Design and Simulation of Removable Pavement Edge Climbing Electric Wheelchair for Elderly and Disabled Users

Abstract

In the urban areas of Thailand, those who travel in wheelchairs face a major hurdle owing to infrastructure construction that is not conducive to the use of wheelchairs. Specifically, such construction has a non-conducive design for practical use and long distances; it exposes wheelchair users to the burden of neglect. Furthermore, it is difficult to adjust finished buildings to satisfy the needs of wheelchair users, because this process is time consuming and costly. Therefore, numerous studies have proposed the development of wheelchairs that can be used in various environments as an alternative approach. However, most wheelchair users already have their personal wheelchairs, thus making it difficult to consider purchasing a new special wheelchair. Considering such problems and limitations, this study focuses on the design concept of an accessory (a track-based wheel) for retrofitting a standard wheelchair to enable the pavement edge-climbing function. The combination of a standard wheelchair and an accessory is termed as a removable pavement edge-climbing electric wheelchair. This development involved the design of the track-based wheel structure, static simulations, and dynamic simulations. Moreover, the effects of changing the seat angle, payload, motor speed, and step height on the power and torque of the drive motor, movement speed, angle of the track-based wheel, and linear actuator force were studied to determine the suitable specifications of the motors and linear actuators for the future track-based wheel prototype.