Hospitals use meal-carrying carts (meal delivery carts) with heat-retaining and cool storage capacity. The meal delivery carts weight up to 700 kg and are mainly electric-powered. For example, power assist driven meal delivery carts have been developed to run according to the operating force of the operator. An easy-to-operate, omni-directional cart is described. This cart includes power assist technology that acts for both the longitudinal and rotational motions of the cart. Two objectives are set for this development. The first objective is to overcome the difficulty of shifting the cart laterally. Therefore, the equation for calculating the cart turning speed is modified so that the moment, which is driven by the operating force in the right/left direction, is offset. As a result, it becomes possible to stabilize the balance between the operating force in the right/left direction and the operating moment, and improve the operating performance. The second objective is to overcome the other difficulty whereby, during the one-hand pull-operation, the cart tended to run off course to the right/left. To solve this problem, we a positional control is added in the right/left direction. As a result, the lateral deviation of the cart is reduced, and the operating performance is improved.
Control of an omni-directional power-assisted cart
Regelung eines menschgesteuerten, in alle Richtungen beweglichen Transportwagen für dem Krankenhausbetrieb
2003
7 Seiten, 14 Bilder, 5 Quellen
Conference paper
English
Omni-directional Wheel Assembly and Omni-directional Vehicle
European Patent Office | 2018
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