Electric wheelchair brake control method and system

Abstract

The invention discloses an electric wheelchair brake control method which comprises the following steps: step 1, a drive control system confirms the current motion state of an electric wheelchair, and confirms the trigger state of an operation rocker and the trigger state of an emergency stop brake key; and 2, in the motion state of the electric wheelchair, when it is confirmed that the operation rocker is in the parking gear, the driving control system adjusts operation of the driving motor, and the electric wheelchair is controlled to decelerate and park within the set deceleration time. The invention further discloses an electric wheelchair brake control system. Double-brake control over the electric wheelchair is formed by controlling deceleration through the operation rocker and braking deceleration through the emergency stop brake key, a user can stably and comfortably decelerate and stop by controlling the operation rocker through the stop gear setting of the operation rocker, the emergency stop brake key is further matched, and the electric wheelchair is more convenient to use. The wheelchair can be braked and stopped in time under the emergency condition, so that the driving safety is ensured while the driving comfort of the electric wheelchair is optimized.

Description

Technical Field

[0001] The invention belongs to the technical field of electric wheelchairs and relates to a brake control method and system for an electric wheelchair. Background Art

[0002] With the popularity of electric wheelchairs, the number of users with mobility impairments, especially the elderly, has increased, which has put forward higher requirements for the driving comfort and safety of electric wheelchairs. Existing electric wheelchairs are usually equipped with a toggle joystick for travel control. However, elderly users are limited by their reaction speed and movement accuracy, and their ability to micro-manipulate the joystick is insufficient, resulting in poor motion control stability of electric wheelchairs. Especially when the brakes are controlled by the joystick, it is very easy to produce two extreme situations: excessive inertia of wheelchair braking, resulting in poor user experience, and too long braking distance for the wheelchair to stop in time, causing danger. Therefore, the driving comfort and safety of the elderly cannot be guaranteed. Summary of the invention

[0003] In order to overcome the deficiencies of the prior art, the present invention provides an electric wheelchair brake control method and system.

[0004] In order to achieve the above object, the present invention adopts the following technical solutions:

[0005] A brake control method for an electric wheelchair comprises the following steps:

[0006] Step 1: The drive control system confirms the current motion state of the electric wheelchair, the trigger state of the operating joystick and the trigger state of the emergency stop brake button;

[0007] Step 2: When the electric wheelchair is in motion, if it is confirmed that the operating joystick is in the parking position, the drive control system adjusts the operation of the drive motor to control the electric wheelchair to decelerate and stop within the set deceleration time; when the electric wheelchair is in motion, if it is confirmed that the emergency stop brake button is triggered, the drive control system triggers the electromagnetic brake to apply braking force to the electric wheelchair.

[0008] Furthermore, in step 2, when it is confirmed that the operating joystick is in the parking gear position and the emergency brake button is triggered, the drive control system executes the triggering of the electromagnetic brake to form a braking force.

[0009] Furthermore, in step 2, the parking gear includes the middle position of the operating joystick and the position directly behind the middle position. When it is confirmed that the operating joystick is in the middle position, the drive control system adjusts the operation of the drive motor to control the electric wheelchair to decelerate and stop within the first deceleration time; when it is confirmed that the operating joystick is in the position directly behind the middle position, the drive control system adjusts the operation of the drive motor to control the electric wheelchair to decelerate and stop within the second deceleration time; the second deceleration time is less than the first deceleration time.

[0010] Furthermore, the first deceleration time is 0.2s-1s, and the second deceleration time is 0.1s-0.5s.

[0011] Furthermore, in step 2, when the emergency stop brake button is triggered, the electromagnetic brake maintains braking of the electric wheelchair, and the emergency stop brake button is triggered again to release the braking of the electromagnetic brake.

[0012] Furthermore, when the emergency stop brake button is triggered, the electromagnetic brake maintains the brake on the electric wheelchair, and the operating joystick is quickly toggled twice to release the brake of the electromagnetic brake.

[0013] Furthermore, it also includes an audio-visual prompt module. When the emergency stop brake button is triggered and the electromagnetic brake forms braking force, the audio-visual prompt module generates a warning sound and a prompt light.

[0014] An electric wheelchair brake control system, used to execute the above method, includes a wheelchair body, a drive control system, a drive motor and an electromagnetic brake, wherein the drive motor and the electromagnetic brake are electrically connected to the drive control circuit respectively; and also includes an emergency stop brake button and an operating joystick electrically connected to the drive control system respectively, wherein when the emergency stop brake button is triggered, the drive control system generates a signal for activating the electromagnetic brake, and when the operating joystick is triggered, the drive control system generates a signal for activating the drive motor.

[0015] Furthermore, a controller is provided on the wheelchair body, and the emergency stop brake button and the operating joystick are provided on the controller.

[0016] In summary, the present invention is beneficial in that:

[0017] The present invention forms a dual brake control for the electric wheelchair by arranging the control deceleration of the operating joystick and the brake deceleration of the emergency stop brake button. By setting the parking gear position of the operating joystick, the user can control the operating joystick to decelerate and stop smoothly and comfortably. Further, with the emergency stop brake button, the wheelchair can be stopped in time in an emergency, thereby optimizing the driving comfort of the electric wheelchair while ensuring the driving safety. BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0018] Figure 1 This is a flowchart of the electric wheelchair brake control method of the present invention. DETAILED DESCRIPTION

[0019] The following describes the embodiments of the present invention by specific examples, and those skilled in the art can easily understand other advantages and effects of the present invention from the contents disclosed in this specification. The present invention can also be implemented or applied through other different specific embodiments, and the details in this specification can also be modified or changed in various ways based on different viewpoints and applications without departing from the spirit of the present invention. It should be noted that the following embodiments and features in the embodiments can be combined with each other without conflict.

[0020] It should be noted that the illustrations provided in the following embodiments are only schematic illustrations of the basic concept of the present invention, and thus the drawings only show components related to the present invention rather than being drawn according to the number, shape and size of components in actual implementation. In actual implementation, the type, quantity and proportion of each component may be changed arbitrarily, and the component layout may also be more complicated.

[0021] All directional indications in the embodiments of the present invention (such as up, down, left, right, front, back, horizontal, vertical...) are only used to explain the relative position relationship, movement status, etc. between the components in a certain specific posture. If the specific posture changes, the directional indication will also change accordingly.

[0022] Due to installation errors and other reasons, the parallel relationship referred to in the embodiments of the present invention may actually be an approximately parallel relationship, and the vertical relationship may actually be an approximately vertical relationship.

[0023] The present invention provides an electric wheelchair brake control system, comprising a wheelchair body, a power module, a drive control system, an emergency stop brake button, a drive motor, and an electromagnetic brake, wherein the drive motor is used to control the movement of the traveling wheels of the wheelchair body, and the electromagnetic brake is arranged on the traveling wheels of the wheelchair body to stop the traveling wheels. The power module, the emergency stop brake button, the joystick module, the drive motor, and the electromagnetic brake are all electrically connected to the drive control system to transmit signal data.

[0024] When the emergency brake button is triggered, the emergency brake button generates a brake signal to the drive control system, causing the drive control system to activate the electromagnetic brake and apply braking force to quickly stop the traveling wheels, thereby stopping the wheelchair body.

[0025] Armrests are provided on both sides of the wheelchair body for users to hold on to and grasp, and a controller and an operating joystick are provided on one or both armrests. The controller and the operating joystick are electrically connected to the drive control system. A display panel and a plurality of function buttons may preferably be provided on the controller for switching control and displaying various usage states and functional states of the electric wheelchair. The operating joystick is used to control the movement and direction of the wheelchair body. The operating joystick has an intermediate position that can automatically rebound and reset when not affected by other external forces. The movement speed and direction of the wheelchair body can be controlled by swinging the operating joystick. The emergency stop brake button can be provided on the controller or on the operating joystick.

[0026] Specifically, when the operating joystick is in the middle position, no signal is generated to drive the wheelchair body to move forward, and the wheelchair body is in a stationary state. When the operating joystick is pushed forward, a forward signal is generated to the drive control system, triggering the drive motor to drive the wheelchair body forward. When the operating joystick is pushed backward, a backward signal is generated to the drive control system, driving the wheelchair body backward.

[0027] In this embodiment, the method for decelerating the wheelchair body to a stop based on the drive control system under the operating joystick includes: when the wheelchair body is in any state of motion, when the operating joystick is maintained in the middle position for a set time, a first deceleration signal is generated to the drive control system, and the drive control system decelerates the wheelchair body by adjusting the operation of the drive motor, so that the wheelchair body decelerates to a stop state within the set first deceleration time. Preferably, the first deceleration time is 0.2s-1s.

[0028] The method for decelerating the wheelchair body to a stop based on the drive control system under the operating joystick also includes: when the wheelchair body is in a forward motion state, when the operating joystick moves to the rear position of the middle position, a second deceleration signal is generated to the drive control system, and the drive control system adjusts the operation of the drive motor to decelerate the wheelchair body, so that the wheelchair body decelerates to a stop state within a set second deceleration time, and the second deceleration time is less than the first deceleration time. Preferably, the second deceleration time is 0.1s-0.5s.

[0029] Furthermore, when the wheelchair body is in any state of motion and the operating joystick is in any position, triggering the emergency stop brake button will generate a brake signal to the drive control system. The drive control system generates braking force by activating the electromagnetic brake, so that the wheelchair body is quickly braked to a parked state. Preferably, the braking time is less than the first deceleration time and the second deceleration time.

[0030] During the period from when the emergency brake button is triggered until the wheelchair enters the parked state, any movement of the joystick will not generate any drive signal or deceleration signal;

[0031] Or, after the emergency stop brake button is triggered and the wheelchair body enters the parked state, the drive control system maintains the braking of the electromagnetic brake to maintain the parked state of the wheelchair body. The action of operating the joystick in the parked state will not generate a drive signal. Triggering the emergency stop brake button again can release the braking of the electromagnetic brake.

[0032] Or, after the emergency stop brake button is triggered and the wheelchair body enters the parked state, the drive control system maintains the braking of the electromagnetic brake to maintain the parked state of the wheelchair body, and the electromagnetic brake can be released by quickly toggling the operating joystick twice.

[0033] Furthermore, the electric wheelchair also includes an audio-visual prompt module. When the emergency stop brake button is triggered to enter the parked state, the audio-visual prompt module emits a warning sound or a prompt light to prompt the user that the wheelchair has stopped urgently. When the electromagnetic brake is released, the warning sound or prompt light of the audio-visual prompt module is released accordingly.

[0034] Obviously, the described embodiments are only some embodiments of the present invention, not all embodiments. Based on the embodiments of the present invention, all other embodiments obtained by ordinary technicians in this field without creative work should fall within the scope of protection of the present invention.

Claims

1. A brake control method for an electric wheelchair, characterized in that: The following steps are involved: Step 1: The drive control system confirms the current motion state of the electric wheelchair, the trigger state of the operating joystick and the trigger state of the emergency stop brake button; Step 2: When the electric wheelchair is in motion, if it is confirmed that the operating joystick is in the parking position, the drive control system adjusts the operation of the drive motor to control the electric wheelchair to decelerate and stop within the set deceleration time; when the electric wheelchair is in motion, if it is confirmed that the emergency stop brake button is triggered, the drive control system triggers the electromagnetic brake to apply braking force to the electric wheelchair.

2. The electric wheelchair brake control method according to claim 1, characterized in that: In step 2, when it is confirmed that the operating joystick is in the parking gear position and the emergency stop brake button is triggered, the drive control system executes the triggering of the electromagnetic brake to form a braking force.

3. The electric wheelchair brake control method according to claim 1, characterized in that: In step 2, the parking gear position includes the middle position of the operating joystick and the position directly behind the middle position. When it is confirmed that the operating joystick is in the middle position, the drive control system adjusts the operation of the drive motor to control the electric wheelchair to decelerate and park within the first deceleration time; when it is confirmed that the operating joystick is in the position directly behind the middle position, the drive control system adjusts the operation of the drive motor to control the electric wheelchair to decelerate and park within the second deceleration time; The second deceleration time is shorter than the first deceleration time.

4. The electric wheelchair brake control method according to claim 3, characterized in that: The first deceleration time is 0.2s-1s, and the second deceleration time is 0.1s-0.5s.

5. The electric wheelchair brake control method according to claim 1, characterized in that: In step 2, when the emergency stop brake button is triggered, the electromagnetic brake maintains the brake on the electric wheelchair, and the emergency stop brake button is triggered again to release the brake of the electromagnetic brake.

6. The electric wheelchair brake control method according to claim 1, characterized in that: When the emergency stop button is triggered, the electromagnetic brake keeps braking the electric wheelchair. Quickly push the joystick twice to release the electromagnetic brake.

7. The electric wheelchair brake control method according to claim 1, characterized in that: It also includes an audio-visual prompt module. When the emergency stop brake button is triggered and the electromagnetic brake forms braking force, the audio-visual prompt module generates a warning sound and a prompt light.

8. An electric wheelchair brake control system, characterized in that: Used to execute the method described in any one of claims 1 to 7, comprising a wheelchair body, a drive control system, a drive motor and an electromagnetic brake, wherein the drive motor and the electromagnetic brake are electrically connected to the drive control circuit, respectively; and also comprising an emergency stop brake button and an operating joystick electrically connected to the drive control system, respectively, wherein when the emergency stop brake button is triggered, the drive control system generates a signal for activating the electromagnetic brake, and when the operating joystick is triggered, the drive control system generates a signal for activating the drive motor.

9. The electric wheelchair brake control system according to claim 8, characterized in that: A controller is arranged on the wheelchair body, and the emergency stop brake button and the operating joystick are arranged on the controller.

Images