of the attachment method of the wheelchair attachment which concerns on 1st Embodiment of this technique. It is a figure which shows the moving example of the wheelchair attachment which concerns on 1st Embodiment of this technique. It is a figure which shows the structural example of the wheelchair attachment which concerns on the modification of the 1st Embodiment of this technique. It is a figure which shows the structural example of the wheelchair attachment which concerns on the 2nd Embodiment of this technique. It is a figure which shows the structural example of the wheelchair attachment which concerns on 3rd Embodiment of this technique.

Next, a mode for carrying out the present technology (hereinafter, referred to as an embodiment) will be described with reference to the drawings. In the drawings below, the same or similar parts are designated by the same or similar reference numerals. However, the drawings are schematic, and the dimensional ratios of each part do not always match the actual ones. In addition, it goes without saying that parts of the drawings having different dimensional relationships and ratios are included. In addition, the embodiments will be described in the following order.
1. 1. First Embodiment 2. Second embodiment 3. Third Embodiment

<1. First Embodiment>
[Wheelchair attachment configuration]
1 and 2 are diagrams showing a configuration example of a wheelchair attachment according to a first embodiment of the present technology. FIG. 1 is a top view showing a configuration example of the wheelchair attachment 1, and FIG. 2 is a side view showing a configuration example of the wheelchair attachment 1. The wheelchair attachment 1 shown in FIGS. 1 and 2 includes a vehicle body 10, a cover 11, wheel locking portions 12 and 14, wheel chocks 13 and 15, ball caster support portions 16 to 18, and spheres 20 and 21. , Drive rollers 22 to 25 and motors 30 to 33. Further, the wheelchair attachment 1 in the figure further includes power transmission units 34 to 37 and ball casters 40 to 46. For convenience, the description of the motors 30 to 33 and the power transmission units 34 to 37 is omitted in FIG.

The vehicle body 10 is equipped with a member constituting the wheelchair attachment 1. The body 10 may be composed of flat metal. As will be described later in FIG. 3, when the wheelchair attachment 1 is attached to the wheelchair (wheelchair 2), the rear wheels (rear wheels 3 and 4) of the wheelchair 2 are mounted on the vehicle body 10 and fixed to the vehicle body 10. NS. As a result, the wheelchair attachment 1 is connected to the wheelchair 2. The elliptical circles drawn by the alternate long and short dash line in FIG. 1 represent the rear wheels 3 and 4 of the wheelchair 2. The pair of rear wheels 3 and 4 of the wheelchair 2 are mounted on the wheel mounting portions 60 and 61 of the vehicle body 10 shown in FIG. 1, respectively. The cover 11 is a cover that protects the motor 30 and the like, which will be described later. The cover 11 is attached between the wheel mounting portions 60 and 61 of the vehicle body 10. Details of how to attach the wheelchair attachment 1 to the wheelchair 2 will be described later.

The wheel locking portions 12 and 14 lock the rear wheels 3 and 4. The wheel locking portions 12 and 14 lock the rear wheels 3 and 4 together with the wheel chocks 13 and 15 when the rear wheels 3 and 4 are mounted on the wheel mounting portions 60 and 61. The wheel locking portions 12 and 14 can be composed of, for example, a lever and a stopper that is opened and closed by the lever to limit the movement of the rear wheels 3 and 4. The wheel locking portions 12 and 14 represented by the dotted line and the solid line in FIG. 1 represent the open state and the closed state of the stopper, respectively. With the stopper open, the rear wheels 3 and 4 ride on the vehicle body 10 and are mounted on the wheel mounting portions 60 and 61. After that, by closing the stopper, the rear wheel 3 is sandwiched between the wheel locking portion 12 and the wheel chock 13. Similarly, the rear wheel 4 is sandwiched between the wheel locking portion 14 and the wheel chock 15. As a result, the rear wheels 3 and 4 are locked to the wheel mounting portions 60 and 61. The wheelchair 2 can be fixed to the vehicle body 10.

At this time, the rear wheels 3 and 4 are locked between the spheres 20 and 21 described later and the ball caster 46, but when the center of gravity of the wheelchair 2 is locked in the vicinity of the spheres 20 and 21. Suitable. This is because the burden of handling the wheelchair 2 is reduced. In addition, a fixture for firmly fixing the rear wheels 3 and 4 to the wheel mounting portions 60 and 61, for example, a binding band or the like may be further provided. It is also possible to automate the locking of the rear wheels 3 and 4. For example, the wheel locking portions 12 and 14 described above may be configured to automatically operate the lever by a solenoid or the like.

The spheres 20 and 21 are rotatably held by the vehicle body 10 to move the wheelchair attachment 1. The spheres 20 and 21 are arranged on an axis parallel to the axles of the rear wheels 3 and 4. Further, the spheres 20 and 21 are held by three ball casters, respectively. Specifically, the sphere 20 is held by being brought into contact with the ball casters 40 to 42, and the sphere 21 is held by being brought into contact with the ball casters 43 to 45. The ball casters 40 to 42 are attached to the ball caster support portions 16 arranged on the vehicle body 10, and the balls 50 to 52 are rotatably arranged on the ball casters 40 to 42, respectively. That is, when the ball caster 40 or the like comes into contact with the sphere 20, the balls 50 to 52 come into contact with the sphere 20. As a result, the sphere 20 is rotatably held by the vehicle body 10.

Similarly, the ball casters 43 to 45 are attached to the ball caster support portions 17 arranged on the vehicle body 10, and the balls 53 to 55 are rotatably arranged on the ball casters 43 to 45, respectively. The balls 53 to 55 come into contact with the sphere 21, and the sphere 21 is rotatably held by the vehicle body 10. As shown in FIG. 2, the spheres 20 and 21 are arranged so as to project from the lower part of the vehicle body 10 through the openings 62 and 63 arranged in the vehicle body 10, and come into contact with the floor surface or the like to support the wheelchair attachment 1. do. By rotating these spheres 20 and 21 in an arbitrary direction, the wheelchair 2 to which the wheelchair attachment 1 is attached can be moved or changed in an arbitrary direction. For the spheres 20 and 21, for example, spheres made of a resin such as polycarbonate or a hard rubber such as urethane rubber can be used.

As described above, the ball casters 40 to 42 and 43 to 45 abut on the spheres 20 and 21 from diagonally above the spheres 20 and 21, respectively. Therefore, as shown in the figure, the spheres 20 and 21 are held at three points, and the spheres 20 and 21 can be held stably. As will be described later, since the drive roller 22 and the like are pressed against the spheres 20 and 21, a lateral force is applied to the spheres 20 and 21. Further, when the wheelchair attachment 1 moves, a force in the direction opposite to the moving direction is applied to the spheres 20 and 21. Even when such a lateral force is applied, the stability of holding the sphere 20 or the like can be improved by holding the sphere 20 or the like at three points.

Further, a ball caster 46 is further arranged on the vehicle body 10. The ball caster 46 includes a ball 56 and is arranged on the vehicle body 10 via a ball caster support portion 18. As shown in FIG. 2, the ball casters 46 are arranged so as to project to the lower part of the vehicle body 10 through an opening 64 arranged in the vehicle body 10. At this time, the ball 56 comes into contact with the floor surface or the like. The vehicle body 10 is supported by the balls 56 and the spheres 20 and 21. The ball casters 46 are arranged at positions different from the axes parallel to the axles of the rear wheels 3 and 4. That is, the ball 56 is arranged at a position different from the axis on which the spheres 20 and 21 are arranged. As a result, the spheres 20 and 21 and the ball 56 support the vehicle body 10 at three points, and the wheelchair attachment 1 is stably supported on the floor surface or the like. The ball 56 is an example of the auxiliary sphere described in the claims.

The configuration of the wheelchair attachment 1 is not limited to this example. For example, it may be configured to have a plurality of ball casters including the ball casters 46. Specifically, in the vehicle body 10 of FIG. 1, a trapezoidal shape in which the ball casters 46 are shifted in either the left or right direction, one ball caster is added, and the line connecting the spheres 20 and 21 is the upper bottom or the lower bottom. These ball casters can be arranged at the apex positions. Further, in the vehicle body 10 of FIG. 1, two ball casters may be added and arranged one by one on the left and right sides of the ball casters 46 (for example, positions adjacent to the wheel chocks 15 and 13). When the wheelchair 2 is relatively large or when it is necessary to overcome a step in the wheelchair 2 to which the wheelchair attachment 1 is attached, the wheelchair attachment 1 is supported more stably by arranging a plurality of ball casters on the vehicle body 10. can do.

The drive rollers 22 to 25 are rollers that drive the spheres 20 and 21. The drive rollers 22 to 25 are pressed against the spheres 20 and 21 and arranged to rotationally drive the spheres 20 and 21. The drive rollers 22 and 23 drive the sphere 20, and the drive rollers 24 and 25 drive the sphere 21. Further, the drive rollers 22 to 25 can be arranged, for example, at positions (heights) where their respective rotation axes are included in a horizontal surface passing through the centers of the spheres 20 and 21.

These drive rollers 22 to 25 are rotationally driven by the motors 30 to 33, respectively. The power transmission units 34 to 37 are arranged between the motors 30 to 33 and the drive rollers 22 to 25, respectively. The power transmission units 34 to 37 transmit the power of the motor 30 and the like to the drive roller 22 and the like, and can be composed of, for example, a plurality of gears that are engaged. The power transmission units 34 to 37 can change the rotation speed of the motor 30 or the like.

As described above, the drive rollers 22 to 25 are arranged in pressure contact with the spheres 20 and 21. As a result, a frictional force is generated between the drive roller 22 and the like and the sphere 20 and the like. By increasing the frictional force between the drive roller 22 and the like and the sphere 20 and the like rather than the rolling frictional force between the sphere 20 and the like and the floor surface and the like when the weight of the wheelchair 2 and the user of the wheelchair 2 is applied. The wheelchair attachment 1 attached to the wheelchair 2 can be moved by the spheres 20 and 21. It is necessary to press the drive roller 22 or the like against the sphere 20 or the like based on a predetermined pressure in consideration of the rolling frictional force between the sphere 20 or the like and the floor surface or the like.

The drive rollers 22 to 25 are pressure-welded from directions orthogonal to the spheres 20 and 21, respectively. For example, the drive rollers 22 and 23 are pressed against the sphere 20 from the X and Y directions in the figure. When these two orthogonal driving rollers 22 and 23 rotate to drive the sphere 20, the direction of the driving force in the sphere 20 is the driving force applied to the sphere 20 by the two driving rollers 22 and 23. It is the direction of vector addition. Therefore, the sphere 20 can be driven in an arbitrary direction by individually controlling the rotations of the two drive rollers 22 and 23. Further, by making the driving directions of the driving rollers 22 and 23 orthogonal to the sphere 20, it is possible to prevent interference of the driving forces of the driving rollers 22 and 23. Similarly, the drive rollers 24 and 25 are pressed against the sphere 21 from the X and Y directions to drive the sphere 21 in any direction. In this way, by supporting the wheelchair attachment 1 by using the sphere 20 or the like having a high degree of freedom in rotation, the wheelchair attachment 1 can be used even in a simple configuration in which two drive wheels (spheres 20 and 21) are arranged. It can be moved in any direction.

Further, the drive rollers 23 and 25 rotationally drive the spheres 20 and 21 on a rotation axis parallel to the axles of the rear wheels 3 and 4 of the wheelchair 2, respectively. On the other hand, the drive rollers 22 and 24 rotationally drive the spheres 20 and 21 on a rotation axis perpendicular to the axle, respectively. Here, the drive roller having a rotation axis parallel to the axles of the rear wheels 3 and 4 of the wheelchair 2 and the drive roller having a rotation axis perpendicular to the axle are referred to as a first drive roller and a second drive roller, respectively. Refer to. In such a configuration, the wheelchair attachment 1 can be moved forward and backward by rotationally driving the drive rollers 23 and 25 (first drive rollers). At that time, the drive rollers 22 and 24 (second drive rollers) can be stopped, and the drive methods of the drive rollers 22 to 25 can be simplified. Details of the driving method of the driving rollers 22 to 25 will be described later.

Power is supplied to the motor 30 and the like by a power supply device (not shown), and rotation is controlled by a control device (not shown). Further, the rotation of the motor 30 and the like can be stopped by the control of the control device. For example, by short-circuiting between the power input lines of the motor 30 and the like, it is possible to limit the rotation due to the external force applied to the motor 30 and the like. This corresponds to a brake using an electromagnetic force between a stator such as a motor 30 and a rotor. Normally, the brakes of the wheelchair 2 are attached to the rear wheels 3 and 4. Therefore, when the wheelchair attachment 1 is applied to the wheelchair 2, a new brake is required in place of the brake attached to the rear wheels 3 and 4. Therefore, the wheelchair 2 connected to the wheelchair attachment 1 can be stopped by causing the motor 30 or the like to act as a brake.

[Installation of wheelchair attachment]
FIG. 3 is a diagram showing an example of a method of attaching a wheelchair attachment according to the first embodiment of the present technology. FIG. 6 is a diagram illustrating a state in which a wheelchair attachment 1 is attached to a wheelchair 2 having rear wheels 3 and 4. As shown in a in the figure, the wheelchair 2 is retracted and rides on the wheelchair attachment 1. At this time, the rear wheels 3 and 4 are mounted on the wheel mounting portions 60 and 61 of the wheelchair attachment 1. After that, the levers of the wheel locking portions 12 and 14 are operated to fix the rear wheels 3 and 4. B and c in the figure are views showing how the rear wheels 3 and 4 are mounted on the wheelchair attachment 1.

By using the spheres 20 and 21 as wheels, the vehicle height of the vehicle body 10 can be lowered, and the burden of attaching the wheelchair attachment 1 to the wheelchair 2 can be reduced. The change in vehicle height and inclination of the wheelchair 2 after the wheelchair attachment 1 is attached can be made slight, and the convenience of the user of the wheelchair 2 can be improved.

[Moving wheelchair attachment]
FIG. 4 is a diagram showing a moving example of the wheelchair attachment according to the first embodiment of the present technology. FIG. 6 is a simplified top view of the wheelchair attachment 1 attached to the wheelchair 2. The four oval circles in the figure represent the front wheels 5 and 6 and the rear wheels 3 and 4 of the wheelchair 2. Further, a and b in the figure are diagrams showing examples of a case where the wheelchair 2 is moved forward and a case where the wheelchair 2 is moved in an oblique direction, respectively.

In a in the figure, the drive rollers 23 and 25 (first drive roller) are rotated in the direction of the arrow, and the rotation of the drive rollers 22 and 24 (second drive roller) is stopped. The spheres 20 and 21 are rotationally driven in the direction of the arrow by the first drive roller. As a result, the wheelchair 2 and the wheelchair attachment 1 move forward in the direction of the white arrow described in a in the figure. The wheelchair 2 and the wheelchair attachment 1 can be retracted by rotating the first drive roller in the direction opposite to a in the figure. In any case, when the center of gravity of the wheelchair 2 including the user is located between the spheres 20 and 21, the above-mentioned forward / backward movement can be performed. When the center of gravity position deviates from the middle of the spheres 20 and 21, it is necessary to control the driving force (torque) of the motor 31 or 33 that rotationally drives the drive rollers 23 and 25, respectively, according to the deviation of the center of gravity position. .. This is to correct the deviation of the orbit.

In b in the figure, the drive rollers 22 to 25 are rotated in the direction of the arrow. That is, the first drive roller and the second drive roller are rotated at the same time. As described above, the spheres 20 and 21 are driven in the directions in which the driving forces of the driving rollers 22 and 23 and the driving forces 24 and 25 are vector-added, respectively. Therefore, as shown by the arrows in the figure, the rotation directions of the spheres 20 and 21 are along the oblique rotation axis. Due to such rotation of the spheres 20 and 21, thrust is applied to the wheelchair attachment 1 in the diagonally upward right direction in the figure. However, the wheelchair 2 and the wheelchair attachment 1 turn counterclockwise due to the influence of the frictional force between the floor surfaces of the front wheels 5 and 6, which are non-driving wheels. Therefore, even in this case as well, the torque of the motors 30 to 33 is controlled to generate a clockwise driving force on the spheres 20 and 21. As a result, the above-mentioned counterclockwise rotation can be canceled, and the wheelchair 2 and the wheelchair attachment 1 can be moved diagonally upward to the right indicated by the white arrow b in the figure.

The control device described above controls the rotation speed and direction of the drive rollers 22 to 25 by controlling the rotation of the motors 30 to 33 based on the instruction of the user, and drives the spheres 20 and 21. That is, when the control device receives an instruction to move forward or backward or change direction by Joyce Tech or the like operated by the user, the control device calculates the rotation direction and rotation speed of the spheres 20 and 21 according to the instruction. Next, the control device selects the motors 30 to 33 according to the calculated rotation direction and the like to control the rotation. At this time, the torque of the motors 30 to 33 is controlled according to the situation. By such a procedure, the movement of the wheelchair 2 and the wheelchair attachment 1 can be controlled. Further, the control device may calculate in advance the relationship between the rotation of the spheres 20 and 21 and the movement of the wheelchair 2 and the wheelchair attachment 1, and perform PID control with the movement speed instructed by the user as the target value. can. As described above, by controlling the wheelchair attachment 1 attached to the wheelchair 2, the wheelchair 2 and the wheelchair attachment 1 can be moved in all directions while maintaining their postures.

[Modification example]
The wheelchair attachment 1 described above uses four motors (motors 30 to 33) to drive the drive rollers 22 to 25 and the like, but a method of driving the drive rollers 22 and the like by three motors can also be adopted. ..

[Moving wheelchair attachment]
FIG. 5 is a diagram showing a configuration example of a wheelchair attachment according to a modified example of the first embodiment of the present technology. The figure shows the arrangement of the drive roller 22 and the like and the motor 30 and the like in the wheelchair attachment 1. The wheelchair attachment 1 in the figure is different from the wheelchair attachment 1 described in FIGS. 1 and 2 in that a belt 38 is provided instead of the motor 32 and the power transmission unit 36. As described with reference to FIG. 4, when the rotation directions and speeds of the drive rollers 22 and 24 are the same, the drive rollers 22 and 24 can be driven by a common motor. Specifically, as shown in FIG. 5, the rotation of the motor 30 is transmitted to the drive roller 24 by the belt 38. At this time, the belt 38 is connected to the drive rollers 22 and 24 by the pulley, respectively. As a result, the drive rollers 22 and 24 can be rotationally driven simultaneously by the motor 30. The wheelchair attachment 1 can be configured by the three motors, and the configuration of the wheelchair attachment 1 can be simplified. It should be noted that the power can be transmitted by a plurality of gears instead of the belt 38.

When the axles of the rear wheels 3 and 4 of the wheelchair 2 and the axes on which the spheres 20 and 21 are arranged are at substantially the same position and the center of gravity is located between the spheres 20 and 21, the drive rollers 23 and The 25 may be rotationally driven by a common motor.

As described above, according to the first embodiment of the present technology, an electric wheelchair is configured by mounting and fixing the rear wheel of the wheelchair on the wheelchair attachment 1 that can move in any direction. can do. A simple procedure makes it possible to turn a normal wheelchair into an electric wheelchair that can move in any direction.

<2. Second Embodiment>
In the wheelchair attachment 1 of the first embodiment described above, the sphere 20 and the like were supported by three ball casters (ball casters 40 to 42). On the other hand, the wheelchair attachment 1 of the second embodiment of the present technology is different from the first embodiment in that the number of ball casters supporting the sphere 20 and the like is reduced.

[Wheelchair attachment configuration]
FIG. 6 is a diagram showing a configuration example of a wheelchair attachment according to a second embodiment of the present technology. In the figure, a is a top view showing a configuration example of the wheelchair attachment 1, and b in the figure is a side view showing a configuration example of the wheelchair attachment 1. The wheelchair attachment 1 of the figure is different from the wheelchair attachment 1 described with reference to FIGS. 1 and 2 in that the ball casters 40 to 45 and the ball casters 47 and 48 are provided instead of the ball casters 40 to 45 and the ball caster supports 16 and 17. Further, the wheelchair attachment 1 in the figure further includes auxiliary rollers 26 to 29.

The ball casters 47 and 48 hold the spheres 20 and 21. The ball casters 47 and 48 are attached to the cover 11 and abut on the spheres 20 and 21 from the vertical direction, respectively. Balls 57 and 58 are rotatably arranged on the ball casters 47 and 48, respectively. That is, the balls 57 and 58 abut on the spheres 20 and 21, respectively.

The auxiliary rollers 26 to 29 are rollers that are arranged to face the drive rollers 22 to 25, respectively, and sandwich the spheres 20 and 21 together with the drive rollers 22 to 25. Specifically, the auxiliary roller 26 is arranged to face the drive roller 22 and sandwiches the sphere 20, and the auxiliary roller 27 is arranged to face the drive roller 23 and sandwiches the sphere 20. Similarly, the auxiliary roller 28 is arranged to face the drive roller 24 and sandwiches the sphere 21, and the auxiliary roller 29 is arranged to face the drive roller 25 and sandwiches the sphere 21. The auxiliary rollers 26 to 29 are arranged on the vehicle body 10 via the auxiliary roller support portions 70 to 73, respectively.

The drive rollers 22 to 25 in the second embodiment of the present technology are pressed against the spheres 20 and 21 by sandwiching the spheres 20 and 21 together with the auxiliary rollers 26 to 29. At this time, the drive roller 22 and the like and the auxiliary roller 26 and the like are arranged at positions (heights) where the rotation axis is included in the horizontal surface passing through the centers of the spheres 20 and 21. Further, the spheres 20 and 21 are sandwiched by the drive roller 22 and the like and the auxiliary roller 26 and the like from the X and Y directions in the figure, and are held by the ball casters 57 and the like from the Z direction. As a result, the spheres 20 and 21 are held by the apex and four orthogonal points near the equator, respectively. As a result, the positions of the spheres 20 and 21 are fixed.

In the second embodiment of the present technology, the spheres 20 and 21 are sandwiched by a drive roller 22 or the like and an auxiliary roller 26 or the like with a predetermined pressure. As a result, the drive roller 22 and the like can be pressed against the sphere 20 and the like.

As described above, according to the second embodiment of the present technology, the spheres 20 and 21 are held horizontally by the drive rollers 22 to 25 and the auxiliary rollers 26 to 29 that sandwich the spheres 20 and 21, respectively. .. Therefore, the number of ball casters required to hold the spheres 20 and 21 can be reduced to two ball casters that hold the spheres 20 and 21 from the vertical direction, respectively, and the configuration of the wheelchair attachment 1 can be simplified.

[Modification example]
The wheelchair attachment 1 described above holds the spheres 20 and 21 by one ball caster 47 and 48, respectively, but like the wheelchair attachment 1 in the first embodiment of the present technology, the sphere is held by three ball casters. It is also possible to adopt a configuration in which 20 and 21 are held, respectively. For example, the ball casters 40 to 45 in FIGS. 1 and 2 are arranged on the cover 11, and the ball caster support portions 16 and 17 are omitted. Interference between the drive rollers 22 to 25 and the auxiliary rollers 26 to 29 and the ball casters 40 to 45 can be prevented, and the sphere 20 or the like can be held by the three ball casters while the auxiliary rollers 26 or the like are arranged. .. As a result, the spheres 20 and 21 can be held more firmly with respect to the vehicle body 10.

<3. Third Embodiment>
In the wheelchair attachment 1 of the first embodiment described above, the sphere 20 and the like are driven by the drive roller 22 and the like. On the other hand, the wheelchair attachment 1 of the third embodiment of the present technology is different from the first embodiment in that the drive roller 22 and the like are omitted and a manual wheelchair attachment configuration is adopted.

[Wheelchair attachment configuration]
FIG. 7 is a diagram showing a configuration example of a wheelchair attachment according to a third embodiment of the present technology. In the figure, a is a top view showing a configuration example of the wheelchair attachment 1, and b in the figure is a side view showing a configuration example of the wheelchair attachment 1. The wheelchair attachment 1 in the figure does not need to include drive rollers 22 to 25, motors 30 to 33, and power transmission units 34 to 37 as compared with the wheelchair attachment 1 described in FIGS. 1 or 2. That is, the wheelchair attachment 1 in the figure is configured by rotatably supporting two spheres 20 and 21 and balls 56 arranged on the ball casters 46 on the vehicle body 10. By adopting a configuration in which the drive mechanism is omitted, the configuration of the wheelchair attachment 1 can be simplified.

Similar to the wheelchair attachment 1 described with reference to FIGS. 1 and 2, the wheelchair attachment 1 can be attached to the wheelchair 2 by mounting and locking the rear wheels 3 and 4 of the wheelchair 2 on the wheel mounting portions 60 and 61. can. It is also possible to arrange two ball casters instead of the sphere 20 and the ball casters 40 to 42 and the sphere 21 and the ball casters 43 to 45. In this case, the configuration of the wheelchair attachment 1 can be further simplified. By attaching such a wheelchair attachment 1 to the wheelchair 2, the wheelchair 2 can be configured as a manual wheelchair that can move in any direction.

As described above, according to the third embodiment of the present technology, the spheres 20 and 21 and the ball 56 are rotatably supported by the vehicle body 10, and the driving mechanism of the spheres 20 and 21 is omitted. Thereby, the configuration of the wheelchair attachment 1 can be simplified.

Finally, the description of each embodiment described above is an example of the present technology, and the present technology is not limited to the above-described embodiment. Therefore, it goes without saying that various changes can be made according to the design and the like as long as the technical idea of the present technology is not deviated from the above-described embodiments.

Further, the processing procedure described in the above-described embodiment may be regarded as a method having these series of procedures, or as a program for causing a computer to execute these series of procedures or as a recording medium for storing the program. You may catch it. As the recording medium, for example, a CD (CompactDisc), a DVD (DigitalVersatileDisc), a memory card, or the like can be used.

1 Wheelchair attachment 2 Wheelchairs 3, 4 Rear wheels 5, 6 Front wheels 10 Body 11 Covers 12, 14 Wheel locks 16-18 Ball casters Support 20, 21 Spheres 22-25 Drive rollers 26-29 Auxiliary rollers 30-33 Motors 34-37 Power transmission part 38 Belt 40-48 Ball caster 50-58 Ball 60, 61 Wheel mounting part 70-73 Auxiliary roller support part

Claims (7)

A flat vehicle body having a wheel mounting part on which a pair of wheelchair rear wheels are mounted on a plate surface,
Two spheres that are rotatably held between the pair of wheel mounting portions in the front portion of the vehicle body and are arranged along an axis substantially parallel to the axles of the pair of rear wheels to support the vehicle body. ,
An auxiliary sphere that is rotatably held between the two spheres in the left-right direction of the vehicle body and is arranged at a position behind the two spheres to support the vehicle body and is smaller than the two spheres.
A wheel locking portion that restricts the movement of the rear wheels mounted on the wheel mounting portion, and a wheel locking portion.
A wheel chock provided on the vehicle body and sandwiching the rear wheel together with the wheel locking portion,
Wheelchair attachment equipped with. The wheelchair attachment according to claim 1, wherein the two spheres are held by ball casters that come into contact with each of the spheres. The wheelchair attachment according to claim 2, further comprising a drive roller that press-contacts and rotationally drives each of the two spheres. The wheelchair attachment according to claim 3, further comprising two drive rollers arranged for each of the two spheres and rotationally driven on rotation axes orthogonal to each other as the drive rollers. 4. The drive roller includes a drive roller for rotationally driving the two spheres on a rotation axis parallel to the axle and a drive roller for rotationally driving the two spheres on a rotation axis perpendicular to the axle. The listed wheelchair attachment. The wheelchair attachment according to claim 3, wherein the two spheres are held by the three ball casters, each of which abuts on the sphere from diagonally above. An auxiliary roller that is arranged to face each of the drive rollers and sandwiches the sphere together with the drive rollers is further provided.
The wheelchair attachment according to claim 3, wherein the two spheres are held by the ball casters that come into contact with the spheres from the vertical direction.

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