• Journal of the Korea Academia-Industrial cooperation Society
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• v.21 no.11
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• pp.851-860
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• 2020

With an increase in the aging population and a rising social interest in health and welfare, studies to improve healthcare in the elderly are being actively conducted. This study attempted to improve the current design and manufacture of elevating electric wheelchairs to enhance user safety and convenience. Seat design based on the user's body shape, convenience while boarding or alighting, caster turning radius and, safety and stability features that prevent shaking when the user gets up or sits down were improved. A driving experiment was conducted to evaluate the operation of the indoor electric wheelchair designed and manufactured with these additional functionalities. During the test, the performance parameters evaluated were continuous driving time, turning radius, maximum lifting and lowering load, maximum lifting height, noise level, minimum distance sensing by the driving auxiliary sensor, ability to interact with server and app programs, and the duty cycle maximum error rate. The test confirmed that this improved electric wheelchair successfully met target parameters. In a future study, we will evaluate this improved electric wheelchair from a user's perspective for its usability parameters, such as satisfaction, convenience and stability.

• Journal of the Korea Academia-Industrial cooperation Society
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• v.21 no.12
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• pp.857-866
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• 2020

'Movement' is an expanded concept of 'place' where people act, interact with one another and achieve a specific purpose at every moment. Wheelchairs, as a mobility aid, have a profound impact on improving the quality of physical and psychological well-being for the mobility disadvantaged groups who have mobility difficulties. Such mobility aids were developed mainly for outdoor activities, but in recent years, mobility aids for indoor spaces, the main living environment, are also being developed. Because indoor mobility aids generally move short distances repeatedly, this study examined the characteristics of lithium-ion batteries in short-distance driving of battery-powered wheelchairs and compared them with the characteristics of lithium-ion batteries in continuous driving. The result showed that the driving time for short-distance driving was 2.8% shorter than that of continuous driving. The current supplied to the motor was 15.4% higher for short-distance driving than that of continuous driving.

• Journal of the Korea Academia-Industrial cooperation Society
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• v.20 no.10
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• pp.415-424
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• 2019

In this paper, a minimum rotation radius was designed and fabricated to overcome the threshold so that elderly or disabled people who have difficulty moving can move and transfer safely and conveniently in a narrow room. In the indoor environment, where the sedentary culture develops, this study aimed to provide convenience for passengers with fracture diseases, geriatric diseases, and other knee and waist diseases. First, links, seats, armrests, covers, motors, batteries, chargers, controllers, etc. were attached to the frame so that they could be moved and lifted indoors. The product design and structure were designed considering the user's environment and physical characteristics, and IoT functions were added. A driving experiment was performed to confirm the operating performance of the manufactured indoor moving and lifting wheelchair. The performance tests, such as continuous running time, turning radius, maximum actuator load, maximum lift height, sound pressure level, minimum sensing distance of the driving aid sensor, interworking of server and app programs, device compatibility, and duty cycle error rate, were performed. As a result of the test, the built-in wheelchair could achieve the performance test target of each item and operate successfully.

• Proceedings of the KOSOMBE Conference
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• v.1989 no.05
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• pp.77-80
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• 1989

This paper describes a study on the locomotion control system for a indoor-use mobile wheelchair. Three lode of operations - BASIC, AUTOMATIC and PROGRAMMED - are employed as basic algorithm building block. One-chip microcomputer 8031 is dominating the control of actuation part and it can control the range of rotating speed of the wheel both right and left by servo motor. Keyboard is employed as a command input device. This system is intended to improve the daily life of the disabled by the intelligent interactive operation scheme.

• Journal of the Korea Academia-Industrial cooperation Society
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• v.21 no.7
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• pp.419-427
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• 2020

This study was undertaken to address the difficulties and inconveniences of an electric wheelchair. We focused on improving usability of initially completed products by augmenting the prototypes designed in the previous study. For evaluation of usability, 10 elderly women aged over 65 years, capable of movements and physical activities in daily life, were enrolled as subjects. The experimental method included a subjective satisfaction questionnaire evaluation of the elderly women using the target product, and the observation evaluation was achieved using video recording data, etc. Usability evaluation revealed that the elevating sector requires improvement of intuition through separation of the elevating control panel and the driving control panel. Improvements in the driving sector include corrections of the front wheel mechanism or driving control algorithm, UI, and sudden stop system. Transferring section assessment revealed a necessity to secure structures and add structures that support power. We believe that based on the inconveniences and improvements presented in the usability evaluation, appending the existing prototype with complementary products will improve the quality of life of elderly women with limited mobility.