Citation

Masuzawa T, Minami S. J. Asian Electr. Veh. 2009; 7(1): 1245-1250.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2009, Asian Electric Vehicle Society, Publisher Union Press)

DOI

10.4130/jaev.7.1245

PMID

unavailable

Abstract

An emergency-shutdown system has been developed to be mounted on the existing joystick-type electric wheelchair so that the wheelchair is halted when disabled or elderly riders make operational errors caused by strain. Operational errors are often made when pedestrians appear suddenly in front of a rider and this causes the rider to grab the joystick tight, or to tilt the joystick so hard that the stick is fully throttled. A simple system, which detects errors with a pressure-sensitive switch and operates a self-holding current-shutoff system thereafter, was developed as a system applicable to conventional, commercially-supplied electric-wheelchairs. The development results are described.