Publication: Braking system based on slope detection of a wheelchair
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Date
2008-05-01
Authors
Teoh, Boon Pin
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Abstract
Nowadays, many wheelchair related accidents which happened to the wheelchair users can be heard. This is most probably caused by the users themselves and also the lack of improvement in wheelchair safety. Although there are some electric wheelchairs that have a good safety system but the price is too high and it can‟t even bear by the middle income range of people. This project aims to improve the wheelchair safety by implementing wheelchair braking system and antilock system with minimum cost. The braking system able to control the wheelchair speed when it is moving down a steep ramp. Different brake level is applied on the wheelchair based on the sloop value detected on the ramp. The higher the slope value detected, the higher the brake level will be applied to the wheelchair. The antilock system has the ability to lock the wheelchair from moving backward when it is activated. It will be activated when there is no body sitting on the wheelchair so that when the users trying to sit on it, it won‟t fall back and caused the users to fall down. It is also useful when the wheelchair users trying to climb a steep ramp. When this condition detected, the antilock system will be activated and lock the wheelchair from moving backward. So now the users can climb a steep ramp without needing to hold the wheel all the time. PIC Microcontroller was used in this project to control the braking system and antilock system while PICBasic Pro is the programming language used to program the microcontroller. Servo motors and solenoids were used to control the brake and antilock of the wheelchair respectively.