• Journal of the Korean Society for Precision Engineering
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• v.23 no.2 s.179
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• pp.172-180
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• 2006

Although there existed many types of manual/power hybrid wheelchairs, their use was not widespread because of their inconvenience in converting drive system and in folding frames. To carry a wheelchair in the car or to convert driving methods, some hard work of disassembling or exchanging wheels was required for most of currently available hybrid wheelchairs. In this study, the standard foldable manual wheelchair was reformed to a power wheelchair by installing the newly developed Axial Flux Permanent Magnet(AFPM) type of brush less direct current(BLDC) motor on each rear hub of wheelchair. This wheelchair could be driven by manual or electric power without exchanging. wheels, thus no additional work was needed for carriage or for power conversion. The developed wheelchair was evaluated for durability, stability, maneuverability, cost, and reliability in accordance with the Korean standards. The results indicated that the developed hybrid wheelchair was good enough for commercialization comparing to other imported wheelchairs.

• The Journal of Korea Institute of Information, Electronics, and Communication Technology
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• v.6 no.3
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• pp.174-182
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• 2013

The power wheelchair is an important and convenient mobility device. The demand of power wheelchair is increasing for assistance in mobility. In this paper we proposed a robotic wheelchair for mobility aid to reduce the burden from the disabled. The main issue in an autonomous wheelchair is the automatic detection and avoidance of obstacles and going to the pre-designated place. The proposed algorithm detects the obstacles and avoids them to drive the wheelchair to the desired place safely with panning scan from sensors of distance measurement and fuzzy control. By this way, the disabled will not always have to worry about paying deep attention to the surroundings and his path.

• Journal of the Korea Academia-Industrial cooperation Society
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• v.13 no.3
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• pp.1296-1301
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• 2012

This paper deals with development of the driving-will control system in power-assisted electric wheelchair. Nowadays, population of elderly people has been increased rapidly, and also an electric wheelchair has been considered as the device for the elderly. Especially, power-assisted electric wheelchair can overcome problems that a conventional electric wheelchair holds, such as lack of movement of wheelchair user. In this paper, we propose the sensors system to measure the driving-will force and perform the control action for a power-assisted electric wheelchair. And motion performance of the proposed system is verified through the experiment.

• 제어로봇시스템학회:학술대회논문집
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• 2003.10a
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• pp.1509-1512
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• 2003

The electric power wheelchair needs to control motor torque and speed for responding to variable actions given by handling a joystick. In this paper a DSP-based BLDC motor controller using a single dc-link current sensor is presented for electric power wheelchair. It is composed by a DSP processor and three-phase inverter module. To control torque, high speed current control is achieved by the PI controller and pulse width modulation (PWM) signals with 25 kHz carrier frequency, which is performed by 200 ${\mu}sec$ cycle. The speed controller computes the new direct current reference from the speed error and the PI control equation. The displacement value by handling the joystick is converted to reference speeds of right and left wheel motors using nonholonomic wheelchair kinematics. Experimental results show that the presented control system is enough to implement a speed servo in wheelchair driving.

• Journal of the Korean Society for Precision Engineering
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• v.28 no.2
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• pp.211-218
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• 2011

We reported the design, prototype, test drive, and mechanical & electrical engineering analyses of a power-lifting wheelchair using mecanum wheels. Mecanum wheels enable translational and rotational movement of the device in any direction on the ground. The power-lifting capability enables the seated individual to reach the standing height of a non-disabled individual. This mecanum wheelchair is fully controlled by the joystick attached to the armrest. The motion of the wheelchair and lifting action of the seat were studied using statics and dynamics. We believe this mecanum wheelchair is a prime candidate for commercial production.

• The Journal of the Korea institute of electronic communication sciences
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• v.4 no.1
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• pp.37-45
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• 2009

The power wheelchair is an important and convenient mobility device. The demand of power wheelchair is increasing for assistance in mobility. In this paper we proposed a robotic wheelchair for mobility aid to reduce the burden from the disabled. The main issue in an autonomous wheelchair is the automatic detection and avoidance of obstacles and going to the pre-designated place. The proposed algorithm detects the obstacles and avoids them to drive the wheelchair to the desired place safely with panning scan from sensors of distance measurement and fuzzy control. By this way, the disabled will not always have to worry about paying deep attention to the surroundings and his path.

• Journal of the Korean Institute of Intelligent Systems
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• v.21 no.1
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• pp.80-85
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• 2011

This paper presents the design of the power-assisted controller for the in-wheel type smart wheelchair by using torque estimation that is predicted by relationship between input voltage and output wheel angular velocity. Nowadays, interest of the moving assistant aids is increased according to the increase in population of the elderly and the handicapped person. However some of the moving assistant aids have problems. For example, manual wheelchair has difficulty moving at the slope, because users lack the muscular strength of their arm. In electric wheelchair case, users should be weak by being decreased muscles of upper body. To overcome these problems, power-assisted electric wheelchair are proposed. Most of the power-assisted electric wheelchair have the special rims that can measure the user's power. In here, the rims have to be designed to install the sensors to measure user's power. In this paper, we don't design the rim to measure the man power. To predict the man power, we propose a control algorithm of the in-wheeled electric wheelchair by using torque estimation from the wheel. First, we measure the wheel velocity and voltage at the in-wheel electric wheelchair. And then we extract driving will forces by using proposed mathematical model. Also they are applied at the controller as the control input, we verify to be able to control in-wheel type smart wheelchair by using simulation.

• Journal of the Korean Society for Precision Engineering
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• v.25 no.10
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• pp.92-98
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• 2008

This paper is concerned with the designing and making power standing wheelchair. This wheelchair is studied based on the mechanical and electrical engineering concepts and theories. The mechanical theories are composed of statics and dynamics knowledges that are related with moving and standing position. Basically the static and dynamic stability is the most important element in designing and making the real size model. The linear actuator is used in the standing mechanism and the joystick controlled by hand is attached on the arm rest. The real size model is made and also investigated through the design specifications by test drive. Finally, this paper proves the possibility of commerical production of power standing wheelchair.

• The Journal of the Convergence on Culture Technology
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• v.9 no.2
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• pp.525-531
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• 2023

In Korea, which is entering a super-aged society, the number of elderly patients who have difficulty walking independently is expected to increase rapidly, and it is necessary to develop wheelchair products with various functions to improve the quality of life of people with walking disabilities. Recently, wheelchair power assist devices that provide propulsion power by being attached to a manual wheelchair has been developed and is entering the domestic and global markets. In this study, we compared and analyzed the process of obtaining medical device certification for wheelchair power assist devices in Korea, the United States, and Europe. In Korea, a Class 2 medical device certification process was developed in 2021, and in the US FDA, it corresponds to Class 2 like the existing electric wheelchair and must pass the 510k certification process. In the case of Europe, it is uniquely regulated as Class I, and the CE mark can be attached through a relatively easy self-declaration of conformity. The Korean medical device industry, which is struggling with MDR certification, a new European medical device regulation, should pay attention to the relatively easy entry into the global market for wheelchair power assist products.

• The Journal of the Convergence on Culture Technology
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• v.9 no.2
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• pp.143-150
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• 2023

As Korea's per capita income increases, participation in various leisure activities to improve the quality of life of the disabled is encouraged. However, in order to participate in leisure activities, movement to the place where the leisure activities are performed must be preceded, so interest in means of transportation for leisure activities of the disabled is increasing. Since manual and electric wheelchairs have their respective disadvantages as means of transportation for leisure activities, interest in power assisting devices for wheelchairs combining the functions of electric wheelchairs with manual wheelchairs is increasing. In this study, the FDA approval process of wheelchair power-assistance products was investigated, and the characteristics of side-attached, front-attached, downward-attached, and rear-attached types of power assist devices for wheelchairs wheelchair in countries around the world were identified. These information will be of great use in helping the disabled and their assistants in Korea to choose the optimal product according to the patient's condition. More usability tests and clinical case studies are needed so that people with disabilities can choose a power assist device suitable for them.