JP2001299815A - Small-sized vehicle for wheelchair - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a small-sized vehicle for a wheelchair which can be further reduced in size. SOLUTION: This small-sized vehicle 10 for the wheelchair is provided with a pair of left and right elevating/lowering plates 37 with which boarding in the wheelchair 60 can be performed. A pair of rear wheels 28 of the small-sized vehicle 10 are arranged on the inner side in the width direction of the vehicle in relation to a pair of wheelchair rear wheels 62. Thus, the width dimension of the small-sized vehicle 10 can be reduced.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a small wheelchair vehicle that can be driven while sitting in a wheelchair.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Wheelchair users are burdened with long-distance traveling in a wheelchair or going up and down a hill. Therefore,
2. Description of the Related Art As a small vehicle that can be driven alone while sitting in a wheelchair, for example, Japanese Patent Publication No. 6-5
No. 9850 is disclosed. As shown in FIG. 7, this small vehicle 1 includes a flat floor surface 2 and a U-shaped body 3 surrounding the floor surface 2.
The user can get on the floor 2 from behind with a wheelchair 4 and operate the vehicle with a steering wheel 5 erected at the front. At the rear of the vehicle, a pair of rear wheels 6 are provided so as to sandwich the floor 2, and each is covered by a body 3.

[0003]

The width of the small vehicle 1 is larger than the width of the wheelchair 4 by at least the provision of the pair of rear wheels 6, which hinders miniaturization. Had become. The present invention has been made in view of the above circumstances, and an object of the present invention is to provide a small wheelchair vehicle that can be further downsized.

[0004]

According to a first aspect of the present invention, there is provided a small-sized vehicle for a wheelchair, wherein the small-sized vehicle for a wheelchair rides on a floor and can be driven while sitting in a wheelchair. Wherein the pair of rear wheels is disposed inside the pair of rear wheels on the wheelchair side in the width direction of the vehicle.

According to a second aspect of the present invention, in the first aspect, the floor is provided so as to be able to move up and down via an elevating mechanism.

[0006] The invention of claim 3 is claim 1 or claim 2.
The floor surface is formed with a pair of left and right grooves along the front-rear direction of the vehicle, and each of the left and right wheels of the wheelchair can enter each groove. Having.

[0007]

According to the first aspect of the present invention, since the pair of rear wheels is disposed inside the pair of rear wheels on the wheelchair side in the width direction of the vehicle, the width of the entire small vehicle is reduced. Can be reduced.

According to the second aspect of the present invention, when the user gets on and off the vehicle, lowering the floor surface by the elevating mechanism facilitates getting on and off using a wheelchair.

According to the third aspect of the present invention, the wheelchair is positioned by inserting the left and right wheels of the wheelchair into the groove, so that the passenger can get on and off the vehicle smoothly.

[0010]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS Next, an embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to FIGS. 1 and 2
FIG. 3 is a perspective view showing a wheelchair small vehicle 10 of the present embodiment (hereinafter, referred to as a small vehicle) and a wheelchair 60. FIG. 3 is a plan view schematically showing the structure of the small vehicle 10, and FIG. It is a rear view of 10. First, the wheelchair 60 is a general manual wheelchair, and includes a pair of left and right free wheels 61 and a pair of right and left rear wheelchairs 62.

The small vehicle 10 is an electrically driven four-wheel vehicle. A ladder-like frame (not shown) that is elongated in the front-rear direction is provided at the lower part of the body of the small vehicle 10, and a driving motor 11 is provided at a front end thereof, so that the pair of front wheels 12 is driven. It has become. The drive motor 11 and the pair of front wheels 12 are covered by a resin front body 13. A steering shaft 15 is erected from the center of the upper surface of the front body 13 with the steering shaft 15 accommodated in a steering post 16. A steering mechanism 29 described later is connected to a lower end portion of the steering shaft 15. In addition, a steering wheel 17, an accelerator,
An operation unit 18 having other switches is provided.

A portion extending rearward from the front body 13 of the frame is a central portion 19, and the cover 2 is made of resin.
1 is covered. The width of the central portion 19 is smaller than that of the front body 13, and a pair of elevating plates 37 (described later) for mounting the wheelchair 60 are provided on both sides thereof. In front of the central part 19, the small vehicle 10
Is provided with a pair of batteries 22 for powering the vehicle. An elevating mechanism 41 (to be described later) for moving the elevating plate 37 up and down and a wire winding motor 26 to which a wire 25 is connected at the end are provided in the middle of the central portion 19 in the front-rear direction. I have.

At the rear of the central portion 19, a pair of rear wheels 28 are provided so as to be able to turn in the horizontal direction. A pair of rear wheels 28
4, has a smaller diameter than the front wheel 12, and is located inward in the width direction of a pair of elevating plates 37 on which the wheelchair 60 is mounted as shown in FIG. The pair of rear wheels 28 are connected to a steering mechanism 29. The structure of the steering mechanism 29 will be described. As shown in FIG.
And a front end of the rod 32 is connected to a tip end thereof. The rear end of the rod 32 is connected to one end of an L-shaped bracket 33 provided rotatably in the horizontal direction at the rear of the central portion 19. An arm 35A is connected to the other end of the L-shaped bracket 33, and the tip of the arm 35A is connected to one rear wheel 28.
It is connected to. Further, the rear wheel 28 is connected to the other rear wheel 28 via an arm 35B. By operating the handle 17, the steering shaft 1
When the arm 5 is turned, the arm 31 is turned, and the rod 32 is displaced back and forth. Then, the L-shaped bracket 33 rotates, and the pair of rear wheels 28 via the arms 35A and 35B.
Turns in a predetermined direction.

On the other hand, the elevating plate 37 (corresponding to the "floor surface" and the "groove" in the present invention) is formed in a groove that is elongated in the front-rear direction of the vehicle and has a U-shaped cross section. Each wheel of the wheelchair 60 (one of the left and right free wheels 61 and the wheelchair rear wheel 62) can be put into each lift plate 37.
At the front end of 7, a wheel stopper 38 having a wedge-shaped section is protruded. Also, a handrail 3 is provided on the outer side edge 37A of each lifting plate 37.
9 are erected. The position of the outer side edge 37A of each elevating plate 37 is substantially the same as the position of the side edge of the front body 13 that covers the front wheel 12. That is, the interval between the outer side edges 37A of the left and right lifting plates 37 is set to be substantially equal to the width of the small vehicle 10. The rear ends of the two lifting plates 37 are connected to ends of a slope plate 48 described later.

Next, an elevating mechanism 4 for elevating the elevating plate 37
In the first mechanism, the lifting mechanism 41 is provided with a pair of front and rear lifting shafts 42A and 42B so as to be rotatable around the axis. Both ends of the two elevating shafts 42A and 42B are located at positions deviated from the rotation shaft to one side, respectively, and support the elevating plate 37 there. Front lifting shaft 4
The 2A is provided with two gears 43A and 43B, and one of the gears 43A is connected to a lifting motor 46 via a chain 44A. Also, the other gear 43B
Is a shaft 42B for raising and lowering the rear side via a chain 44B.
Is connected to a gear 47 provided at The elevating motor 46 can be driven by a remote controller (not shown).
2B is rotated so that the lift plate 37 is horizontally displaced between the getting on / off position near the ground (see FIG. 5) and an operation position higher than this (see FIGS. 4 and 6). . In the operating position, a space is provided below the lift plate 37 so that some unevenness of the ground can be avoided.

On the other hand, a slope plate 4 provided at the rear of the vehicle body
As shown in FIG. 1 and FIG. 2, a large plate 48A is composed of two plates, a large plate 48A and a small plate 48B. The large plate 48A is rotatably attached to the rear ends of both lifting plates 37. The large plate 48A is rotatably attached to the distal end.
A plurality of protrusions 49 are provided on the back surface of the connecting portion between the large plate 48A and the small plate 48B. When the two plates 48A, 48B are tilted to the ground side when the lift plate 37 is at the getting on / off position, each protrusion 49 is provided. Is grounded, and an inclined surface that can be moved up and down by the wheelchair 60 is formed between the lift plate 37 and the ground. In addition, small plate 48B
One end of a wire 25 connected to a wire winding motor 26 is attached to the center of the end of the wire 25. The wire winding motor 26 can be driven by a remote controller (not shown). When the wire 25 is wound, the large plate 48A rises almost vertically, and the small plate 48B is obliquely lowered from the tip thereof. Becomes

The configuration of the present embodiment has been described above, and the operation thereof will be described next. In order to get into the small vehicle 10, for example, by operating a remote controller (not shown), the elevating motor 46 is driven to lower the elevating plate 37 to the elevating position. Next, when the wire winding motor 26 is driven to loosen the wire 25, the slope plate 48 falls down to the rear of the vehicle body, and an inclined surface is formed (see FIGS. 2 and 5). Therefore, the wheelchair 60 climbs up the slope plate 48, and the left and right wheels 61 and 62 ride on the respective lift plates 37 and move straight forward along the lift plates 37 as they are. At this time, since the elevating plate 37 is in the low getting on / off position, the slope plate 48 does not have a large inclination, and can climb easily. The lifting plate 37 is formed in a pair of left and right grooves, and the wheels 61 and 62 of the wheelchair 60 are positioned so that the vehicle can ride smoothly.

Next, when the wire take-up motor 26 is driven again to take up the wire 25, the large plate 48A rises almost vertically, the tip of the small plate 48B is pressed against the rear wheel 62 of the wheelchair, and the rear of the wheelchair 60 is moved. Movement to is regulated. Subsequently, the lifting motor 46 is driven to raise the lifting plate 37 to the operating position (see FIGS. 1, 4, and 6). Thus,
It is possible to drive and move the small vehicle 10 alone while sitting on the wheelchair 60. At the time of getting off the vehicle, the elevating plate 37 is lowered to the getting on / off position, the slope plate 48 is tilted backward, and the person gets off the wheelchair 60 in the reverse manner.

According to the present embodiment, the pair of rear wheels 28 of the small vehicle 10 are arranged inside the wheelchair rear wheels 62 in the width direction. Since the rear wheel is not provided outside the wheelchair rear wheel as in the related art, the width of the small vehicle 10 can be reduced accordingly. The members such as the battery 22, the elevating mechanism 41, and the rear wheel 62 are mounted on each wheel 6 of the wheelchair 60.
Because it is arranged in the central part 19 sandwiched between 1, 62,
Space efficient.

Furthermore, since the lift plate 37 is provided so as to be able to move up and down via the lift mechanism 41, the lift plate 37 can be set at a lower position when getting on and off the vehicle. This allows
Since the slope of the slope plate 48 can be small, the wheelchair 60
Getting on and off the vehicle easily. Also, the part that goes up and down
Since only the minimum necessary portions on which the wheels 61 and 62 of the wheelchair 60 are mounted, it is more efficient than lifting and lowering a single flat floor surface because extra portions are not raised and lowered. Further, the lift plate 37 is formed in a pair of left and right grooves, and the wheelchair 60 is positioned by putting the wheels 61 and 62 of the wheelchair 60 on the lift plate 37, so that the getting on and off can be performed smoothly. .

The technical scope of the present invention is not limited by the above-described embodiment. For example, the followings are also included in the technical scope of the present invention. (1) In the above embodiment, the present invention relates to an electric small vehicle 10
Although the example applied to (1) was shown, the present invention can also be applied to an engine vehicle. Further, in the above-described embodiment, the example in which the small vehicle 10 is ridden by the manual wheelchair 60 is described, but the small vehicle 10 may be ridden by another wheelchair such as an electric type. (2) In the above embodiment, the elevating plate 37 moves up and down horizontally via the elevating mechanism 41. According to the present invention, the floor may be inclined at the rear end side via the elevating mechanism, or The lifting mechanism need not be provided.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a perspective view showing a state in which a small wheelchair vehicle according to an embodiment is driven.

FIG. 2 is a perspective view showing a state in which a small vehicle for a wheelchair gets on and off in a wheelchair.

FIG. 3 is a plan view showing the structure of a small wheelchair vehicle.

FIG. 4 is a rear view showing a state in which the wheelchair is raised to a driving position.

FIG. 5 is a side view showing a state in which a lift plate is lowered to a boarding position.

FIG. 6 is a side view showing a state in which a lifting plate is raised to an operation position.

FIG. 7 is a perspective view showing a conventional small wheelchair vehicle.

[Explanation of symbols]

 DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 10 ... Small vehicle for wheelchairs 28 ... Rear wheel 37 ... Lifting plate (floor surface, groove part) 41 ... Lifting mechanism 60 ... Wheelchair 62 ... Wheelchair rear wheel

Continuation of the front page (72) Inventor Toshihiko Nonoyama 25, Ueikeike, Yoshiwara-cho, Toyota-shi, Aichi Prefecture Inside Araco Co., Ltd. 5H115 PC06 PG04 PG10 PI13 PI29 PI30 PU01 UI40

Claims (3)

[Claims] 1. A small-sized vehicle for a single-seat wheelchair that can be driven while sitting on a wheelchair on a floor surface, wherein a pair of rear wheels are arranged with respect to a pair of rear wheels on the wheelchair side. A small vehicle for a wheelchair, which is arranged inside in the width direction of the vehicle. 2. The small vehicle for a wheelchair according to claim 1, wherein the floor is provided so as to be able to move up and down via a lifting mechanism. 3. A pair of left and right grooves are formed on the floor along the front-rear direction of the vehicle, and wheels on both the left and right sides of the wheelchair can enter the respective grooves. The small vehicle for a wheelchair according to claim 1 or 2, wherein