Modeling a powered wheelchair with slipping and gravitational disturbances on inclined and non-inclined surfaces. (April 2016)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Onyango, Stevine O; Hamam, Yskandar; Djouani, Karim; Daachi, Boubaker
• Is Part Of: Simulation. Volume 92:Number 4(2016:Apr.)
• Page Start: 337
• Page End: 355
• Publication Date: 2016-04
• Subjects: Modeling -- control -- feedback linearization -- friction -- slipping -- wheelchair; Computer simulation -- Periodicals; 003.3
• DOI: 10.1177/0037549716638427
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 0037-5497

Abstract

Wheelchairs are broadly accepted and are widespread because of the assistance they provide to people with limited mobility. The design of a good controller generally involves the formulation of a comprehensive wheelchair model. Most dynamic models in the literature presume non-inclined planer surfaces within-doors, and therefore fail to take the combined effects of both gravitational forces and rolling friction on the usable-traction into consideration. Wheel-slip situations are also commonly neglected. This paper contributes to wheelchair modeling by proposing and formulating a dynamic model that considers the effects of rolling friction and gravitational potential on the wheelchair's road-load force, on both inclined and non-inclined surfaces. The dynamic model is derived through the Euler Lagrange procedure, and wheel slip is determined by an approach that reduces the convectional number of slip-detection encoders. In the closed-loop model, the input-output feedback controller is proposed for tracking the user inputs by torque compensation. The optimality of the resulting minimum-phase closed-loop system is then ensured through the performance index of the non-linear continuous-time generalized predictive control with good simulation results.