Quantitative Evaluation of Influences of Road Condition on Maneuvering Manual Wheelchair

It is important for the wheelchair users to be able to move with ease maneuvering their wheelchairs in everyday life. Maneuverability of wheelchair depends not only on mechanical efficiency of the wheelchair but also on the environmental condition where the wheelchair runs. So, it seems to be very important to comprehend the mechanisms of influence of the condition of road/floor surface on running performance or maneuverability of the wheelchairs. In this study, specially designed manual wheelchair equipped with torque meters on the hand rims and rotary encoders in the axles of the driving wheels was constructed. Using this experimental manual wheelchair, the influences of environmental conditions on running performance and maneuverability of the wheelchair were investigated. Many test runs were conducted on various conditions of road/floor surface, such as hard, soft, longitudinal slopes and side slopes. Using data obtained in the test runs, resistance force that hinders the wheelchair’s moving for various road conditions could be calculated. And, the load on the wheelchair driver could also be evaluated by calculating time-integration of driving force that means momentum. Then, the easiness/difficulty in maneuvering the wheelchair might quantitatively be evaluated by momentum needed to propel the wheelchair 1m. And, knowledge about factor that causes failure in negotiating longitudinal slope by the manual wheelchair were acquired.