US 11,986,429 B2
Patient transport apparatus with automatic height adjustment
William Ross Heneveld, Jr., Portage, MI (US); and Hieu Phan, Portage, MI (US)
Assigned to Stryker Corporation, Kalamazoo, MI (US)
Filed by Stryker Corporation, Kalamazoo, MI (US)
Filed on May 13, 2021, as Appl. No. 17/319,520.
Claims priority of provisional application 63/024,114, filed on May 13, 2020.
Prior Publication US 2021/0353478 A1, Nov. 18, 2021
Int. Cl. A61G 7/018 (2006.01); A61G 7/012 (2006.01); A61G 7/05 (2006.01); G05B 15/02 (2006.01)
CPC A61G 7/018 (2013.01) [A61G 7/012 (2013.01); A61G 7/0524 (2016.11); G05B 15/02 (2013.01); A61B 2562/0252 (2013.01); A61G 2203/10 (2013.01); A61G 2203/12 (2013.01); A61G 2203/16 (2013.01); A61G 2203/20 (2013.01); A61G 2203/30 (2013.01); A61G 2203/32 (2013.01); A61G 2203/40 (2013.01)] 20 Claims
OG exemplary drawing
 
1. A patient transport apparatus comprising:
a base;
a litter comprising a patient support surface to support a patient;
a lift mechanism to facilitate arranging the litter relative to the base between a plurality of lift configurations including a fully-retracted configuration, a fully-extended configuration, and a transport configuration between the fully-retracted configuration and the fully-extended configuration;
a user interface comprising an input control arranged for engagement by a user to operate the lift mechanism, and an indicator operable between a first state and a second state different from the first state;
a height sensor to generate a signal indicative of the arrangement of the patient support surface relative to the base between the plurality of lift configurations;
an environmental sensor to generate an environment signal indicative of an environment adjacent to the patient transport apparatus; and
a controller operably connected to the lift mechanism, the height sensor, the environmental sensor and the user interface, the controller comprising one or more processors and a non-transitory storage medium having stored thereon instructions that when executed by the one or more processors are configured to:
compare the signal generated by the height sensor against a transport signal value associated with the transport configuration,
operate the indicator in the first state when the signal generated by the height sensor corresponds to the transport signal value to communicate to the user that the litter is arranged in the transport configuration,
operate the indicator in the second state when the signal generated by the height sensor differs from the transport signal value to communicate to the user that the litter is arranged in one of the plurality of lift configurations other than the transport configuration,
upon user engagement of the input control, drive the lift mechanism to move the litter relative to the base,
during movement of the litter relative to the base and, in response to the signal generated by the height sensor being within a predetermined threshold of the transport signal value, automatically drive the lift mechanism to move the litter to the transport configuration upon user disengagement of the input control,
compare the environment signal generated by the environmental sensor against an environmental safety threshold,
define an environmentally-adjusted transport configuration to position the litter at least partially lower than the transport configuration,
adjust the transport signal value and the predetermined threshold based on the environmentally-adjusted transport configuration, and
drive the lift mechanism to move to the environmentally-adjusted transport configuration in response to the environment signal exceeding the environmental safety threshold and in response to the signal generated by the height sensor being within a predetermined threshold of the transport signal value upon user disengagement of the input control.