Analysis of Whole-Body Vibration Using Electric Powered Wheelchairs on Surface Transitions

Abstract

Wheelchair users are exposed to whole-body vibration (WBV) when driving on sidewalks and in urban environments; however, there is limited literature on WBV exposure to power wheelchair users when driving during daily activities. Further, surface transitions (i.e., curb-ramps) provide wheelchair accessibility from street intersections to sidewalks; but these require a threshold for water drainage. This threshold may induce high WBV (i.e., root-mean-square and vibration-daily-value accelerations) when accessibility guidelines are not met. This study analyzed the WBV effects on power wheelchairs with passive suspension when driving over surfaces with different thresholds. Additionally, this study introduced a novel power wheelchair with active suspension to reduce WBV levels on surface transitions. Three trials were performed with a commercial power wheelchair with passive suspension, a novel power wheelchair with active suspension, and the novel power wheelchair without active suspension driving on surfaces with five different thresholds. Results show no WBV difference among EPWs across all surfaces. However, the vibration-dose-value increased with higher surface thresholds when using the passive suspension while the active suspension remained constant. Overall, the power wheelchair with active suspension offered similar WBV effects as the passive suspension. While significant vibration-dose-value differences were observed between surface thresholds, all EPWs maintained WBV values below the ISO 2631-1 health caution zone.

Usability and Vibration Analysis of a Low-Profile Automatic Powered Wheelchair to Motor Vehicle Docking System

“…Wheelchair docking systems should aim to secure the wheelchair in a vehicle to minimize high accelerations (shocks), therefore, reducing VDV effects and user’s discomfort for a short time of shock exposure. RMS vibration reduction can be complemented with different wheelchair cushions [ 26 ] and EPW suspension [ 27 ]; however, further analysis is needed to isolate these factors.…”

A generic power wheelchair lumped model in the sagittal plane: towards realistic self-motion perception in a virtual reality simulator

“…This lumped model is then restricted to heave motion with a single spring mass-damper connection to the floor and the user is represented by a mass connected to the base of the PW with a spring mass-damper system. Another human-PW lumped model is proposed in [7] without defining a model for the human which is simply represented by a mass on the PW. This lumped model relies on a half-car approach.…”