On Inclined Smooth Surface Automatic Speed Control System of Manual Wheelchair

Mechanical Engineering

It is hard to understand that about 15% of world population has a severe physical disability including 5% of children, according to new report prepared jointly by world health organization and the World Bank. Some people are born with disability, other becomes disabled as a result of an illness or injury, and some people develop them as they grow. Though it is possible to help the disabled people by external application it is to be analyzed thoroughly whether the system is generated is reliable safe and comfortable. Wheelchair is a mobility device designed for shifting patients, moving physically disabled people from one place to another with the help of attendee or by means of self-propelling. As a person who manually drives a wheelchair often comes in situation that has to move up or down on a ramp. In this case while moving on an inclined ramp, gravitational force pulls the wheelchair down. While moving up a ramp the person applies effort not only to move up on the ramp but also to hold the wheelchair so that the wheelchair will not roll down. While moving down the ramp person has to take effort so that the wheelchair moves slowly on the ramp, causing interference of human efforts. In this research work, the safety and reduction of human effort is ensured by the speed controlling system. The speed controlling mechanism controls the speed of wheelchair by applying brakes so that the wheelchair moves down on a ramp slowly without any human effort. The mechanism also restricts the wheelchair to roll back while moving up on the ramp. This reduces the effort of the person to hold the wheelchair while moving up on the ramp. Further, paper discloses an automatic braking mechanism which is based on centrifugal principle. This mechanism actuates when the wheelchair crosses the safe speed while moving down the ramp. The term 'safe speed' defined as the maximum speed with which wheel chair can safely roll down the ramp.

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