EP-4736828-A1 - POSTURE CHANGING APPARATUS HAVING ARMRESTS, FOR WHEELCHAIR

EP4736828A1EP 4736828 A1EP4736828 A1EP 4736828A1EP-4736828-A1

Abstract

According to an embodiment of the present disclosure, a posture changing apparatus having armrests for a wheelchair includes a seat support supporting hips of a user, a leg support portion extending downward from the seat support and installed to be rotatable with respect to the seat support, a backrest portion extending upward from the seat support and installed to be rotatable with respect to the seat support, a base disposed under the seat support and supporting the seat support, folding driving units rotating the leg support portion and the backrest portion with respect to the seat support, and armrests rotatably coupled to the folding driving units, wherein the folding driving units each include a first folding link and a second folding link that are rotatably coupled to the backrest portion and the leg support portion and are spaced apart from each other in a height direction of the leg support portion, and each of the armrests is rotatably coupled to the first folding link, and is supported by the second folding link.

Inventors

KIM, SEYOUNG
KIM, KWANG JOON
PARK, CHEOL-HOON
PARK, JONGWOO
HAN, Byoung-Kil
JUNG, HYUN MOK
SEO, Hyunuk
PARK, CHAN HUN

Assignees

Korea Institute of Machinery & Materials

Dates

Publication Date: 20260506
Application Date: 20240117

Claims (18)

A posture changing apparatus having armrests for wheelchair, the posture changing apparatus comprising: a seat support supporting hips of a user; a leg support portion extending downward from the seat support and installed to be rotatable with respect to the seat support; a backrest portion extending upward from the seat support and installed to be rotatable with respect to the seat support; a base disposed under the seat support and supporting the seat support; folding driving units rotating the leg support portion and the backrest portion with respect to the seat support; and armrests rotatably coupled to the folding driving units, wherein the folding driving units each comprise a first folding link and a second folding link that are rotatably coupled to the backrest portion and the leg support portion and are spaced apart from each other in a height direction of the leg support portion, and each of the armrests is rotatably coupled to the first folding link, and is supported by the second folding link.
The posture changing apparatus of claim 1, wherein each of the armrests has a position protrusion that protrudes backward, and the second folding link has a support pillar that is coupled to the position protrusion so as to support the position protrusion.
The posture changing apparatus of claim 2, wherein a fixing magnet is installed on the position protrusion, the fixing magnet being coupled to the support pillar via a magnetic force.
The posture changing apparatus of claim 1, wherein the armrest comprises an armrest base on which an arm of a user is seated, and an armrest frame protruding from the armrest base and coupled to the first folding link, and a positioning magnet is installed on the first folding link, and a magnetic plate coupled to the positioning magnet is installed on the armrest frame.
The posture changing apparatus of claim 1, further comprising a vertical movement driving unit that vertically moves the seat support with respect to the base, and a rotation driving unit that rotates the seat support with respect to the vertical movement driving unit.
The posture changing apparatus of claim 5, wherein one end portion of each of the folding driving units in a lengthwise direction is fixed to the backrest portion, and an opposite end portion of the folding driving unit in the lengthwise direction is fixed to the leg support portion.
The posture changing apparatus of claim 6, wherein each of the folding driving units comprises a folding cylinder of which one end portion in a lengthwise direction is connected to the first folding link and an opposite end portion in the lengthwise direction is connected to the second folding link.
The posture changing apparatus of claim 7, wherein a folding spring pushing the second folding link against the first folding link is installed on the first folding link and the second folding link.
The posture changing apparatus of claim 5, wherein the leg support portion comprises a footrest upper frame connected to the first folding link and the second folding link, the backrest portion comprises a backrest frame connected to the first folding link and the second folding link, and coupling points of the footrest upper frame and the backrest frame that are connected to the first folding link and the second folding link are located respectively on four vertices of a parallelogram.
The posture changing apparatus of claim 5, wherein the rotation driving unit is coupled to a side surface of the first folding link, and the vertical movement driving unit is coupled to a rear surface of the rotation driving unit.
The posture changing apparatus of claim 10, wherein the rotation driving unit connects the vertical movement driving unit to the folding driving units and rotates the seat support via the folding driving unit.
The posture changing apparatus of claim 5, wherein two of the folding driving units are installed under the seat support, and the vertical movement driving unit is installed between the folding driving units that are spaced apart from each other.
The position changing apparatus of claim 2, wherein the vertical movement driving unit comprises a first vertical movement link connecting the base to the rotation driving unit, a second vertical movement link connecting the base to the rotation driving unit and being spaced apart from the first vertical movement link, and a vertical movement cylinder of which one end portion in a lengthwise direction is connected to the first vertical movement link and an opposite end portion in the lengthwise direction is connected to the second vertical movement link.
The posture changing apparatus of claim 13, wherein a vertical movement spring pushing the second vertical movement link against the first vertical movement link is installed on the first vertical movement link and the second vertical movement link.
The posture changing apparatus of claim 13, wherein connecting points of the rotation driving unit and the base that are connected to the first vertical movement link and the second vertical movement link are located at four vertices of a parallelogram.
The posture changing apparatus of claim 1, wherein the leg support portion comprises a footrest upper frame connected to the first folding link and the second folding link, a pair of footrest lower frames connected to a lower portion of the footrest upper frame, transport rods that are respectively inserted into the pair of footrest lower frames and installed to be movable in a lengthwise direction of the footrest lower frames, footrests connected to lower portions of the transport rods and supporting feet of a user, and a connecting rod coupled to upper portions of the transfer rods so as to connect the transfer rod to the second folding link.
The posture changing apparatus of claim 16, wherein the backrest comprises a backrest frame connected to the first folding link and the second folding link, a pair of slider rods that are inserted into the backrest frame and installed to be movable in a lengthwise direction of the backrest frame, a backrest plate coupled to the slider rods and supporting user's back, and transport rods respectively coupled to the pair of slider rods and connecting the slider rods to the second folding link.
The posture changing apparatus of claim 17, wherein a first distance between the pair of footrest lower frames is less than a second distance between the pair of slider rods.

Description

Technical Field The present disclosure relates to a posture changing apparatus for a wheelchair, which assists a user to change his/her posture while seating on the wheelchair, and more specifically, to a posture changing apparatus having armrests for a wheelchair. Background Art In the case of care receivers who are unable to bathe on their own, e.g., elderly people, severely ill patients, and disabled people, the care receivers may bathe with assistance from a caregiver. Recently, owing to increase in the elderly population, the number of care receivers who are difficult to lie down in the bed or to move on their own is increasing, and thus, workload of caregivers is increasing. Accordingly, various apparatuses for improving convenience of care receivers and caregivers are being introduced. Among these apparatuses, a wheelchair is a moving-assistant device for helping disabled people, patients, or elderly people move around comfortably. The wheelchair includes a seat, a backrest, and wheels on opposite sides of the seat, and manual wheelchairs that are moved by a passenger pushing those wheels on their own or an assistant pushing the wheelchair from behind the wheelchair are mainly used. Recently, electric wheelchairs that do not require manual work to move the wheels have been developed a lot, and various products have been already released and sold. An electric wheelchair drives wheels generally by using a motor, and the wheelchair that is movable facilitates disabled people, patients, or elderly people to move easily. However, although an apparatus simply provided for moving only enables a user with restricted mobility to easily move, but additional posture change for standing activities and sufficient blood circulation is impossible. In particular, in the case of severely disabled people or elderly people, it is difficult to periodically change their postures in order to prevent bedsore, as well as transferring to/from the wheelchair, and to this end, a caregiver has to standby at all times, which is inconvenient. Accordingly, electric wheelchairs allowing users to change their postures have been developed, but the electric wheelchairs according to the related art are large in volume and need a large support area, which makes miniaturization and lightweight of the wheelchair difficult. Also, during posture changing of the electric wheelchair, armrests may not rotate or may move to wrong positions, so that a control panel installed on the armrest may not be properly touched. Disclosure of Invention Technical Problem The present disclosure provides a posture changing apparatus for a wheelchair, which is able to easily control armrests during posture changing. Also, the present disclosure provides a posture changing apparatus for a wheelchair, which is compact, is able to perform posture changing easily, and is attachable to/detachable from a two-wheel wheelchair. Solution to Problem A posture changing apparatus having armrests for a wheelchair, according to an embodiment of the present disclosure, includes a seat support supporting hips of a user, a leg support portion extending downward from the seat support and installed to be rotatable with respect to the seat support, a backrest portion extending upward from the seat support and installed to be rotatable with respect to the seat support, a base disposed under the seat support and supporting the seat support, folding driving units rotating the leg support portion and the backrest portion with respect to the seat support, and armrests rotatably coupled to the folding driving units, wherein the folding driving units each include a first folding link and a second folding link that are rotatably coupled to the backrest portion and the leg support portion and are spaced apart from each other in a height direction of the leg support portion, and each of the armrests is rotatably coupled to the first folding link, and is supported by the second folding link. Advantageous Effects of Invention As described above, in a posture changing apparatus for a wheelchair according to an aspect of the present disclosure, an armrest is rotatably coupled to a first folding link and is supported by a second folding link so that, when a posture of a user changes, the armrest may be also easily controlled. Also, the posture changing apparatus for a wheelchair, according to an aspect of the present disclosure, may variously change the posture of the user by using a vertical movement driving unit, a rotation driving unit, and a folding driving unit, and moreover, includes the folding driving unit to simultaneously transform a leg support portion and a backrest portion. Also, because the vertical movement driving unit includes two vertical movement links and a vertical movement cylinder to form a parallelogram link structure, and thus, gravitational torque is structurally absorbed and gravity of joints is independently compensated for, thereby implementing posture change stably