US 11,717,462 B2
Electric walking assisting vehicle
Gopinath Raja, Hamamatsu (JP)
Assigned to SUZUKI MOTOR CORPORATION, Hamamatsu (JP)
Filed by SUZUKI MOTOR CORPORATION, Hamamatsu (JP)
Filed on May 6, 2020, as Appl. No. 16/868,499.
Claims priority of application No. 2019-088411 (JP), filed on May 8, 2019.
Prior Publication US 2020/0352815 A1, Nov. 12, 2020
Int. Cl. A61H 3/04 (2006.01); B60B 19/00 (2006.01); B62D 11/04 (2006.01); A61G 5/04 (2013.01); B60L 3/08 (2006.01); B60L 15/36 (2006.01); A61H 3/00 (2006.01)
CPC A61H 3/04 (2013.01) [A61G 5/041 (2013.01); B60B 19/003 (2013.01); B60L 3/08 (2013.01); B60L 15/36 (2013.01); B62D 11/04 (2013.01); A61H 2003/006 (2013.01); A61H 2003/043 (2013.01); A61H 2003/046 (2013.01); A61H 2201/1207 (2013.01); A61H 2201/1635 (2013.01); A61H 2201/5061 (2013.01); A61H 2201/5069 (2013.01); A61H 2201/5071 (2013.01); A61H 2203/0431 (2013.01); B60L 2200/24 (2013.01)] 7 Claims
OG exemplary drawing
 
1. An electric walking assisting vehicle comprising:
a vehicle body having a forward-backward direction and a width direction;
driving wheels being driven by a driving motor mounted on the vehicle body;
driven wheels provided away from the driving wheels in the forward-backward direction of the vehicle body; and
an operation part provided on an upper portion of the vehicle body so as to enable a user in a standing and walking posture to grip the operation part,
wherein the driving motor is controlled in accordance with an operating amount acting on the operation part,
wherein the driven wheels are constituted of omni wheels or are supported in a steerable manner, the operation part includes left and right operation parts, the driving motor includes left and right driving motors, the driving wheels are operable to be left-and-right-independently driven and thereby turned by the left and right driving motors associated with the left and right operation parts; and
wherein the vehicle comprises an inclination detection part detecting an inclination in the forward-backward direction of the vehicle body,
on flat land on which the inclination is less than a threshold value, with respect to operation origin of the operation part, the driving motor is controlled so as to be caused to generate output torque in a forward direction by operation of pushing the operation part forward and to generate output torque in a backward direction by operation of pulling the operation part backward,
on an uphill road on which the inclination is the threshold value or more, the origin of output torque corresponding to the operation origin is shifted to a pulling operation side, and
on a downhill road on which the inclination is the threshold value or more, the origin of output torque corresponding to the operation origin is shifted to a pushing operation side.