Development of a control system to determine influence of rolling resistance in manual wheelchair dynamics and mechanical efficiency

Teran Calle, Efrain Andres

Title:

Development of a control system to determine influence of rolling resistance in manual wheelchair dynamics and mechanical efficiency

dc.contributor.advisor	Ueda, Jun
dc.contributor.author	Teran Calle, Efrain Andres
dc.contributor.committeeMember	Sprigle, Stephen
dc.contributor.committeeMember	Ferri, Aldo
dc.contributor.department	Mechanical Engineering
dc.date.accessioned	2015-01-12T20:43:40Z
dc.date.available	2015-01-12T20:43:40Z
dc.date.created	2014-12
dc.date.issued	2014-12-05
dc.date.submitted	December 2014
dc.date.updated	2015-01-12T20:43:40Z
dc.description.abstract	Wheelchair manufacturers design their products to provide the best possible experience to their users. The user effort and wheelchair mechanical efficiency during motion are highly affected by rolling resistance, which is a resistive force depending on many factors such as vehicle speed, tire/floor materials and tire inflation pressure. The study of this force over several conditions could lead to improvements in wheelchair design. The Anatomical Model Propulsion System (AMPS) is a robotic device to test manual wheelchairs with better repeatability than human subjects, helping to identify the effect of resistive forces. It uses electric motors to apply torque directly to the rear wheel handrims. In this thesis, a control system is developed to achieve a specified wheelchair trajectory and velocity profile, by controlling the input torque to the system. A kinetic and dynamic model is used to estimate this necessary input. Data collected from different experiments allows to determine rolling resistance under various conditions. The results show that rolling resistance also varies with acceleration, affecting the overall mechanical efficiency of a wheelchair following different velocity profiles.
dc.description.degree	M.S.
dc.format.mimetype	application/pdf
dc.identifier.uri	http://hdl.handle.net/1853/52981
dc.language.iso	en_US
dc.publisher	Georgia Institute of Technology
dc.subject	Wheelchair
dc.subject	Rolling resistance
dc.subject	Cost of transport
dc.subject	Propulsion
dc.subject	Efficiency
dc.title	Development of a control system to determine influence of rolling resistance in manual wheelchair dynamics and mechanical efficiency
dc.type	Text
dc.type.genre	Thesis
dspace.entity.type	Publication
local.contributor.advisor	Ueda, Jun
local.contributor.corporatename	George W. Woodruff School of Mechanical Engineering
local.contributor.corporatename	College of Engineering
relation.isAdvisorOfPublication	7ff601c5-b262-4830-8a06-b75c55f5f1c8
relation.isOrgUnitOfPublication	c01ff908-c25f-439b-bf10-a074ed886bb7
relation.isOrgUnitOfPublication	7c022d60-21d5-497c-b552-95e489a06569
thesis.degree.level	Masters