CN115429555B

CN115429555B - Folding wheelchair and folding method thereof

Info

Publication number: CN115429555B
Application number: CN202110625703.3A
Authority: CN
Inventors: 杨扬
Original assignee: Shanghai Kuzhe Power System Co ltd
Current assignee: Shanghai Kuzhe Power System Co ltd
Priority date: 2021-06-04
Filing date: 2021-06-04
Publication date: 2025-05-09
Anticipated expiration: 2041-06-04
Also published as: WO2022252886A1; CN115429555A

Abstract

The present invention provides a folding wheelchair, comprising a seat cushion assembly, a front wheel assembly and a rear wheel assembly, wherein the upper ends of the front wheel assembly and the rear wheel assembly are rotatably connected to the front connection position and the rear connection position of the seat cushion assembly, respectively, wherein the folding wheelchair also includes a first driving assembly, wherein a first movable member is movably arranged on the seat cushion assembly, and the two ends of a first connecting arm are respectively hinged to the first movable member and the first party of the front wheel assembly and the rear wheel assembly, and a first driving unit is used to drive the first movable member to move forward and backward, whereby the first party can be rotatably unfolded or folded relative to the seat cushion assembly under the driving action of the first connecting arm. The present invention also provides a folding method for a folding wheelchair. The above-mentioned folding wheelchair and folding method can realize automatic folding of the wheelchair.

Description

Folding wheelchair and folding method thereof

Technical Field

The invention provides a folding wheelchair and a folding method of the folding wheelchair.

Background

The world and peace and the development of medical technology in the past decades have led all countries around the world to gradually enter an aging society, and auxiliary travel equipment for the elderly with inconvenient legs and feet has also been developed, and through the development for many years, two types of auxiliary travel equipment are basically available, namely a scooter and an electric wheelchair. The scooter has three-wheel or four-wheel modes, adopts a similar bicycle handle to control the advancing direction, has larger gyration radius, is difficult to operate indoors, is almost suitable for outdoor use, almost has no armrests, is not safe for the elderly laterally without support, and is easy to fatigue because the hands are always held to operate the direction. The wheelchair adopts a control lever to control the direction, the turning radius is small, the wheelchair is suitable for indoor and outdoor operation, the folding electric wheelchair on the market basically adopts two modes, the first is that the frames on two sides of the wheelchair are folded inwards, the cushion is required to be manually dismantled before folding (if any, most of the cushion is a layer of soft fabric without cushion, the wheelchair is very uncomfortable, the backrest is soft fabric without good waist support); the second mode adopts a plurality of groups of connecting rod mechanisms to fold, the two modes can realize the folding purpose of the wheelchair, the volume during transportation and storage is reduced, after years of development, the two modes almost develop to the limit, the first mode is simple to operate, but the folding mode can only reduce the width, the volume is larger after folding, the folding mode is not comfortable enough, the operation is simple, the bending is not needed, the structure is simple and the price is low, a part of markets still exist at present, the second mode can reduce the size of the length and the height at the same time after folding, although the folding volume is smaller than that of the first mode, and because of the design of a soft cushion and a backrest, the comfort degree is better than that of the first mode, most products are required to be bent by users, the folding step participated by the users is needed, the old people or the disabled people who need to go out the wheelchair are very unfriendly, and the manufacturers push out to add an independent electric actuating mechanism on the basis of the structure to automatically part of the folding process, the improvement can reduce the inconvenience of the operation of the users, meanwhile, the electric mechanism is increased in volume and the executing the certain degree is increased.

The invention aims to provide a folding wheelchair capable of automatically folding and a folding method capable of automatically folding of the folding wheelchair.

Disclosure of Invention

The invention aims to provide a folding wheelchair capable of realizing automatic folding.

It is another object of the present invention to provide a folding method that allows for automated wheelchair folding.

The invention provides a folding wheelchair which comprises a cushion assembly, a front wheel assembly, a rear wheel assembly and a first driving assembly, wherein the upper ends of the front wheel assembly and the rear wheel assembly are respectively and rotatably connected to a front connecting position and a rear connecting position of the cushion assembly, the first driving assembly comprises a first movable part which can be movably arranged on the cushion assembly front and back, two ends of the first connecting arm are respectively hinged to the first movable part and a first party of the front wheel assembly and the rear wheel assembly, and the first driving unit is used for driving the first movable part to move front and back, so that the first party can be rotatably unfolded or folded relative to the cushion assembly under the driving action of the first connecting arm.

The invention also provides a folding method of the folding wheelchair, which comprises a cushion assembly, a front wheel assembly and a rear wheel assembly, wherein the folding wheelchair comprises a cushion assembly, the front wheel assembly and the rear wheel assembly, in a state that front rollers of the front wheel assembly and rear rollers of the rear wheel assembly are supported on a supporting surface from a front wheel unfolding state C11, a first direction of the front wheel assembly and the rear wheel assembly is folded around a first rotating axis until a first intermediate state C17 that the first direction is transversely supported on the supporting surface is reached, the first rotating axis is arranged at a connecting position of the first direction and the cushion assembly, the cushion assembly is rotated around the first rotating axis from the first intermediate state C17 in a state that the first direction is transversely supported on the supporting surface, and a second direction of the front wheel assembly and the rear wheel assembly is folded around a second rotating axis relative to the cushion assembly until an end part of the cushion assembly, which is positioned near the first rotating axis, is supported on the supporting surface, is in a first folding state C20, wherein the second rotating axis is arranged at the connecting position of the second direction and the cushion assembly, and the cushion assembly is folded around the first rotating axis from the first folding state C20 to the first rotating state, so that the cushion assembly is supported on the first folding state C23.

The folding wheelchair can drive the movable piece to move back and forth through the driving unit, and can drive the front wheel assembly or the rear wheel assembly to fold relative to the cushion assembly through the connecting arm, so that automatic folding can be realized. Furthermore, the entire cushion assembly and rear wheel assembly may be supported in an auxiliary manner by the connecting arms during the folding process, in particular in step S2 of the folding method mentioned above.

According to the folding method, after the front wheel assembly is rotated and folded to a preset angle relative to the cushion assembly, the cushion assembly is unfolded relative to the front wheel assembly, and the rear wheel assembly is rotated and folded relative to the cushion assembly, so that the gravity center of the wheelchair is adjusted, and automatic folding can be completed without the help of users.

Drawings

The above and other features, properties and advantages of the present invention will become more apparent from the following description in conjunction with the accompanying drawings and embodiments, in which:

Fig. 1 is a perspective view of an exemplary folding wheelchair according to the present invention.

Fig. 2 is an exploded view of an exemplary folding wheelchair.

Fig. 3 is a partially exploded view of an exemplary folding wheelchair.

Fig. 4A is a side view of an exemplary front wheel assembly in one attitude.

Fig. 4B is a perspective view of the pedal assembly in the position of fig. 4A.

Fig. 5A and 5B are side and perspective views, respectively, of an exemplary front wheel assembly in another attitude.

FIG. 6 is a side view of the exemplary front wheel assembly in yet another attitude.

Fig. 7A and 7B are perspective views of the armrest assembly in a fully open, normal use condition from two perspectives, respectively.

Fig. 8A and 8B are perspective views of the armrest assembly in a fully collapsed stowed condition from two perspectives, respectively.

Fig. 9A and 9B are side views of the armrest folding assembly illustrating the armrest folding assembly in two intermediate states, respectively, wherein the intermediate state of fig. 9B is closer to the folded state than the intermediate state of fig. 9A.

Fig. 10A, 10B and 10C are schematic views illustrating the upside down of the armrest, in fig. 10A, the latch hook is hooked to the hinge shaft and the armrest folding assembly is in the unfolded state, in fig. 10B, the latch hook is disengaged from the hinge shaft and the armrest folding assembly is in the unfolded state, and in fig. 10C, the latch hook is disengaged from the hinge shaft and the armrest folding assembly is in the folded state.

Fig. 11A, 11B and 11C are each a schematic view schematically illustrating the armrest locking assembly in the locked state in fig. 11A, in the unlocked state in fig. 11B, and in another unlocked state in fig. 11C.

FIG. 12 is a schematic diagram illustrating the engagement of the back lock assembly with the back assembly.

Fig. 13 is a schematic diagram illustrating an unlocking assembly.

Fig. 14 is a schematic diagram illustrating the engagement of the unlocking assembly with the locking abutment. .

FIG. 15 is another schematic view illustrating the engagement of the back lock assembly with the back assembly.

Fig. 16A, 16B and 16C are schematic views illustrating the backrest assembly in a backrest extended position, a backrest intermediate position and a backrest folded position, respectively.

FIG. 17 is a schematic view illustrating the back assembly in a handle extended position.

Fig. 18 is a schematic diagram illustrating the folding wheelchair in a trunk mode.

Fig. 19A to 19C are state change diagrams showing an exemplary folding process of the manipulation assembly of the folding wheelchair, and in fig. 19A, the folding wheelchair is in a fully unfolded state.

Fig. 19D is a schematic view illustrating an unlocking operation of the armrest locking assembly of the folding wheelchair after the state of fig. 19C.

Fig. 19E to 19H are state change diagrams illustrating an exemplary folding process of the armrest assembly of the folding wheelchair after the state of fig. 19D.

Fig. 19I to 19K are state change diagrams illustrating an exemplary folding process of the back cushion of the backrest assembly of the folding wheelchair after the state of fig. 19H.

Fig. 19L to 19V are state change diagrams illustrating an exemplary folding process of the leg assembly of the folding wheelchair after the state of fig. 19K.

Fig. 20 is a schematic view exemplarily showing that the folding wheelchair is in a fully folded state after the state of fig. 19V.

Fig. 21A to 21I schematically show a state change schematic of an exemplary unfolding process of the leg assembly of the folding wheelchair, wherein fig. 21A shows a state after unfolding from fig. 20.

Detailed Description

The present invention will be further described with reference to the following detailed description and the accompanying drawings, in which more details are set forth in order to provide a thorough understanding of the present invention, but it will be apparent that the present invention can be embodied in many different forms than described herein, and that those skilled in the art may make similar generalizations and deductions depending on the actual application without departing from the spirit of the present invention, and therefore should not be limited in scope by the context of this detailed description.

For example, a first feature described later in this specification may be formed above or on a second feature, and may include embodiments in which the first and second features are formed in direct contact, as well as embodiments in which additional features are formed between the first and second features, such that no direct contact between the first and second features is possible. Further, where a first element is described as being coupled or combined with a second element, the description includes embodiments in which the first and second elements are directly coupled or combined with each other, and also includes embodiments in which one or more other intervening elements are added to indirectly couple or combine the first and second elements with each other.

The folding wheelchair and the folding method of the folding wheelchair according to the present invention will be exemplarily described below.

1. Folding wheelchair 800

Fig. 1 and 2 show an exemplary overall configuration of a folding wheelchair 800, wherein fig. 1 is a perspective view of the folding wheelchair 800, and fig. 2 is an exploded view of the folding wheelchair 800. The respective portions will be exemplarily described below. It is to be understood that the drawings are designed solely for the purposes of illustration and not as a definition of the limits of the invention.

Referring to fig. 1 and 2, the folding wheelchair 800 may include a seat cushion assembly 80. It will be appreciated that the seat cushion assembly 80 may provide a seat cushion 802 upon which a user sits, and that the seat cushion assembly 80 may further include a seat cushion bracket 801 that supports the seat cushion 802, the seat cushion bracket 801 also being referred to as the mainframe frame of the folding wheelchair 800. In the illustrated embodiment, the folding wheelchair 800 may include a front wheel assembly 10, a rear wheel assembly 20, a back assembly 30, a armrest assembly 40, and the like.

For ease of description, spatially relative terms such as "lower," "upper," "front," "rear," "left," "right," and the like may be used herein to describe one element or feature's relationship to another element or feature as illustrated in the figures. It will be appreciated that the directions herein are described with reference to a normal use condition (as shown in fig. 19A) in which the wheelchair 800 is fully deployed throughout for seating use by a user, for example, "side" may be the left or right side of the user at this time, and "up", "down", "front", "back", etc. are also referred to at this time. In fig. 19A, the folding wheelchair 800 is supported by the front roller 11 and the rear roller 21 on a support surface G0, and the support surface G0 is, for example, the ground. In addition, unless specifically stated otherwise, the extension along a particular direction herein is not required to strictly follow the definition in a mathematical sense, but rather requires that the extension direction have a component in that particular direction, preferably that the angle between the extension direction and that particular direction be less than 45 °. It will be appreciated that these spatially relative terms are intended to encompass other orientations of the element or component in use or operation in addition to the orientation depicted in the figures. For example, if the assembly of the figures were to be folded over, particularly in the case where the folding wheelchair 800 of the present invention is foldable, the orientation of the elements described as being "under" other elements or features would be changed to be "over" the other elements or features, e.g., the case where the components on the front side would become on the underside during folding of the folding wheelchair 800 of the present invention. Accordingly, the spatial relationship descriptors used herein should be interpreted accordingly.

1. Chair leg assembly

The folding wheelchair 800 may include a front wheel assembly 10 and a rear wheel assembly 20. In the illustrated embodiment, the upper ends of the front and rear wheel assemblies 10 and 20 are rotatably coupled to the front and rear coupling positions P1 and P2 of the seat cushion assembly 80, respectively. It will be appreciated that the terms "front connection bit P1" and "rear connection bit P2" are used herein with respect to each other, which means that the front connection bit P1 precedes the rear connection bit P2 or the rear connection bit P2 follows the front connection bit P1 in the aforesaid normal use state (or fully extended state).

The front wheel assembly 10 and the rear wheel assembly 20 may be collectively referred to as a leg assembly. It will be appreciated that this does not exclude the case that the chair wheel assembly may include other components.

It will be appreciated that the front wheel assembly 10 includes front wheels 11 of the folding wheelchair 800, such as two front wheels 11 on the left and right, respectively, in fig. 1. The front wheel assembly 10 may further include a front wheel frame 12 supporting the front roller 11, and the front wheel assembly 10 may be rotatably coupled to the seat cushion assembly 80 through an upper end of the front wheel frame 12. The front wheel frame 12 may also be referred to as a front leg or a front chair leg, and the front roller 11 may be rollably supported by a front fork 122 connected through a suspension 121. The front wheel assembly 10 can be switched between a front wheel extended position P121 (shown in fig. 19K) and a front wheel folded position P122 (shown in fig. 20) by rotation of the front wheel frame 12 relative to the seat cushion assembly 80. The angle α12 between the front wheel frame 12 and the seat cushion assembly 80 is shown in fig. 19U, and in the front wheel extended position P121, the angle α12 may be, for example, 80-100 °, and in the front wheel folded position P122, the angle α12 may be, for example, -10-10 °.

The rear wheel assembly 20 includes rear wheels 21 of the folding wheelchair 800, such as two rear wheels 21 located on the left and right sides, respectively, in fig. 1. The rear wheel assembly 10 may further include a rear wheel frame 22 supporting the rear wheels 21, and the rear wheel assembly 20 may be rotatably coupled to the seat cushion assembly 80 through an upper end of the rear wheel frame 22. The rear wheel frame 22 may also be referred to as a rear leg or a rear chair leg, for example, a dog leg, and the lower end rollably supports the rear roller 21.

It is appreciated that certain words are used herein to describe embodiments of the invention, such as "one embodiment," "an embodiment," and/or "another embodiment" means that a particular feature, structure, or characteristic is associated with at least one embodiment of the invention. Thus, it should be emphasized and should be appreciated that two or more references to "an embodiment" or "one embodiment" in various positions in this specification are not necessarily referring to the same embodiment. Furthermore, some features, structures, or characteristics of one or more embodiments of the invention may be combined as suitable. In addition, the terms "first", "second", etc. are used to define the components only for convenience in distinguishing the corresponding components, and the terms have no special meaning unless otherwise stated, and thus should not be construed as limiting the scope of the present invention.

In the illustrated embodiment, the leg assembly can also include a drive mechanism that can drive the front wheel assembly 10 and/or the rear wheel assembly 20 to fold or unfold rotationally relative to the seat cushion assembly 80.

An exemplary description will be made below for each portion of the leg assembly.

1.1, Drive device

The drive means may comprise a first drive assembly 100 and/or a second drive assembly 200 for driving a first party (herein the front wheel assembly 10 is exemplified) and/or a second party (herein the rear wheel assembly 20 is exemplified) of the front wheel assembly 10 and the rear wheel assembly 20, respectively. The driving device will be exemplarily described below with reference to fig. 1 to 3.

The first drive assembly 100 may include a first movable member 101 and a first link 102. The first movable member 101 is movably disposed in the seat cushion assembly 80. As described above, the front and rear are both relative to the normal use state of fig. 19A, and the "front-rear movement" of the first movable member 101 becomes obliquely upward or obliquely downward movement during folding. Both ends of the first link arm 102 are hinged to the first movable member 101 and the first party (the front wheel assembly 10 in the illustrated embodiment), respectively. The first movable member 101 moves back and forth, whereby the front wheel assembly 10 (as an example of the aforementioned first party) rotates the first link 102 to expand or fold relative to the seat cushion assembly 80 by the first movable member 101.

The first drive assembly 100 may further include a first drive unit 103 for driving the first movable member 101 to move back and forth, whereby the front wheel assembly 10 (as an example of the aforementioned first party) is rotatably unfolded or folded relative to the seat cushion assembly 80 with the belt action of the first link 102. In the illustrated embodiment, the first driving unit 103 may be, for example, a rotary driving source (e.g., a rotary motor) that can output a rotary motion, and the rotary driving source may drive the first movable member 101 to move back and forth through a screw transmission mechanism. The screw driving mechanism may include a first screw 105 and (for example, two) first sliding rods 106, and the first movable member 101 may be screwed with the first screw 105 and sleeved on the first sliding rods 106, so that the rotation driving source of the first driving unit 103 outputs a rotation motion to drive the first screw 105 to rotate, and the first movable member 101 may slide back and forth under the guidance of the first sliding rods 106, so that the front wheel assembly 10 is rotationally unfolded or folded relative to the cushion assembly 80 under the driving of the first connecting arm 102.

The second driving assembly 200 may include a second movable member 201 and a second link arm 202. The second movable member 201 is movably disposed in the seat cushion assembly 80. Both ends of the second connecting arm 202 are respectively hinged to the second movable member 201 and the second side (the rear wheel assembly 20 in the illustrated embodiment). The second movable member 201 moves back and forth, whereby the rear wheel assembly 20 (as an example of the aforementioned second party) rotates the second link arm 202 to be unfolded or folded relative to the seat cushion assembly 80 by the second movable member 201.

The second drive assembly 200 may further include a second drive unit 203 for driving the second movable member 201 to move back and forth, whereby the rear wheel assembly 20 (as an example of the aforementioned second party) is rotatably folded or unfolded with respect to the seat cushion assembly 80 under the belt action of the second link arm 202. In the illustrated embodiment, the second driving unit 203 may be, for example, a rotary driving source (e.g., a rotary motor) that can output a rotary motion, and the rotary driving source may drive the second movable member 201 to move back and forth through a screw transmission mechanism. The screw driving mechanism may include a second screw 205 and (for example, two) second sliding rods 206, and the second movable member 201 may be screwed with the second screw 205 and sleeved on the second sliding rods 206, so that the rotation driving source of the second driving unit 203 outputs the rotation motion to drive the second screw 205 to rotate, and the second movable member 201 may slide back and forth under the guidance of the second sliding rods 206, so that the rear wheel assembly 20 is rotationally folded or unfolded relative to the cushion assembly 80 under the driving of the second connecting arm 202.

In the illustrated embodiment, the seat cushion assembly 80 may include a lower guide rod 104 and an upper guide rod 204. The lower guide rod 104 may be considered as a first lead screw 105 and/or a first slide bar 106. The upper guide bar 204 may be considered as a second lead screw 205 and/or a second slide bar 206. The lower guide bar 104 and the upper guide bar 204 each extend forward and backward and are disposed at an intermediate position of the cushion assembly 80 in the left-right direction. The first movable member 101 is movably disposed on the lower guide rod 104, and the second movable member 201 is movably disposed on the upper guide rod 204. This arrangement facilitates the space left and right sides of the lower guide bar 104 and the upper guide bar 204 to arrange the front wheel assembly 10 and the rear wheel assembly 20 of the folding wheelchair 800 after folding, and thus is more compact as a whole.

In the illustrated embodiment, the driving device of the folding wheelchair 800 may further include a position detection unit (not shown) for detecting the movement position of the first movable member 101 and/or the second movable member 201. The position detecting unit may be, for example, a position sensor, and in the illustrated embodiment, three proximity sensors may be included for the first movable member 101 to detect whether the first movable member 101 moves to the both end positions and the intermediate position, respectively, and two proximity sensors may be included for the second movable member 201 to detect whether the second movable member 201 moves to the both end positions, respectively.

The driving apparatus of the folding wheelchair 800 may further include a controller (not shown) that may transmit a control signal, for example, stopping driving, reverse driving, or variable speed driving, etc., to the first driving unit 103 and/or the second driving unit 203 based on the movement position detected by the aforementioned position detecting unit, and the specific control signal will be described later in detail. The controller includes one or more hardware processors such as microcontrollers, microprocessors, reduced Instruction Set Computers (RISC), application Specific Integrated Circuits (ASIC), application specific instruction integrated processors (ASIP), central Processing Units (CPU), graphics Processing Units (GPU), physical Processing Units (PPU), microcontroller units, digital Signal Processors (DSP), field Programmable Gate Arrays (FPGA), advanced RISC Machines (ARM), programmable Logic Devices (PLD), any circuit or processor capable of executing one or more functions, or the like.

The drive means may further comprise a remote control handle, which may transmit control signals to the controller. The drive means may also comprise a rechargeable battery pack to provide electrical power to other components of the drive means.

1.2 Front wheel Assembly 10

In the illustrated embodiment, the front wheel assembly 10 may also include a pedal assembly 50. An exemplary description of the pedal assembly 50 will now be provided with reference to fig. 3-6 and in conjunction with fig. 1 and 2.

In the illustrated embodiment, the pedal assembly 50 may include a pedal assembly 51. The foot pedal assembly 51 may include a pedal arm 52 and a foot pedal 53. The upper end of the pedal arm 52 may be rotatably provided to the front wheel frame 12, that is, the pedal arm 52 may be rotatable with respect to the front wheel frame 12. A foot pedal 53 may be connected to the lower end of the pedal arm 52. In the illustrated embodiment, the foot pedal 53 may have a connection portion 531, and may be rotatably connected to (the lower end of) the pedal arm 52 by the connection portion 531.

In the illustrated embodiment, the pedal assembly 50 may also include a scroll wheel 54 disposed on the pedal assembly 51. The rolling wheel 54 may be configured to rollably contact the support surface G0 during rotational folding of the front wheel frame 12 of the front wheel assembly 10 relative to the seat cushion assembly 80, as shown in fig. 19M and 19N, as will be described further below. It will be appreciated that the rolling wheel 54 is not required to be in rolling contact with the bearing surface G0 throughout the rotational folding of the front wheel frame 12 relative to the seat cushion assembly 80, but may be in rolling contact with the bearing surface G0 for at least a period of time during such a process. For example, before switching from the state of fig. 19K to the state of fig. 19L, the front wheel frame 12 of the front wheel assembly 10 is folded rotationally relative to the seat cushion assembly 80, however, the pedal assembly 50 as a whole does not contact the support surface G0 until, in fig. 19L, the front end of the foot pedal 53 of the pedal assembly 50 comes into contact with the support surface G0. In other words, the rolling wheel 54 is configured to be able to be positioned closer to contact with the support surface G0 relative to the connection 531 and/or pedal arm 52 during folding of the pedal assembly 50. In the embodiment shown in fig. 19M to 20, in any state of the pedal assembly 50, the rolling wheel 54 is positioned closer to contact with the supporting surface G0 than the connecting portion 531, the pedal arm 52, and even the front wheel frame 12, so that the connecting portion 531, the pedal arm 52, or the front wheel frame 12 is prevented from directly hanging from the supporting surface G0 during folding, resulting in damage to the supporting surface G0 or the components of the folding wheelchair 800. In the illustrated embodiment, the rolling wheel 54 is provided at a joint between the pedal arm 52 and the pedal 53 of the pedal assembly 51, and the rolling center of the rolling wheel 54 with respect to the pedal assembly 51 coincides with the rotation center of (the joint 531 of) the pedal 53 with respect to the pedal arm 52, for example, the rolling wheel 54 and the joint 531 of the pedal 53 are coupled to each other by the same hinge shaft H51.

As previously described, the front wheel assembly 10 is the first party described above and can be rotatably folded relative to the seat cushion assembly 80 by being driven by the first drive assembly 100. By adopting the pedal assembly 50, the rolling wheel 54 can roll forward on the supporting surface G0 in the process of rotating and folding the front wheel assembly 10 relative to the cushion assembly 80, which will be described in detail later, and drives the pedal arm 52 to rotate and unfold relative to the front wheel frame 12, so that not only can the unfolding and folding state between the pedal arm 52 and the pedal 53 in the pedal assembly 50 be changed, but also the subsequent folding is facilitated, and in the process, the pedal assembly 50 can roll and rub the supporting surface G0 through the rolling wheel 54, thereby reducing the friction and abrasion generated between the components of the folding wheelchair 800 and the ground, and further playing an auxiliary supporting role.

In the illustrated embodiment, the pedal arm 52 may be provided with a mounting hole 521 having an elongated direction L52 in cross section. In other words, the cross section of the mounting hole 521 is in a shape having an elongated direction L52, such as a bar-shaped hole or a rectangular hole, and the elongated direction L52 may also be referred to as the length direction of the cross section of the mounting hole 521. The mounting hole 521 may be formed through the pedal arm 52 as shown. It is to be understood that the extension direction L52 of the mounting hole 521 described herein can be regarded as the extension direction of the maximum inner diameter of the mounting hole 521 in the plane (the paper surface of fig. 4A) in which the side wall of the pedal arm 52 lies.

As described above, the foot pedal 53 may be rotatably connected to the pedal arm 52 by the connection portion 531, whereby the foot pedal 53 is rotatable with respect to the pedal arm 52 to the first pedal-spread position P531 where the user pedals, as shown in fig. 4A and 4B. Fig. 4A is a side view of the front wheel assembly 10 when the pedal 53 is in the first pedal-extended position P531 with respect to the pedal arm 52, and fig. 4B is a perspective view of the pedal assembly 50 when the pedal 53 is in the first pedal-extended position P531 with respect to the pedal arm 52. That is, the relative positional relationship between the pedal arm 52 and the foot pedal 53 is rotationally adjusted by the connection portion 531, for example, the foot pedal 53 can be rotated to the first pedal-extended position P531 with respect to the pedal arm 52. The connection portion 531 may also have a deployment engagement portion 531a for locking the foot pedal 53 in a first pedal deployment position P531 with respect to the pedal arm 52, as will be described later.

In the illustrated embodiment, the pedal assembly 50 may also include a stop 55. The limiting device 55 may include a limiting rod 56 and a limiting elastic member 57. The stopper rod 56 may movably penetrate the mounting hole 521 of the pedal arm 52 along the extension direction L52 of the mounting hole 521. The elastic force of the stopper elastic member 57 has a tendency to move the stopper lever 57 in the extension direction L52 to abut against the side wall of the mounting hole 521, whereby the stopper lever 57 is engaged with the deployment engagement portion 531a of the connection portion 531 so that the foot board 53 is held at the first pedal deployment position P531 with respect to the pedal arm 52. In the first pedal-spread position P531, for example, the angle α53 between the foot pedal 53 and the pedal arm 52 may be, for example, 105 ° to 135 °, inclusive, in which the foot pedal 53 and the pedal arm 52 are in a pedal-spread state that facilitates the user's placement of the foot on the foot pedal 53.

In the illustrated embodiment, the foot pedal 53 may be provided rotatably to the pedal-retracted position P532 with respect to the pedal arm 52, as shown in fig. 5A and 5B. Fig. 5A is a side view of the front wheel assembly 10 when the pedal 53 is in the pedal-retracted position P532 with respect to the pedal arm 52, and fig. 5B is a perspective view of the front wheel assembly 10 when the pedal 53 is in the pedal-retracted position P532 with respect to the pedal arm 52. In the pedal-retracted position P532, for example, the angle α53 between the foot pedal 53 and the pedal arm 52 may be, for example, 85-95 °, and the foot pedal 53 and the pedal arm 52 may be in a pedal-retracted state within the angle range that facilitates easier folding and stowing of the pedal assembly 50, which is also beneficial for folding the wheelchair 800 as will be described in more detail later.

In the embodiment shown in fig. 4A and 4B, the foot rest 53 is in the first pedal-extended position P531 relative to the pedal arm 52, and the pedal arm 52 and foot rest 53 in the first pedal-extended position P531 are adapted for a user to place a foot on the foot rest 53 when the pedal assembly 50 is assembled in the folding wheelchair 800, as shown in fig. 19A-19K, for example. In the embodiment shown in fig. 5A and 5B, the pedal 53 is in the pedal-folded position P532 relative to the pedal arm 52, and when the pedal assembly 50 is assembled in the folding wheelchair 800, the pedal arm 52 and the pedal 53 in the pedal-folded position P532 occupy relatively little space, so as to facilitate storage and transportation, as shown in fig. 20.

The stop 55 may further include a stop 58. The stopper 58 may be connected to the stopper 56 and rotatably provided to the pedal arm 52, for example, by a hinge shaft H58, and the connection portion 531 further has a folding engagement portion 531b, and in a state where the pedal 53 is located at the pedal folding position P532, the stopper 58 is engaged with the folding engagement portion 531b of the connection portion 531 so that the pedal 53 is held at the pedal folding position P532.

In the illustrated embodiment, the stopper rod 56 is mounted to the pedal arm 52 through the mounting hole 521, and in the mounted state, the stopper rod 56 is provided through the pedal arm 52 and has an end portion protruding rearward through the pedal arm 52. Meanwhile, the mounting hole 521 may have a long hole shape and be shaped such that the stopper rod 56 mounted to the pedal arm 52 is movable in the extension direction L52 of the mounting hole 521, and at the same time, the stopper rod 56 is supported by the stopper elastic member 57 in the extension direction L52 of the mounting hole 521, so that in the illustrated embodiment, the elastically supported stopper rod 56 is elastically abutted against the side wall of the mounting hole 521 located in the extension direction L52 in the mounting hole 521. For example, in the illustrated embodiment, the limit spring 57 may be disposed within the pedal arm 52 to facilitate ensuring that the limit spring 57 does not interfere with other components during movement of the limit lever 56. It will be appreciated that in another embodiment, the limit spring 57 may be disposed outside the pedal arm 52. In the illustrated embodiment, the limiting elastic member 57 may be a compression coil spring, and both ends of the limiting elastic member are respectively connected to the limiting rod 56 and the pedal arm 52, when the limiting rod 56 is biased, the limiting elastic member 57 can be elastically compressed, the limiting rod 56 moves from the side wall of the mounting hole 521 on the side of the extending direction L52 toward the side wall of the other side of the extending direction L52, and meanwhile, during the moving process, the limiting elastic member 57 keeps the limiting rod 56 moving toward the side wall of the side all the time. It will be appreciated that in another embodiment, the limit spring 57 may also be a tension spring.

The stop 58 is co-located on the same side of the pedal arm 52 as the connection 531 of the foot pedal 53. In the illustrated embodiment, the stop 58 is co-located on an opposite outer side of the pedal arm 52 in the assembled condition as the connection 531. It will be appreciated that in another embodiment, the stop 58 and the connection 531 may also be co-located on opposite inner sides of the pedal arm 52 in the assembled condition. Wherein the stop 58 is rotatable relative to the pedal arm 52 and is coupled to the stop lever 56. Referring to fig. 4B, the limiting member 58 may be provided with a connecting hole 580, the limiting rod 56 is inserted into the connecting hole 580, and when the limiting rod 56 moves along the extending direction L52 in the mounting hole 521, the limiting member 58 can be driven to move, so that the limiting member 58 rotates with the joint (in the drawing, the hinge H58) with the pedal arm 52 as the rotation center.

In the first pedal-spread position P531 shown in fig. 4A and 4B, the stopper rod 56 of the stopper 55 is elastically supported by the stopper elastic member 57 so as to be in contact with the spread engaging portion 531a of the connection portion 531 of the foot pedal 53, so that the stopper rod 56 and the spread engaging portion 531a together restrict the relative rotation between the pedal arm 52 and the foot pedal 53, specifically, the elastically supported contact means that in a state where the stopper rod 56 is engaged with and limited by the spread engaging portion 531a, the stopper rod 56 is elastically supported by the stopper elastic member 57 and in a state where the stopper rod is elastically supported so as to be in contact with the spread engaging portion 531 a. For example, when the stopper rod 56 is engaged with the deployment engaging portion 531a for the stopper, the compression coil spring as the stopper elastic member 57 may be in a state of being slightly elastically compressed, so that there is a tendency that the stopper rod 56 is elastically urged toward the deployment engaging portion 531 a. The stopper rod 56 is biased such that the stopper elastic member 57 is further elastically compressed, thereby allowing the disengaged state between the stopper rod 56 and the deployment engagement portion 531a and allowing the relative rotation between the pedal arm 52 and the foot pedal 53. In the illustrated embodiment, the connection 531 may be provided at an end of the stop lever 56 after passing through the pedal arm 52 and cooperate with the end for stop. In another embodiment, the connection portion 531 may be disposed inside the pedal arm 52 and engaged with the shaft of the stopper rod 56.

In the pedal-retracted position P532 shown in fig. 5A and 5B, the stopper 58 of the stopper 55 cooperates with the retracting engagement portion 531B of the connecting portion 531 of the pedal 53 to restrict relative rotation between the pedal 53 and the pedal arm 52. The stopper rod 56 is biased so that the stopper rod 56 moves along the extending direction L52 of the mounting hole 521 and the state of the release engagement between the stopper rod 56 and the deployment engagement portion 531a is released, and at this time, the pedal 53 and the pedal arm 52 can rotate relatively until the pedal 53 and the deployment engagement portion 531B are engaged and restricted when moved to the pedal deployment position P532 shown in fig. 5A and 5B, and the stopper 58 does not rotate about the connection portion (hinge H58 in the drawing) between the stopper rod 56 and the pedal arm 52 as a rotation center because the stopper rod 56 is fixed in the mounting hole 521, so that it is ensured that the stopper 58 and the deployment engagement portion 531B abut against each other to hold the pedal 53 in the pedal deployment position P532 relative to the pedal arm 52 regardless of the rotation of the pedal 53 relative to the pedal arm 52 in either direction.

In the pedal assembly 50, the connecting portion 531, the limiting member 58 and the limiting rod 56 are arranged in a matching manner, and the relative position relationship between the pedal 53 and the pedal arm 52 in the pedal assembly 50 can be adjusted and limited by operating the limiting rod 56 with a single component, so that the operation is simple, and a good foundation can be provided for realizing automatic folding of the folding wheelchair 800.

As described above, the upper end of the pedal arm 52 may be rotatably provided to the front wheel frame 12, and thus, the pedal arm 52 may be provided rotatably retracted to the pedal retraction position P522 with respect to the front wheel frame 12.

In the illustrated embodiment, the front wheel frame 12 may include a force applying portion 123, and for example, the force applying portion 123 may be in the form of a flange. In the pedal-folded position P522, the urging portion 123 of the front wheel frame 12 may urge the stopper lever 56 such that the stopper lever 56 is disengaged from the deployment engagement portion 531a of the connection portion 531 against the elastic force of the stopper elastic member 57, whereby the pedal 53 is rotatable relative to the pedal arm 52. That is, when the pedal arm 52 is pivoted to the pedal-folded position P522 with respect to the front wheel frame 12, the urging portion 123 of the front wheel frame 12 can contact the stopper rod 56 to apply a pressing force to the stopper rod 56, for example, so that the stopper rod 56 can release the engagement with the expansion engagement portion 531a of the connection portion 531, and thus the stopper locking action to hold the pedal 53 in the first pedal-expanded position P531 with respect to the pedal arm 52 can be released. Accordingly, the connection portion 531, that is, the pedal 53 is freely rotatable with respect to the pedal arm 52, that is, the state shown in fig. 19P in which the pedal arm 52 is rotated with respect to the front wheel frame 12 to be folded to (or near) the pedal folded position P522, and the pressing edge as the force applying portion 123 presses the stopper lever 56 away from the expansion fitting portion 531a of the connection portion 531, so that the pedal 53 is rotated and expanded with respect to the pedal arm 52 from the first pedal expansion position P531 to the flush position where the pedal 53 is substantially flush with the support surface G0 under the action of gravity, which position may also be referred to as a second pedal expansion position P533 of the pedal 53 with respect to the pedal arm 52.

In the illustrated embodiment, the connection portion 531 of the foot pedal 53 may further have a second engagement portion 531c. The stopper lever 56 is biased such that the stopper elastic member 57 elastically supporting the stopper lever 56 is elastically compressed or stretched, thereby releasing the state of the engagement restriction between the stopper lever 56 and the deployment engaging portion 531a, and allowing the pedal 53 to rotate to the flush position shown in fig. 6, i.e., the aforementioned second pedal deployment position P533, with respect to the pedal arm 52. In the second pedal-spread position P533, the stopper rod 56 may abut against the second engaging portion 531c, and together restrict the continued rotation of the foot pedal 53 with respect to the pedal arm 52. The foothold 53 being flush with the pedal arm 52 may be understood as the foothold 53 being moved to a second pedal-extended position P533 where both have the same extension direction, the angle α53 between the foothold 53 and the pedal arm 52 may be approximately 180 °, for example 175 ° to 185 °. In the second pedal-unfolded position P533, when the pedal assembly 50 or the folding wheelchair 800 in which it is assembled is required to be folded, the foot pedal 53 can provide an avoidance space required for the folding, preventing interference with other components during the folding process.

It will be appreciated that, as described above, in the actual folding process, when the position of the engagement between the stopper rod 56 and the deployment engagement portion 531a is released, the footrest 53 can be moved to the substantially flush position by gravity to abut against the supporting surface G0. Accordingly, the second engaging portion 531c may not be provided in the connecting portion 531, and the foot pedal 53 may be held at the substantially second pedal-extended position P533 directly against the support surface G0.

In the embodiment shown in fig. 4A to 6, the fitting parts 531b and/or 531c may be protrusions protruding from the connection part 531, and the protrusions may be protrusions protruding from the outer circumference of the connection part 531 as shown. The convex folding engagement portion 531b is engaged with the stopper 58, and the convex second engagement portion 531c contacts the stopper 56 to be limited by the stopper 56. The expansion engagement portion 531a may be a notch formed in the connecting portion 531, and the notch may be formed by recessing the outer peripheral edge of the connecting portion 531 inward from the inner side of the connecting portion 531, as shown in the drawing, and engaging at least a portion (e.g., a shaft or an end portion) of the stopper rod 56 into the expansion engagement portion 531a having a groove shape to achieve engagement limitation between the stopper rod 56 and the connecting portion 531, and by applying a force to the stopper rod 56, the stopper rod 56 can be released from the groove opening, thereby releasing the limitation state.

In the embodiment shown in fig. 3 to 6, the limiting member 58 may have a hook portion 581, the hook portion 581 may protrude from a limiting member body 582, and the limiting member body 582 may be provided with a connection hole 580 for mating connection with the limiting rod 56. The extending direction of the hook 581 and the extending direction of the limiting member body 582 may have an included angle, so that when the limiting member body 582 is driven by the limiting rod 56 to rotate around the hinge shaft H58, the hook 581 will also rotate. The hook 581 may be an elastic member that deforms when an external force is applied thereto, and may be engaged with or disengaged from the protruding engagement portion 531 b. For example, referring to fig. 4A, when the connection portion 531 of the foot pedal 53 rotates in the clockwise direction as shown, the folding engagement portion 531b may abut against the hook upper end surface of the hook 581, so that the hook 581 is bent downward as a whole, and the folding engagement portion 531b is snapped into the hook 581, thereby completing the snap. Referring to fig. 5A, when the connection portion 531 rotates in the counterclockwise direction as shown, the folding engagement portion 531b may push against the lower end surface of the hook body of the hook portion 581, so that the hook body is warped and deformed as a whole, and the folding engagement portion 531b is disengaged from the hook portion 581, thereby completing the releasing. For example, the catch 581 may be made of plastic having a certain elasticity, and for example, the stopper 58 may be integrally configured as an elastic member.

Referring to fig. 4A and 5A, the hook portion 581 may have an upper end surface 581a, which is a surface that is first contacted by the folding engagement portion 531b when the foot pedal 53 moves from the first pedal-unfolded position P531 (fig. 4A) to the pedal-folded position P532 (fig. 5A) with respect to the pedal arm 52, that is, when the folding engagement portion 531b moves from the non-fastened state to the fastened state with the hook portion 581. The upper end surface 581a may be configured as a slope, for example, the hook portion 581 may have a hook arm 581b and a hook body 581c, and the upper end surface 581a may be inclined from a side close to the hook arm 581b toward a side close to the hook body 581c, so that when the upper end surface 581a contacts with the folding engagement portion 531b, the upper end surface 581a having a slope shape may be slope-engaged with the folding engagement portion 531b such that the hook portion 581 is deformed to make the folding engagement portion 531b more easily engaged with the hook body 581 c.

Referring to fig. 4A and 5A, the pedal arms 52 may be a pair of the illustrated disposed in the pedal assembly 50. The foot pedal 53 may extend in a lateral direction (or left-right direction), and the connection portion 531 may be two laterally spaced apart. The two connection portions 531 are hinged to the pair of pedal arms 52, respectively. In the drawing, the two connection parts 531 are hinged to the two pedal arms 52 by hinge shafts H51, respectively, so that the foot boards 53 can rotate about the hinge shafts H51 with respect to the two pedal arms 52. The pedal 53 has a certain length along the lateral direction, and can perform a more stable supporting function by hinging the two pedal arms 52 thereto. In another embodiment, the number of pedal arms 52 may be one or more than three. Further, the stopper 58 may be a pair provided corresponding to the number of the connection parts 531. The two limiting members 58 are hinged to the two pedal arms 52 through a hinge shaft H58, respectively, so that the two limiting members 58 can rotate around the hinge shaft H58 relative to the two pedal arms 52. It will be appreciated that the limiting members 58 are correspondingly matched with the connecting portions 531 one by one in the drawing, so that the number of the limiting members 58 is matched with the number of the connecting portions 531, and meanwhile, the limiting members 58 and the connecting portions 531 are correspondingly matched one by one and are arranged on the same side of the pedal arm 52.

In the illustrated embodiment, one end (lower end in fig. 1) of the first link 102 may be hinged to the front wheel frame 12 of the front wheel assembly 10, and the first link 102 may be configured to be rotatable relative to the upper portion 126 of the front wheel frame 12 to the link extended position P101. As mentioned before, the upper portion 126 of the front wheel frame 12 is only the upper portion of the front wheel frame 12 when the folding wheelchair 800 is in the normal use state shown in fig. 1 or 19A, and the upper portion 126 of the front wheel frame 12 may become the front portion of the front wheel frame 12 during folding. The angle α102 between the first link 102 and (the upper portion 126 of) the front wheel frame 12 is shown in fig. 19V, and in the link deployment position P101 shown in fig. 5A and 5B and fig. 20, the angle α102 (not shown because it is not shown here) may be 160-180 °, for example. In fig. 20, the front wheel frame 12 of the front wheel assembly 10 is rotatable relative to the seat cushion assembly 80 to fold to the front wheel fold position P122 when the first link arm 102 is rotated relative to the upper portion 126 of the front wheel frame 12 to the link arm extended position P101. In the front wheel folding position P122, the left and right front wheels 11 supported by the front wheel frame 12 can be received to the left and right sides of the seat cushion assembly 80, respectively, and the outer diameter dimension of the front wheels 11 can be set to be equivalent to the thickness dimension of the seat cushion assembly 80 in the thickness direction T80, so as not to protrude.

As can be seen in fig. 5B, when the pedal arms 52 are pivoted to the pedal-retracted position P522 with respect to the front wheel frame 12, the front wheel frame 12 may have a middle portion 124 that is received between the pair of pedal arms 52 provided as described above in the lateral direction (or the left-right direction), and may also have side portions 125 provided on both sides. The force application portion 123 may be provided in the intermediate portion 124 to facilitate the application of force to the shaft of the stopper rod 56. The side portion 125 may have a receiving notch 125 to facilitate snapping the pedal arm 52. The pinching angle α52 between the pedal arm 52 and the front wheel frame 12 is shown in fig. 19O, and in the pedal-folded position P522 shown in fig. 5A and 5B and fig. 19R to 20, for example, the included angle α52 (not shown because it is not easily shown at this time) may be, for example, -5 to 5 °. In addition, in the normal use condition shown in fig. 1 or 19A, the angle α52 between the pedal arm 52 and the front wheel frame 12 may be, for example, 155 ° -175 °, which matches the aforementioned angle α53 between the pedal 53 and the pedal arm 52 in the first pedal-spread position P531, and is particularly suitable for the user to place the foot on the pedal 53.

The pedal arm 52 and the first link arm 102 may be provided with a fastening portion 520 and a fastening portion 102a, respectively. In a state where the first connecting arm 102 is located at the connecting arm unfolding position P101 and the pedal arm 52 is located at the pedal folding position P522, the fastening portion 102a of the first connecting arm 102 may be fastened with the fastening portion 520 of the pedal arm 52, as shown in fig. 5A, 5B or 20.

When the pedal arm 52 shown in fig. 19T, which has been in the pedal-folded position P522, moves with the front wheel frame 12 along with the first link arm 102 to the state in which the first link arm 102 shown in fig. 20 (as shown in fig. 5A or 5B) is in the link-arm-unfolded position P101 with respect to the front wheel frame 12, the fastening portion 102a and the fastening portion 520 are fastened to each other as shown in fig. 5A, thereby restricting the rotation of the pedal arm 52 with respect to the front wheel frame 12. No matter what orientation the folding wheelchair 800 is in the fully folded state shown in fig. 20 is being transported, looseness is less likely to occur. During this period, the fastening portion 102a and the fastening portion 520 are mutually retracted.

In the illustrated embodiment, the fastening portion 102a and the fastening portion 520 may be respectively in the illustrated hook structures, and the hook portions of the two hook structures may cooperate with each other to perform fastening limiting.

In the illustrated embodiment, the fastening portion 102a rotates with respect to the front wheel frame 12 coaxially and synchronously with the first link arm 102 about the hinge point of the first link arm 102 and the front wheel frame 12. Referring to fig. 3, the first link arm 102 and the front wheel frame 12 may be hinged to each other by a hinge shaft H102 such that the first link arm 102 and the front wheel frame 12 may be rotated relative to each other about the hinge shaft H102. The front wheel assembly 10 is provided with a sleeve 102b, a fastening portion 102a is formed on the sleeve 102b, and the sleeve 102b is provided on the hinge shaft H102 and is configured to rotate in synchronization with the first link arm 102. For example, the sleeve 102b may be restrained by a stopper such as a pin to rotate in synchronization with the first link 102, and for example, the sleeve 102b may be configured as a single piece with the first link 102. By configuring the fastening portion 102a to rotate coaxially and synchronously with the first connecting arm 102, when the first connecting arm 102 is actuated, the fastening portion 102a can be driven to synchronously actuate, so as to realize avoidance between the fastening portion 102a and the fastening portion 520 in the movement process.

The front wheel assembly 10 is rotatable and foldable relative to the seat cushion assembly 80, so that the angle between the seat cushion assembly 80 and the support surface G0 can be changed, and this feature can also be a way of enabling a user to more conveniently sit in the folding wheelchair 800. For example, the front wheel assembly 10 can be rotated and folded relative to the seat cushion assembly 80 by the aforementioned controller to a state in which the footrest 53 is in contact with the supporting surface G0 in fig. 19L, and the user can step on the inclined footrest 53 (like a slope) to walk up the folding wheelchair 800, facilitating the user's access. And the front wheel assembly 53 is controlled to return to the normal walking position by the aforementioned controller after the user sits in the seat. Likewise, if the user needs to leave the folding wheelchair 800, the front wheel assembly 10 can be rotated and folded by the aforementioned controller to the state in which the foot pedal 53 is in contact with the supporting surface G0 in fig. 19L, so that the user can walk down the wheelchair without retracting the foot pedal 53, which is greatly convenient. Of course, it will be appreciated that in fig. 19L, the armrest assemblies, which will be described in greater detail below, are all in a collapsed state, and that the armrest assemblies may all be in an open state when a user is actually accessing the folding wheelchair 800.

1.3 Rear wheel Assembly 20

Returning to fig. 1, in conjunction with fig. 19A, the upper ends of the front and rear wheel assemblies 10 and 20 may be rotatably coupled to the front and rear coupling positions P1 and P2 of the seat cushion assembly 80, respectively, and thus, the front and rear rotational axes O1 and O2 may be provided between the upper ends of the front and rear wheel assemblies 10 and 20 and the seat cushion assembly 80, respectively.

In the illustrated embodiment, the front and rear rotational axes O1 and O2 may be out-of-plane lines, whereby the rear wheel assembly 20 (as an example of the aforementioned second party) avoids the front wheel assembly 10 (as an example of the aforementioned first party) when folded with respect to the seat cushion assembly 80. In other words, the front rotation axis O1 and the rear rotation axis O2 are not parallel, and in fig. 19A, the front rotation axis O1 is perpendicular to the paper surface, and the rear rotation axis O2 is not perpendicular to the paper surface. For example, the rear wheel assembly 20 may be retracted after being flipped over somewhat sideways (i.e., the left side rear wheel frame 22 is directed to the left and the right side rear wheel frame 22 is directed to the right) or sideways (i.e., the left side rear wheel frame 22 is directed to the right and the right side rear wheel frame 22 is directed to the left) when folded relative to the seat cushion assembly 80, avoiding the front wheel assembly 10 during flipping. Such a rear wheel assembly 20 may also be referred to as a rotatable rear wheel assembly.

In the illustrated embodiment, the front rotational axis O1 may extend in a lateral direction (or left-right direction) of the seat cushion assembly 80, and the rear rotational axis O2 extends obliquely upward toward the side. That is, the left rear rotation axis O2 extends obliquely upward toward the left side, and the right rear rotation axis O2 extends obliquely upward toward the right side.

In the illustrated embodiment, the rear wheel assembly 20 may be arranged such that the rear wheel assembly 20 rotates relative to the seat cushion assembly 80 between a rear wheel extended position P201 (shown in fig. 1, 19A-19P) and a rear wheel collapsed position P202 (shown in fig. 1, 19T-20). Referring to fig. 19O, in the rear wheel deployed position P201, the rolling axis O21 of the rear roller 21 of the rear wheel assembly 20 may extend laterally of the seat cushion assembly 80, i.e., perpendicular to the page in fig. 19O. Referring to fig. 19T, in the rear wheel folding position P202, the rolling axis O21 of the rear roller 21 may extend in the thickness direction of the seat cushion assembly 80, that is, forward and backward in fig. 19T. For example, in the rear wheel deployed position P201, the angle between the rear wheel frame 22 of the rear wheel assembly 20 and the seat cushion assembly 80 may be 90-110, and in the rear wheel deployed position P201, the angle between the rear wheel frame 22 of the rear wheel assembly 20 and the seat cushion assembly 40 may be 0-10. In other words, as the rear wheel assembly 20 is rotationally folded relative to the cushion assembly 80 from the rear wheel extended position P201 (e.g., fig. 19P) to the rear wheel folded position P202 (e.g., fig. 19T), the rolling axis O21 of the rear roller 21 changes from extending laterally of the cushion assembly 80 to extending in the thickness direction of the cushion assembly 80, and is finally received in the receiving pocket 821 provided below the cushion assembly 80. In the drawing, both ends of the second link arm 202 may be hinged to the second movable member 201 and the rear wheel assembly 20, respectively, by a universal hinge such as a fisheye joint E1.

In the illustrated embodiment, the rotational folding of the rear wheel assembly 20 relative to the seat cushion assembly 80 from the rear wheel extended position P201 (e.g., fig. 19P) to the rear wheel folded position P202 (e.g., fig. 19T) also triggers the folding of the back assembly 30, as will be described in greater detail below.

In general, an exemplary folding operation of the leg assembly of the folding wheelchair 800 may be described with reference to fig. 19K-20. In fig. 19K, the front wheel assembly 10 and the pedal assembly 50 of the folding wheelchair 800 are in an unfolded state, in fig. 20, the front wheel assembly 10 and the pedal assembly 50 of the folding wheelchair 800 are in a folded state, and in fig. 19L to 19V, the folding wheelchair 800 moves from the unfolded state to a plurality of intermediate states of the folded state.

As shown in fig. 19K, the pedal assembly 50 in this position is substantially in the state shown in fig. 4A, and the front wheel assembly 10 is substantially in the use state shown in fig. 3. When the first movable member 101 moves toward the rear side in the direction of fig. 19K, the first link arm 102 is driven by the first movable member 101, and the first link arm 102 rotates the front wheel frame 12 in the counterclockwise direction as shown in the drawing, so that the front end portion of the foot pedal 53 contacts the support surface G0, and moves to the state shown in fig. 19L.

When the first movable member 101 continues to move toward the rear side in the direction of fig. 19L, the first link arm 102 continues to be driven by the first movable member 101 to continue to rotate the front wheel frame 12 in the counterclockwise direction as shown, and the pedal 53 at this time is integrally flat on the support surface G0 under the pressing of the pedal arm 52, in this state, the stopper elastic member 57 supporting the stopper lever 56 is elastically compressed or stretched to allow the stopper lever 56 to slightly come out of the groove-like deployment engaging portion 531a, and does not completely come out of the deployment engaging portion 531a, to move to the state shown in fig. 19M. Specifically, referring to the movement direction of the pedal 53 and the pedal arm 52 from the first pedal-spread position P531 to the retracted position, the groove-shaped spread engaging portion 531a shown in fig. 5A is defined by two convex-tip structures, the convex tip 531f of the groove-shaped structure is formed at the upstream position in the movement direction, the convex tip 531g of the groove-shaped structure is formed at the downstream position with respect to the movement direction, and the convex tip 531f protrudes more from the outer surface of the connecting portion 531, so that the stopper rod 56 can slightly come out of the groove-shaped spread engaging portion 531a by the external force, and quickly returns to the spread engaging portion 531a after the external force is removed, and the convex tip 531f having a higher protruding height can further prevent the stopper rod 56 from being tripped from the convex tip 531f side. In another embodiment, the expansion fitting portion 531a is formed by two protruding point structures and may have the same protruding height.

When the first movable member 101 continues to move toward the rear side in the direction of fig. 19M, the first link arm 102 continues to be driven by the first movable member 101 to continue to drive the front wheel frame 12 to rotate in the counterclockwise direction as shown in the drawing, and at the same time, the front roller 11 rotates toward the rear side in the drawing, and the angle between the pedal arm 52 and the front wheel frame 12 gradually increases, and after moving to the state shown in fig. 19N, continues to move to the state shown in fig. 19O. During the movement of the folding wheelchair 800 from fig. 19M to fig. 19O, the rolling wheel 54 is always in contact with the supporting surface G0, such that rolling friction is generated between the components of the folding wheelchair 800 and the supporting surface G0, and wear caused by interference between the components of the folding wheelchair 800 and the supporting surface G0 is prevented.

After the folding wheelchair 800 moves to the state shown in fig. 19O, the rolling wheel 54 rolls in contact with the support surface G0 so that the angle between the pedal arm 52 and the support surface G0 gradually decreases, the pedal 53 no longer contacts the support surface G0, and the stopper rod 56 is reset to engage with the deployment engagement portion 531 a.

The first movable member 101 continues to move toward the rear side in the direction of fig. 19O, pulling the front wheel frame 12 such that the angle between the front wheel frame 12 and the support surface G0 is gradually further reduced, and at the same time, the pedal arm 52 hinged thereto receives pressure, the angle between the pedal arm 52 and the support surface G0 is also gradually further reduced, and the angle between the pedal arm 52 and the front wheel frame 12 is gradually increased until moving to the state shown in fig. 19P, the front wheel frame 12 and the pedal arm 52 almost horizontally rest on the support surface G0.

The first movable member 101 continues to move upward toward the rear side in the direction of fig. 19P, thereby further pulling the front wheel frame 12, so that the angle between the pedal arm 52 and the front wheel frame 12 is further increased, until the urging portion 123 of the front wheel frame 12 presses down the stopper rod 56, so that the stopper rod 56 is no longer engaged with the deployment engaging portion 531a, and the foot rest 53 falls to be flush with the supporting surface G0 under the action of gravity until moving to the state shown in fig. 19Q, at which time the stopper rod 56 can abut against the third engaging portion 531c. The relative positional relationship of the pedal arm 52 and the foot pedal 53 in this state is a substantially flush relationship as shown in fig. 6. The pedal arm 52 and the front wheel frame 12 are in the pedal-folded position P522.

The first movable member 101 moves downward toward the front side with the direction of movement changed in the direction of fig. 19Q, thereby pulling the cushion assembly 80 as a whole to rotate in the counterclockwise direction as shown, continuing to pull until the folding wheel chair 800 is gradually turned over from fig. 19R to the state shown in fig. 19S. At the same time, the rear wheel assembly 20 is rotationally folded relative to the seat cushion assembly 80 by the pulling action of the second linking arm 202 until the state shown in fig. 19T, that is, in fig. 19T, the rear wheel assembly 20 is in the rear wheel folded position P202 relative to the seat cushion assembly 80.

The first movable member 101 moves upward in the direction of fig. 19T to thereby pull the front wheel frame 12 to rotate in the counterclockwise direction as shown, and at this time, since the footrest 53 is pressed by the end 804 of the seat cushion assembly 80, the pedal arm 52 and the front wheel frame 12 are in the pedal-retracted position P522, and thus the front wheel frame 12 can rotate in the counterclockwise direction as shown, while the pedal arm 52 is driven to follow, rotate in the same movement relation with respect to the seat cushion assembly 80, and move to the state shown in fig. 20 sequentially via the states of fig. 19U and 19V.

In the state shown in fig. 20, the fastening portion 102a and the fastening portion 520 cooperate with each other to limit, so as to prevent the pedal arm 52 from being separated from the front wheel frame 12, and at the same time, the folding and matching portion 531b of the connecting portion 531 of the pedal 53 cooperates with the limiting member 58 of the limiting device 55 to limit, as shown in fig. 5A, so far, the whole front wheel assembly 10 is completely fastened with the cushion assembly 80, which is convenient for carrying. At this time, the folding wheelchair 800 is folded as a whole, and the rolling wheels 54 can serve as rollers when the folding wheelchair 800 is transported in a folded state.

2. Leaning and supporting assembly

In the illustrated embodiment, the folding wheelchair 800 may include a armrest assembly. The armrest assembly may be described with reference to fig. 7A-18. The armrest assembly may include a back assembly 30 and/or a armrest assembly 40. It will be appreciated that the back rest assembly 30 may be used to back a user sitting on the seat cushion assembly 80 of the folding wheelchair 800, while the armrest assembly 40 may include armrests 4 for a user to rest while sitting on the seat cushion assembly 80 of the folding wheelchair 800.

In the illustrated embodiment, the seatback assembly 30 may be rotatably and foldably mounted to the seat cushion assembly 80, such as by a hinge shaft H30. In the illustrated embodiment, the armrest assembly may also include a back lock assembly 60 that may be used to maintain the back assembly 30 in the back extended position P301 relative to the seat cushion assembly 80. In the illustrated embodiment, the armrest assembly may also include an unlocking assembly 70 that may be used to unlock the back lock assembly 60 from the seat cushion assembly 80 relative to the back assembly 30.

2.1 Back rest Assembly 30

An example structure of the backrest assembly 30 may be seen in fig. 7A-8B.

Referring to fig. 7A and 7B, the backrest assembly 30 may include a backrest frame 31, and the backrest frame 31 may have a vertically (i.e., up and down in a normal use state) extending mounting section 311 at a side edge. The mounting section 311 defined as extending vertically may extend substantially strictly along the direction D1 in fig. 7A or 9A, the direction D1 having a component in the vertical direction. Preferably, the angle between the direction D1 and the vertical is smaller than 45 °, further preferably the direction D1 is inclined 10-30 ° backward with respect to the vertical, still further preferably 13 ° backward, to improve the comfort of the user's backrest. In other words, the backrest assembly 30 may have vertically extending mounting sections 311 on the sides. In the illustrated embodiment, (the back rest 31 of) the back rest assembly 30 may have mounting sections 311 on both sides (left and right), the two mounting sections 311 may be made of two pipes, such as steel pipes, and in another embodiment, the two mounting sections 311 may be made of two portions of one back plate on both sides.

In the illustrated embodiment, the back rest 31 may include two risers 313 and a cross tube 314, the cross tube 314 connecting the two risers 313 above the two risers 313, the two risers 313 may be supported on the folding wheelchair 800, such as the seat assembly 80. The two vertical pipes 313 and the horizontal pipe 314 can be formed by bending a pipe material or respectively welding after processing. The two standpipes 313 may each provide the aforementioned two mounting sections 311.

The backrest assembly 30 may also include a back cushion 32, and the back cushion 32 may provide a backrest surface 321 for a user to rest. The back pad 32 may be made of a soft material, for example, to promote comfort of the user's back.

The backrest assembly 30 may also include upper and lower push rods 331, 332. The cushion 32, the two push rods 331, 332 and the back rest 31 may constitute a hinge four-bar mechanism A3. Wherein, cushion 32 and back rest 31 constitute the connecting rod and the frame of hinge four-bar mechanism A3 respectively, and two push rods 331, 332 constitute two side links of hinge four-bar mechanism A3.

Those skilled in the art know that a hinged four-bar mechanism is a four-bar mechanism in which all kinematic pairs are revolute pairs, one of which is referred to as a frame as a supporting base, a member directly hinged to the frame is referred to as a side link, a member not directly connected to the frame is referred to as a link, and in which a side link capable of making a full revolution may be referred to as a crank, and a side link capable of only reciprocating within a certain angle range may be referred to as a rocker. In the hinge four-bar mechanism A3, the cushion 52 and the back rest 31 respectively form a link and a frame of the hinge four-bar mechanism A3, and the push rod 331 and the push rod 332 respectively form an upper side link and a lower side link of the hinge four-bar mechanism A3. That is, both ends of the back cushion 52 may be hinged to the first end (upper end in fig. 7B) of the push rod 331 and the first end (upper end in fig. 7B) of the push rod 332, respectively, and both ends of the back rest 31 may be hinged to the second end (lower end in fig. 7B) of the push rod 331 and the second end (lower end in fig. 7B) of the push rod 332, respectively, wherein the hinge position of the back rest 31 and the push rod 331 is located at an upper side than the hinge position of the back rest 31 and the push rod 332. It will be understood that the cushion 52, the push rod 331, the push rod 332 and the back rest 31 constitute the hinge four-bar mechanism A3, meaning that they constitute the hinge four-bar mechanism A3 in at least one state, not excluding other constituting relationships in another state, in other words, the four members constituting the hinge four-bar mechanism A3 (i.e., the cushion 52, the push rod 331, the push rod 332 and the back rest 31) may not always be hinged to each other, but have at least a state of being hinged to each other to constitute the hinge four-bar mechanism A3.

The cushion 32 is arranged to be switchable relative to the back rest 31 from a cushion push-out position P321 (shown in fig. 19G, see also fig. 7A and 7B) via a cushion intermediate position P320 (shown in fig. 19H to 19J) to a cushion stow position P322 (shown in fig. 19K, see also fig. 8A and 8B). The cushion 32 is positioned closer to the front side in the cushion push-out position P321 than in the cushion folding position P322. In other words, the cushion 32 moves from the cushion pushing position P321 to the cushion folding position P322, substantially from the rear to the front. In addition, the cushion intermediate position P320 shown in fig. 19H to 19J includes a plurality of positions, and in the cushion intermediate position P320, the cushion 32 may be located closer to the front side or the rear side than in the cushion push-out position P321. In the illustrated embodiment, the cushion 32 moves from the cushion pushing position P321 to the cushion folding position P322, and also moves from below to above. In a preferred embodiment, in the cushion push-out position P321, the side projection of the cushion 32 may coincide with the back rest 31.

The backrest assembly 30 may further include a backrest elastic S33. One end of the backrest elastic member S33 may be connected to one push rod 331 of the two push rods 331, 332, and the other end is connected to the backrest cushion 32. The elastic force of the backrest elastic member S33 causes the cushion 32 to have a tendency to shift from the cushion intermediate position P320 to the cushion push-out position P321 or the cushion folding position P322. That is, by providing the back elastic member S33, the cushion 32 can be made difficult to be held at the cushion intermediate position P320, and can be stably held at the cushion push-out position P321 or the cushion folding position P322 at all times. In the cushion push-out position P321, the user can conveniently lean back, and in the cushion folding position P322, the user can conveniently store, that is, the backrest elastic member S33 provides a holding force after the cushion 32 is unfolded or folded. The structure makes the structure simple and reliable under the condition of realizing function diversification. For example, the backrest elastic member S33 may be a tension spring such that the tension amount of the tension spring is minimum at the cushion push-out position P321 or the cushion folding position P322, and maximum at the cushion intermediate position P320. In the illustrated embodiment, the back cushion 32 is provided with a spring post 324 on the back side, the push rod 331 is provided with a spring post 334, and the backrest elastic member S33 is an extension spring connected and fixed between the spring post 324 and the spring post 334.

In the illustrated embodiment, the two sides of the cushion 32 are provided with upper and lower pushrods, for example, the upper and lower pushrods on the right are indicated by 331 and 332, and the upper and lower pushrods on the left are indicated by 331a and 332a (as shown in fig. 7A). The cushion 32, the two pushrods (e.g., 331, 332, or 331a, 332 a) on each side, and the mounting section 311 on the side of the pushrods form a hinged four-bar mechanism. In other words, one side of the cushion 32 is connected to the mounting section 311 on the one side by the push rods 331, 332, and the other side is connected to the mounting section 311 on the other side by the push rods 331a, 332 a. This structure is more reliable.

The backrest assembly 30, and in particular the back cushion 32 thereof, can be pushed out of the way or folded up, and even such that the side projection of the folded back cushion 32 coincides with the backrest frame 31, providing good back, in particular lumbar support, when opened.

2.2 Hand held Assembly 40

Referring to fig. 7A-11C, an example configuration of a armrest assembly 40 is shown, and the armrest assembly 40 may include an armrest 4.

Referring to fig. 9A, the armrest assembly 40 may include an armrest folding assembly 43, and the armrest folding assembly 43 may include the armrest 4 described above. The armrest folding assembly 43 may also include a first lever 41 and a second lever 42.

The armrest 4 may have a pole section 401. The pole section 401 of the armrest 4, the first pole 41, the second pole 42, and the mounting section 311 of the backrest assembly 30 may constitute a hinge four-pole mechanism A1. In the hinge four-bar mechanism A1, the bar section 401 of the armrest 4 and the mounting section 311 of the backrest assembly 30 respectively constitute a link and a frame of the hinge four-bar mechanism A1, and the first bar 41 and the second bar 42 respectively constitute side links of the hinge four-bar mechanism A1 on the upper side and the lower side. That is, both ends of the rod section 401 may be hinged to the first end (upper end in fig. 9A) of the first rod 41 and the first end (upper end in fig. 9A) of the second rod 42, respectively, and both ends of the mounting section 311 may be hinged to the second end (lower end in fig. 9A) of the first rod 41 and the second end (lower end in fig. 9A) of the second rod 42, respectively, wherein the hinge position of the mounting section 311 and the first rod 41 is located at an upper side than the hinge position of the mounting section 311 and the second rod 42. The pole section 401 of the handrail 4, i.e. the part of the handrail 4 that provides the hinge position B41 that is hinged to the first pole 41 and the hinge position B42 that is hinged to the second pole 42. In the illustrated embodiment, the second lever 42 is hinged to the backrest module 30 (specifically, the mounting section 311) through a locking bracket 6, which will be described in detail later, instead of being directly hinged to the backrest module 30, the hinge shaft of the second lever 42 and the locking bracket 6 may be disposed coaxially with the hinge shaft H30 of the backrest module 30 and the locking bracket 6.

In the above-described armrest assembly 40, the armrest 4 of the armrest folding assembly 43 provides the lever section 401 as a link of the hinge four-bar mechanism, the backrest assembly 30 provides the mounting section 311 as a frame of the hinge four-bar mechanism, and the armrest 4 can flexibly move with respect to the backrest assembly 30, so that the structure constituted by the armrest 4 and the backrest assembly 20 can be changed in size at least in the front-rear direction, whereby the armrest assembly 40 can be easily switched between a state in which the front-rear size of the overall structure is large and a state in which the front-rear size is small. In a state where the front-rear dimension of the overall structure is large, the user can hold the armrest 4, which may also be referred to as a use state of the armrest assembly 40. The user can conveniently put the hand assembly 40 and the backrest assembly 30 in a state that the front and rear dimensions of the overall structure are smaller, and the state can be also called a storage state of the hand assembly 40. When the above-described armrest assembly 40 is used, the user can operate the armrest 4 with a small range of motion while turning over the armrest 4 when switching from the use state to the storage state, and can comfortably turn over the armrest 4 while sitting on the folding wheelchair 800.

In the illustrated embodiment, the hinge four-bar mechanism A1 is provided so as to be switchable from a four-bar unfolded state (as shown in fig. 19D) to a four-bar folded state (as shown in fig. 19H). This switching process can be seen in fig. 19D to 19H, with the hinge four-bar mechanism A1 switching from the four-bar expanded state of fig. 19D to the four-bar collapsed state of fig. 19H through the intermediate states of fig. 19E, 19F, and 19G in order. In the unfolded state shown in fig. 19D, the angle between the first rod 41 and the rod segment 401 is α41 and the grip is directed downward, and α41 may be 150-180 °, and more preferably, α41 may be 170-180 °. In the four-bar folded state shown in fig. 19H, the angle between the first bar 41 and the bar segment 401 is α42 (not shown because it is not easily shown) with the grip opening facing upward, α42 is 0 to 30 °, and more preferably, α42 is 0 to 10 °. In the four-bar neutral state of fig. 19E, 19F and 19G, the angle between the first bar 41 and the bar segment 401 is shown at a 40. In the four-bar expanded state of fig. 19D, the user may use the armrest assembly 40, i.e., the armrest 4, while in the four-bar collapsed state of fig. 19H, the user may receive the armrest assembly 40. In the illustrated preferred embodiment, α41 is 173.6 °, and α42 is 5.4 °. In this way, the unfolding can be more complete and the folding is more compact. The hinge four-bar mechanism A1 may be provided as a crank-rocker mechanism, wherein the first bar 41 constitutes a crank of the crank-rocker mechanism and the second bar 42 constitutes a rocker of the crank-rocker mechanism. For example, the first lever 41 as a crank may be the shortest lever among the four members constituting the hinge four-lever mechanism A1. It will be appreciated that the length of the rod is based on the distance between the hinge points (hinge centers) at the ends of the individual members and not necessarily the length of the members themselves.

In the illustrated embodiment, in the four-bar extended state shown in fig. 19D, which also corresponds to the armrest extended state of the armrest 4, the angle α43 between the armrest 4 and the backrest assembly 30 (specifically, the mounting section 311) may be 90-120 °, preferably 101.4 °. In the four-bar folded state shown in fig. 19H, which also corresponds to the armrest folded state of the armrest 4, the angle α43 between the armrest 4 and the backrest assembly 30 (specifically, the mounting section 311) may be-10-20 °, preferably 0 °. From fig. 19D to fig. 19H, the angle α43 increases and then decreases. It will be appreciated that, by-10 for example, an angle of-10 between the armrest 4 and the backrest assembly 30 means that the armrest 4 is tilted rearwardly 10 relative to the backrest assembly 30.

In the illustrated embodiment, the armrest assembly 40 may also include an armrest locking assembly 44. The armrest locking assembly 44 may lock the state of the hinge four-bar mechanism A1. For example, the hinge four-bar mechanism A1 may be locked in the four-bar expanded state of FIG. 19D, or in the folded state of FIG. 19H, or in any of the four-bar intermediate states by the armrest locking assembly 44. For example, the armrest locking assembly 44 may be a removable fastener that secures the first lever 41 that comprises the four-bar hinge mechanism A1 to other components of the four-bar hinge mechanism A1, or to the back assembly 30, or to other portions of the folding wheelchair 800, such as the seat cushion assembly 80, such that the first lever 41 cannot rotate relative to the hinge positions at either end. The fastener may be, for example, a screw, bolt, or a detent, tape, rope, shackle, or the like.

As before, the hinge four-bar mechanism A1 has a four-bar expanded state for walking, as shown in fig. 19D. The armrest locking assembly 44 may be used to lock the four bar deployment. Therefore, the whole structure is more reliable and cannot be unstable when a user uses the device.

The armrest locking assembly 44 may lock the state of the hinge four-bar mechanism A1 by locking two members of the bar section 401, the first bar 41, the second bar 42 of the armrest 4, and the mounting section 311 of the backrest assembly 30. That is, two members of the four members of the pole segment 401, the first pole 41, the second pole 42, and the mounting segment 311 may be arbitrarily selected, and the armrest locking assembly 44 may lock and hold the state of the hinge four-bar mechanism A1 by locking the selected two members so that the two members cannot move relative to each other.

Referring to fig. 10A-11C, the armrest locking assembly 44 may include a handle 441, a locking block 442, and a third lever 443. The handrail 4 may have a leg 402. As shown in fig. 11A, the handle 441, the lock piece 442, the third lever 443, and the leg 402 (shown in phantom in fig. 11A for greater clarity) form a hinge four-bar mechanism A2. Wherein, the support section 402 and the third rod 443 respectively form a frame and a connecting rod of the hinge four-bar mechanism A2, and the handle 441 and the locking piece 442 form two side frames of the hinge four-bar mechanism A2. That is, both ends of the leg 402 may be hinged with the first position 4411 of the handle 441 and the first position 4421 of the locking piece 442, respectively, and both ends of the third lever 443 may be hinged with the second position 4412 of the handle 441 and the second position 4422 of the locking piece 442, respectively. The leg 402 of the armrest 4, i.e. the part of the armrest 4 where the hinge B441 is provided, which is hinged to the handle 441, and the hinge B442 is hinged to the locking piece 442. It will be appreciated that the pole section 401 and the leg section 402 of the handrail 4 are not required to be separate parts, but may be the same part or may be two parts that overlap in part. Similar to the aforementioned hinge four-bar mechanism A1, the four members constituting the hinge four-bar mechanism A2 (i.e., the handle 441, the lock piece 442, the third bar 443, and the leg 402) may not always be hinged to each other, but may have at least a state of being hinged to each other to constitute the hinge four-bar mechanism A2, which is the case in the illustrated embodiment, as will be described later in detail.

In the hinge four-bar mechanism A2, the handle 441 is provided rotatably with respect to the leg 402 of the armrest 4, so that the lock piece 442 rotates between the lock position P441 and the unlock position P442 with respect to the leg 402 of the armrest 4, as shown in fig. 11A to 11B. In the lock position P441 in fig. 11A, the lock piece 442 is fastened to the first lever 41 constituting the hinge four-lever mechanism A1, thereby locking the first lever 41 and the armrest 4, as can be seen in fig. 10A. In the unlocking position P442, the locking piece 442 is disengaged from the first lever 41, thereby unlocking the lock between the first lever 41 and the armrest 4. That is, the handle 441 is pulled, so that the handle 441 rotates relative to the armrest 4 at the hinge position B441, and the lock piece 442 hinged to the third lever 443 can rotate relative to the armrest 4 at the hinge position B442 under the driving action of the third lever 443 hinged to the handle 441, so that the lock position P441 for fastening the first lever 41 and the unlock position P442 for disengaging the first lever 41 can be freely switched, and the lock state in which the first lever 41 is locked to the armrest 4 and the unlock state in which the first lever 41 is disengaged from the armrest 4 can be switched. In the locked state, the first lever 41 and the armrest 4 are locked, and thus the state of the hinge four-lever mechanism A1 can be locked.

In the illustrated embodiment, the lock block 442 may have a lock hook 4420. The first lever 41 may be fixedly coupled with a hinge shaft H41 and hinged with the mounting section 311 of the backrest assembly 30 by the hinge shaft H41. As can be seen in fig. 10A, in the locking position P441, the locking hook 4420 of the locking piece 442 hooks the hinge shaft H41 fixedly connected to the first lever 41, whereby the locking piece 442 is fastened to the first lever 41. Such a armrest locking assembly 44 is compact and easy to operate. The locking piece 442 may have a locking hook 4420 at one side (front side in fig. 11A), as before, for hooking the hinge shaft H41 to which the first lever 41 is fastened. The lock block 442 has a protruding finger portion 4423 on the other side (rear side in fig. 11A) to facilitate a user pulling the lock block 442 upward from the rear side of the armrest locking assembly 44 such that the lock block 442 disengages from the locking position P441. The locking blocks 442 may have perforations in the first and second positions 4421, 4422, respectively, for a hinge shaft to pass through to hinge with the leg 402 and the third bar 443 of the armrest 4, respectively, to form the armrest locking assembly 44. Referring to fig. 10C, the locking block 442 may also be provided with a magnet 4424, and when the armrest assembly 40 is in the armrest folded state of fig. 14, the magnet 4424 of the locking block 442 may attract with the magnet 424 provided in the second lever 42 to provide a restraining force for the armrest folded state, in other words, may enable locking of the armrest folded state.

Referring to fig. 11A, the hinge four-bar mechanism A2 may be an anti-parallelogram mechanism. Those skilled in the art know that the connection of two hinge points of an anti-parallelogram mechanism, i.e. a frame, intersects the connection of two hinge points of a connecting rod. In the hinge four-bar mechanism A2, the hinge position of the lock piece 442 as the side link and the third bar 443 (i.e., the second position 4422 of the lock piece 442) is located on the upper side of the hinge position of the lock piece 442 and the leg 402 (i.e., the first position 4421 of the lock piece 442 or the hinge position B442 of the leg 402), and the hinge position of the handle 441 and the leg 402 (i.e., the first position 4411 of the handle 441 or the hinge position B441 of the leg 402) is located on the upper side of the hinge position of the handle 441 and the third bar 443 (i.e., the second position 4412 of the handle 441). Thus, when the finger is gently pulled up on the front end of the handle 441, that is, the handle is turned in the clockwise direction (R1 in fig. 11B), the lock piece 442 is turned in the counterclockwise direction (R2 in fig. 11B) in fig. 11A, and the lock hook 4420 located below the hinge position B442 is changed from the lock position P441 in fig. 11A to the unlock position P442 in fig. 11B.

In the embodiment shown in fig. 11A and 11B, an elastic member S441 is further provided between the handle 441 and the armrest 4, and the elastic force of the elastic member S441 causes the handle 441 to have a tendency to hold the lock piece 442 in the lock position P441. For example, in fig. 11A, a compression spring is provided between the front end of the handle 441 and the portion of the armrest 4 located above the handle 441, and as the elastic member S441, the front end of the handle 441 has a tendency to move downward by the elastic force of the compression spring, that is, the handle 441 has a tendency to rotate counterclockwise about the hinge position B441 in fig. 11A, and thus, the lock piece 442 has a tendency to rotate clockwise about the hinge position B442 in fig. 11A by the pushing action of the third lever 443, that is, the handle 441 has a tendency to hold the lock piece 442 in the lock position P441. That is, the elastic member S441 provides a pre-tightening force to maintain the locking position of the handle 441. In another embodiment, the elastic member S441 may also be an extension spring provided between the front end of the handle 441 and a portion of the armrest 4 located below the handle 441.

In the illustrated embodiment, in the hinge four-bar mechanism A2, a hinge shaft H443 for hinging the third bar 443 and the handle 441 is located in the slide 414. The slide 414 allows one end (front end in fig. 11A) of the third lever 443 to slide relative to the handle 441. In the illustrated embodiment, the hinge shaft H443 may be fixedly coupled to the third lever 443, and the slide 414 is formed of a slide groove of the handle 441 in the form of a kidney-shaped hole extending forward and backward. It will be appreciated that in another embodiment, the hinge shaft H443 may be fixedly coupled to the handle 441, and the slide 414 may be provided by the third lever 443. Generally, when the lock block 442 is rotated counterclockwise (in the direction R2 in fig. 11C) about the hinge position B442 from the lock position P441 in fig. 11A, the pushing force of the lock block 442 to the third lever 443 is insufficient to overcome the elastic force of the elastic member S441, so that the handle 441 does not rotate about the hinge position B441 relative to the leg 402 of the armrest 4, that is, at this time, the handle 441 and the armrest 4 may be regarded as an integral manipulation bracket fixedly connected to each other, and the front end of the third lever 443 slides forward (in the direction T1 in fig. 11C) along the slide 414 from the state of fig. 11A, thereby reaching another unlock state of fig. 11C. In this process, the lock block 442, the third lever 443 and the aforementioned integral control bracket (made up of the armrest 4 and the handle 441) constitute a structure similar to a crank slider mechanism or a rocker slider mechanism, wherein the aforementioned integral control bracket, the lock block, the third lever and the hinge shaft constitute a frame of the crank slider mechanism (or the rocker slider mechanism), a crank (or a rocker), a link, and a slider that slides along the slide way 414, respectively. As for the illustrated third lever 443, the third lever 443 is slidable forward with respect to the handle 441 by the hinge shaft H443 being slid forward along the slide 414 in addition to the rotation with respect to the handle 441 by the hinge shaft H443 being positioned at one end (rear end in fig. 11A) of the slide 414. In other words, the armrest locking assembly 44 may be switched from the state of fig. 11A to the state of fig. 11B, or from the state of fig. 11A to the state of fig. 11C. As before, the four members constituting the hinge four-bar mechanism A2 (i.e., the handle 441, the lock piece 442, the third bar 443, and the leg 402) may not always be hinged to each other, but have a state of being hinged to each other to constitute the hinge four-bar mechanism A2 (as shown in fig. 11A and 11B), while having a state in which the third bar 443 is not hinged with respect to the handle 441 but constitutes a crank slider mechanism (or a rocker slider mechanism) (as shown in fig. 11A and 11C).

In the illustrated embodiment, an elastic member S442 may be disposed between the third lever 443 and the armrest 4, and the elastic force of the elastic member S442 causes the third lever 443 to have a tendency to maintain the locking piece 442 in the locking position P441. For example, in fig. 11A, a compression spring is provided between the third lever 443 and the portion of the armrest 4 above the third lever 443, and as the elastic member S442, the front end of the third lever 443 has a tendency to move backward by the elastic force of the compression spring, and the lock piece 442 has a tendency to rotate clockwise around the hinge position B442 in fig. 11A by the pushing action of the third lever 443, that is, the third lever 443 has a tendency to hold the lock piece 442 in the lock position P441. In practical arrangement, the elastic force of the elastic member S442 can be easily overcome when the locking piece 442 is rotated counterclockwise, and the elastic force of the elastic member S441 is more difficult to overcome. That is, the elastic member S442 provides a pre-tightening force of the locking piece 442.

The above structure allows a user to unlock not only the lock of the lock block 442 by pulling or lifting the front end of the handle 441 upward on the front side, but also by actively pulling the lock block 442 on the rear side.

Fig. 10C shows an example configuration of the armrest locking assembly 44 mated with the armrest 4. The armrest 4 has a housing 45 extending front and rear and having an inverted U-shaped cross section. The shaft section 401 and the leg section 402 of the handrail 4 may be provided by the housing 45. The armrest locking assembly 44 may be housed within a housing 45. And the manipulation end (i.e., front end) of the handle 441 may be exposed to the front end of the housing 45 for manipulation such that the handle 441 rotates with respect to the armrest 4. This facilitates the user to pull the handle 441 from the front side to switch the state of the armrest locking assembly 44.

In the illustrated embodiment, the armrest assembly may include two armrest assemblies 40. The two armrest assemblies 40 may be mounted to the mounting sections 311 of the backrest assembly 30 on both sides, respectively.

In the above-described armrest assembly 40, the user can unlock the state lock of the armrest folding assembly 43 with one hand without changing the sitting posture, and thus can fold over the armrest 4 with a small range of motion.

2.3, Control Assembly 90

In the illustrated embodiment, the folding wheelchair 800 may also include a steering assembly 90 that may be used to steer the direction of travel of the folding wheelchair 800. The handling assembly 90 may be provided at the front end of the armrest 4. Thus, the user can conveniently control the advancing direction of the folding wheelchair 800 when sitting on the folding wheelchair 800, and the folding wheelchair also accords with ergonomics. In the illustrated embodiment, the steering assembly 90 may be disposed at the front end of the armrest 4 by being coupled to the front end of the handle 441, so that the overall structure is simpler and more compact.

Referring to fig. 7A to 8B, the manipulation assembly 90 may include a manipulation base 901 and a manipulation bracket 902, wherein the manipulation bracket 902 may be disposed at a front end of the armrest 4. The console 901 may be provided with a joystick 903 for manual manipulation. The joystick 903 may be any existing manner, for example, may be a joystick, and by manually manipulating the joystick 903, the joystick 903 may convert its motion into electronic information that can be processed by a control system of the folding wheelchair 800, such as the aforementioned control unit, so as to control the advancing direction of the folding wheelchair 800.

The console 901 may be rotatably supported by the console 902 and configured to be switchable between a manipulation-opened state (shown in fig. 19A, see also fig. 7A and 7B) and a manipulation-closed state (shown in fig. 19C, see also fig. 8A and 8B), and fig. 19B further shows a manipulation-intermediate state in which the manipulation-opened state is switched from the manipulation-opened state of fig. 19A to the manipulation-closed state of fig. 19C. In the manipulation-opened state of fig. 19A, the manipulation base 901 is opened to the front side of the manipulation bracket 902, and the manipulation lever 903 is exposed on the upper side of the manipulation base 901. In the folded state of fig. 19C, the console 901 is folded over the console 902, and the joystick 903 is located below the console 901. As shown in fig. 7A, the manipulation bracket 902 may include a support plate 906 and two struts 905 distributed left and right at a front end of the support plate 906, a rear end of the manipulation base 901 may be hinged with the two struts 905, and the rear end of the manipulation base 901 is disposed between the two struts 905, so that the manipulation base 901 may be supported to the manipulation bracket 902 to be foldable with respect to the manipulation bracket 902. In the open operating state of fig. 7A and 7B, the operating base 901 and the support plate 906 of the operating bracket 902 may be substantially in an open 180 ° state, and in the folded operating state of fig. 14 and 15, the operating base 901 and the support plate 906 of the operating bracket 902 may be substantially in a folded 0 ° state. In the drawing, the support plate 906 may further have a placement hole 904 allowing the manipulation rod 903 located at the lower side of the manipulation base 901 in the manipulation-folded state to pass through. The console 901 can be folded (or called: fold) may protect the joystick 903 thereof.

2.4 Back lock Assembly 60

In the illustrated embodiment, the folding wheelchair 800 may also include a back-rest locking assembly 60. The seatback lock assembly 60 may maintain the seatback assembly 30 in the seatback deployment position P301 relative to the seat cushion assembly 80. The back lock assembly 60 can be seen in fig. 12-17.

In the illustrated embodiment, the backrest locking assembly 60 may include a locking bracket 6. The lock bracket 6 may be mounted to the seat cushion assembly 80. The locking abutment 6 may be provided with a locking groove 62. The backrest locking assembly 60 may also include a mating assembly 61. The mating assembly 61 may be mounted to (the back rest 31 of) the back rest assembly 30. The mating assembly 61 may be provided with a lock shaft 63.

As previously described, the (back rest 31 of the) back assembly 30 may be rotatably mounted to the seat cushion assembly 80, for example, by the hinge shaft H30. The backrest assembly 30 is configured to be rotatable to a backrest deployment position P301, see fig. 19A-19R and 16A, with fig. 16A and 19A-19R each showing the backrest assembly 30 in the backrest deployment position P301. As can be seen in fig. 19K and 16A, in the reclined position P301, the lock shaft 63 snaps into the lock groove 62, whereby the recliner assembly 30 is in the reclined position P301 relative to the seat cushion assembly 80. In other words, the (back rest 31 of the) back rest assembly 30 can be locked in the back rest deployed position P301 with respect to the seat cushion assembly 80 by the lock shaft 63 being caught in the lock groove 62.

The backrest locking assembly 60 may further include a backrest locking elastic S301. The elastic force of the backrest locking elastic member S301 has a tendency to keep the lock shaft 63 caught in the lock groove 62. That is, the elastic force provided by the seatback lock elastic member S301 allows the seatback assembly 30 to be held in the seatback deployment position P301 with respect to the seat cushion assembly 80.

The lock shaft 63 and the lock groove 62 of the backrest locking assembly 60 are respectively connected to the backrest assembly 30 and the cushion assembly 80, which are connected by the revolute pair, and the backrest assembly 30 can be positioned in the backrest unfolding position P301 relative to the cushion assembly 80 by the lock shaft 63 being clamped into the lock groove 62, so that the user can rest the backrest. In the folding wheelchair 800, the angle α30 (shown in fig. 16A) between the seatback assembly 30 and the seat cushion assembly 80 is preferably 90-120 °, more preferably 98-108 °, in the illustrated preferred embodiment 103 °, in the seatback extended state to promote seatback comfort for the user.

In the illustrated embodiment, the locking support 6 may include a locking block 601 and a base 602. The lock block 601 provides the aforementioned lock groove 62, and the lock block 601 is mounted to the base 602, and the lock bracket 6 is mounted to the seat cushion assembly 80 through the base 602. Referring to fig. 14, the locking block 601 may include two flat pieces 601b, 601a (in the left-right direction in the drawing) spaced apart. The lock groove 62 can be considered to be constituted by two flat plate members 601a, 601b each having a notch 62a, 62b provided at the rear end and opening toward the rear side. Referring to fig. 13, the base 602 may be provided to include a bottom plate 602a and mounting blocks 602b extending upward from both sides of the bottom plate 602a, and two flat plate members 601a, 601b constituting the locking block 601 may be fixedly mounted to opposite sides of the two mounting blocks 602b of the base 602, respectively, for example, by screws. Referring to fig. 12 and 13, the hinge shaft H30 passes through the mounting blocks 602b of the base 602, and a portion of the back assembly 30 through which the hinge shaft H30 passes is disposed between the two mounting blocks 602 b. The base 602 may be mounted to the seat cushion assembly 80 by a floor 602 a.

In the illustrated embodiment, the mating assembly 61 may include a locking bracket 65. The locking bracket 65 may be rotatably mounted to the back assembly 30. And the lock shaft 63 is provided at one end 651 of the lock bracket 65, see fig. 12. In fig. 12, the locking bracket 65 is hinged to the back assembly 30, for example, by a hinge shaft H65, and the locking shaft 63 is provided at a rear end of the locking bracket 65 to be movable with respect to the back assembly 30 as the locking bracket 65 rotates about the hinge shaft H65. This configuration facilitates the locking shaft 63 to snap into the locking groove 62.

In the illustrated embodiment, the backrest locking elastic S301 may be disposed between the locking bracket 65 of the fitting assembly 61 and the backrest assembly 30. For example, referring to fig. 15, the locking bracket 65 may have a front wall 653 and two arms 654 protruding from both sides of the front wall toward the rear side, respectively, the front wall 653 and the two arms 654 generally constituting a U-shaped structure. The U-shaped configuration of the locking bracket 65 may accommodate the standpipe 313 (or mounting section 311) of the back assembly 30 from the front side, with the hinge shaft H65 passing through the two arms 654 of the locking bracket 65 and the standpipe 313 accommodated between the two arms 654, thereby achieving the rotatable mounting of the locking bracket 65 to the back assembly 30. The backrest locking elastic means S301 may be a compression spring connected between the front wall 653 of the locking bracket 65 and the standpipe 313, and a spring groove 313a provided in the standpipe 313 is also shown in fig. 9A for receiving the compression spring as the backrest locking elastic means S301. And the lock shaft 63 is transversely disposed between the two arms 654. As the lock bracket 65 rotates relative to the hinge shaft H65 about a direction in which the lock shaft 63 is caught in the lock groove 62, the compression deformation of the compression spring gradually decreases, and thus, the elastic force of the compression spring may cause the lock bracket 65 to rotate about a direction in which the lock shaft 63 is caught in the lock groove 62. In fig. 15, the lock bracket 65 is rotated about the lower end 651 in the forward direction, and the lock shaft 63 is caught in the lock groove 62. The structure is simple in structure and more compact in arrangement.

In the illustrated embodiment, a back lock assembly 60 may be provided for each standpipe 313 of the back rest 31 of the back rest assembly 30. In the illustrated embodiment, an unlocking lever 66 is connected between the ends 652 (shown in fig. 12) of the locking brackets 65 of the two back rest locking assemblies 60 opposite the lock shaft 63, and manual unlocking of the back rest deployment position P301 can be achieved by manually manipulating the unlocking lever 66 such that the locking brackets 65 rotate until the lock shaft 63 disengages the lock groove 62.

2.5 Unlocking Assembly 70

Referring to fig. 12-17, the armrest assembly of the folding wheelchair 800 may also include an unlocking assembly 70. The unlocking assembly 70 may unlock the back lock assembly 60 from the seat cushion assembly 80 relative to the back assembly 30.

In the illustrated embodiment, the unlocking assembly 70 may include a trigger lever 71 and an unlocking piece 72. The trigger lever 71 is rotatably mounted to the seat cushion assembly 80. In the drawing, the trigger lever 71 is rotatably mounted to the base 602 of the lock bracket 6, for example, by a hinge shaft H70, thereby being rotatably mounted to the seat cushion assembly 80. The unlocking member 72 is movably supported to the locking bracket 6 and is provided to be pushed by one end of the trigger lever 71 (an upper end 712 of the trigger lever 71 in fig. 14) as the trigger lever 71 rotates, thereby pushing the lock shaft 63 out of the lock groove 62, whereby the reclining assembly 30 is unlocked from the reclining deployment position P301. As can be seen in fig. 13-14 and 16A-16B, the trigger lever 71 is rotatably mounted to the seat cushion assembly 80 (not shown in fig. 16A and 16B), such as by a hinge shaft H70, by pulling up on a trigger end 711 (lower end in the figures) of the trigger lever 71 in fig. 16A, the trigger lever 71 rotates about the hinge shaft H70, whereupon an upper end 712 of the trigger lever 71 will push the release member 72 rearward, and the release member 72 will push the lock shaft 63 rearward, causing the lock shaft 63 to disengage from the lock groove 62, thereby achieving the condition of fig. 16B.

In the illustrated embodiment, the seatback assembly 30 is foldable relative to the seat cushion assembly 80 under gravity to a seatback fold position P302 shown in fig. 16C by rotation of the seatback assembly 30 relative to the seat cushion assembly 80 (or the locking bracket 6) away from the seatback fold position P301, such as to the seatback intermediate position P300 in fig. 16B, such that the lock shaft 63 disengages the lock slot 62. In the seatback intermediate position P300, the seatback assembly 30 is tilted forward, in other words, when the lock shaft 63 is disengaged from the lock groove 62, the seatback assembly 30 is tilted toward the front side with respect to the strictly up-down direction, that is, the angle α30 between the seatback assembly 30 and the horizontally extending cushion assembly 80 is smaller than 90 °.

The above-mentioned unlocking component 70 is structured such that the lock shaft 63 can be pushed out of the lock groove 62 quickly and conveniently by pulling the trigger rod 71, so that the backrest component 30 is separated from the backrest unfolding position P301, for example, the backrest folding position P302 can be reached under the action of gravity, and the unlocking component is simple in structure and can realize the unlocking function by simple operation.

Referring to fig. 16A and 16B, the unlocking assembly 70 may further include an elastic member S70, and the elastic force of the elastic member S70 has a tendency to cause the trigger lever 71 to push the unlocking member 72, that is, the elastic force of the elastic member S70 has a tendency to cause the lock shaft 63 to be disengaged from the lock groove 62. For example, the elastic member S70 may be a torsion spring provided around the hinge shaft H70, one end of which abuts against the trigger end 711 of the trigger lever 71 and the other end of which abuts against the base 602 such as the bottom plate 602a thereof, and thus the torsion spring as the elastic member S70 always has a tendency to push against the trigger end 711 of the trigger lever 71, that is, the elastic force thereof has a tendency to cause the trigger lever 71 to push the unlocking member 72.

In the illustrated embodiment, the locking block 601 provides a slide groove 603 on each of both sides (left and right sides in the drawing). Referring to fig. 13-14, each plate member (e.g., 601 a) is provided with a slide slot 603 on the opposite side from the other plate member (e.g., 601 b), thereby allowing the locking block 601 to provide a slide slot 603 on each side. The mounting structure can provide enough movable space and further make the structure more compact.

The unlocking member 72 may include two side walls 721 and a bottom wall 722 that constitute a U-shape. The two side walls 721 are respectively slidably engaged with the slide grooves 603 of the lock block 601 on both sides. While the bottom wall 722 is pushed by the trigger lever 71 (the upper end 712 thereof in the drawing), the free ends (i.e., the ends opposite to the ends to which the bottom wall 722 is connected in the drawing, the rear ends) of the two side walls 721 push the lock shaft 63, see fig. 16A to 16B.

In the illustrated embodiment, the lock groove 62 may be respectively communicated with the slide grooves 603 on both sides of the lock block 601 at both ends in the groove length direction. The lock groove 62 extends in the left-right direction, that is, the groove length direction of the lock groove 62 is the left-right direction. The lock groove 62 communicates with a left side slide groove 603 of the lock block 601 (a slide groove 603 of the flat plate 601b constituting the lock block 601) and a right side slide groove 603 of the lock block 601 (a slide groove 603 of the flat plate 601a constituting the lock block 601) at a left end (a left end of a left slot 62b constituting the lock groove 62) and a right end (a right end of a right slot 62a constituting the lock groove 62), respectively.

The free ends of the two side walls 721 are each provided with a projection 723 projecting towards each other, the projection 723 being stopped by the groove bottom 621 of the locking groove 62. That is, in conjunction with fig. 13 and 14, the rear end of the left side wall 721 is provided with a protrusion 723 protruding rightward, and the rear end of the right side wall 721 is provided with a protrusion 723 protruding leftward, and the protrusion 723 hooks the groove bottom 621 of the lock groove 62, that is, is stopped by the groove bottom 621 of the lock groove 62. In the above structure, the protrusion 723 of the side wall 721 is stopped by the groove bottom 621 of the lock groove 62, which can limit the forward displacement of the unlocking piece 72, and the backward displacement of the unlocking piece 72 is stopped by the bottom wall 722 of the lock block 601, and the slide groove 603 can guide the unlocking piece 72 to move forward and backward to push the lock shaft 63, and can limit the unlocking piece 72 in the up-down direction, so that the unlocking piece 72 is reliably mounted on the lock block 601 and can slide forward and backward for a certain distance. Preferably, when the unlocking member 72 is in the position shown in fig. 14 under the elastic force of the elastic member S70, the protrusion 723 of the side wall 721 of the unlocking member 72 can block the opening of the locking groove 62, so that the lock shaft 63 needs to overcome the elastic force of the elastic member S70 to enter the locking groove 62.

In the illustrated embodiment, the elastic force of the elastic member S70 may cause the protrusion 723 of the sidewall 721 of the unlocking member 72 to block the opening of the locking groove 62, preventing the lock shaft 63 from entering the locking groove 62, and thus the force of the locking elastic member S301 to lock the lock shaft 63 into the locking groove 62 may overcome the force of the elastic member S70 to prevent the lock shaft 63 from entering the locking groove 62. For example, the elastic force of the back-lock elastic member S301 may be made larger than the elastic force of the elastic member S70. The backrest assembly 30 can be manually rotated to (or near) the backrest unfolding position P301, and the lock shaft 63 can push the unlocking member 72 from the position of fig. 14 to the position of fig. 13 under the elastic force of the backrest locking elastic member S301, and meanwhile, the lock shaft 63 can also enter the locking groove 62 to realize the opening or unfolding of the backrest assembly 30 and fix the same. In the embodiment shown, the locking abutment 6 also has a bayonet 7. The backrest assembly 30 is arranged to be rotatable via the backrest deployment position P301 to the handle deployment position P303, i.e. through the state position of fig. 16A to the state position of fig. 17. As shown in fig. 17, the lock shaft 63 is engaged with the bayonet 7, whereby the seatback assembly 30 is in the handle deployment position P303 with respect to the seat cushion assembly 80. In the folding wheelchair 800, the angle α30 between the back assembly 30 and the seat cushion assembly 80 in the handle extended position P303 is preferably 180-220 °, more preferably 188-198 °, and in the illustrated preferred embodiment 193 °.

Thus, for the folding wheelchair 800, upon rotation of the back rest assembly 30 relative to the seat cushion assembly 80 from the back rest folded position P302 to the handle extended position P303 from the folded state C23 of fig. 20, the rolling wheel 54 of the pedal assembly 50 of the front wheel assembly 10 may resemble a small roller of a luggage case, while the back rest assembly 30 resembles a pull rod, handle or handle of the luggage case, while the seat cushion assembly 80 resembles a case of the luggage case, thereby forming the luggage case mode of fig. 18, and the entire folding wheelchair 800 may be pulled.

Referring to fig. 14, the bayonet 7 is a notch opened at both sides in the locking support 6, in which a notch opened at both front and lower sides is provided under the locking block 601 of the locking support 6, and such a notch structure can be easily operated by a user to disengage the lock shaft 63 from the bayonet 7. In the figures, the backrest assembly 30 is rotated from the backrest expanding position P301 to the handle expanding position P303 and from the backrest expanding position P301 to the backrest folding position P302 in opposite directions.

In the illustrated embodiment, the locking block 601 of the locking abutment 6 may provide a smooth rolling surface 6011 for guiding the lock shaft 63 into the lock groove 62, for example from fig. 16B to 16A. By "smooth rolling surface 6011" is meant that the rolling surface 6011 is continuous in curvature at every point on the rolling path of the lock shaft 63. Similar to the rolling surface 6011, the locking block 601 may also provide a smooth rolling surface 6012 for guiding the locking shaft 63 to snap into the bayonet 7, for example from fig. 16A to 17. The flat members 601a, 601b constituting the locking block 601 may each have a part of the side surface extending along an arc line, thereby constituting smooth rolling surfaces 6011, 6012. Preferably, the lock shaft 63 is a circular shaft that facilitates rolling along the rolling surfaces 6011, 6012. The arc along which rolling surfaces 6011, 6012 extend may be uniform.

In the illustrated embodiment, the unlocking assembly 70 is used in the illustrated folding wheelchair 800, and is automatically unlocked in cooperation with the rear wheel assembly 20 (shown in fig. 19S) of the folding wheelchair 800 being rotated and folded toward the seat cushion assembly 80.

In the illustrated embodiment, the folding wheelchair 800 may be configured such that, during the rotational folding of the rear wheel frame 22 of the rear wheel assembly 20 relative to the seat cushion assembly 80 from the rear wheel deployment position P201 to the rear wheel deployment position P202, the rear wheel frame 22 pushes against the trigger lever 71 of the unlocking assembly 70 such that the trigger lever 71 rotates, and the trigger lever 71 pushes the lock shaft 63 out of the lock groove 62. As shown in fig. 13, the trigger end 711 of the trigger lever 71 may be provided with a roller 711a, and the rear wheel frame 22 is in rolling contact with the trigger end 711 of the trigger lever 71.

It will be appreciated that during the rotational folding of the rear wheel frame 22 of the rear wheel assembly 20 relative to the seat cushion assembly 80 from the rear wheel extension position P201 to the rear wheel extension position P202, the rear wheel frame 22 need not always push against the trigger lever 71 of the release assembly 70, but rather may begin to push against the trigger lever 71 at some point during the process, such as the rear wheel center position P200 shown in fig. 19S, and the rear wheel frame 22 begins to contact the roller 711a that pushes against the trigger end 711 of the trigger lever 71 of the release assembly 70.

Thus, from the state of fig. 19S, the cushion assembly 30 begins to automatically swivel-fold from the cushion deployment position P301 to the cushion folding position P302 under the influence of gravity with respect to the cushion assembly 80. That is, when the rear wheel frame 22 of the rear wheel assembly 20 is folded from the rear wheel deployed position P201 to the rear wheel intermediate position P200 shown in fig. 19S with respect to the seat cushion assembly 80, the rear wheel frame 22 starts to contact the trigger end 711 of the trigger lever 71 of the unlocking assembly 70, the rear wheel frame 22 continues to be folded from the rear wheel intermediate position P200 with respect to the seat cushion assembly 80, the rear wheel frame 22 automatically pulls the trigger end 711 of the trigger lever 71, and the automatic pulling can cause the unlocking assembly 70 to unlock the back deployed position P301 caused by the lock shaft 63 being locked into the lock groove 62, so that the back assembly 30 is disengaged from the back deployed position P301, as shown in fig. 16A to 16B, and reaches the back folded position P302 under the action of gravity, as shown in fig. 19V. That is, during the folding of the folding wheelchair 800, the cushion assembly 80 of the folding wheelchair 800 is in a substantially vertical position, the rear wheel frame 22 of the folding wheelchair 800 contacts the trigger end 711 of the trigger lever 71, and thus pushes the unlocking piece 72 contacting the trigger lever 71, the unlocking piece 72 pushes out the lock shaft 63 in the lock groove 62, and the back assembly 30, which is not locked, automatically folds under the action of gravity.

2. Folding method

The invention also provides a folding method F0 of the folding wheelchair. The folding wheelchair is described with reference to the folding wheelchair 800 provided above, however, it is to be understood that the folding method F0 provided for the present invention is not limited to the folding wheelchair 800 of the above-described structure. A folding method F0 of the folding wheelchair provided according to the present invention will be exemplarily described below with reference to fig. 19A to 20.

For the folding method F0, the folding wheelchair 800 may include a seat cushion assembly 80, a front wheel assembly 10, and a rear wheel assembly 20.

The folding method F0 includes the following steps S1, S2, and S3.

Step S1. From the front-rear wheel expanded state C11 (shown in FIG. 19K), in a state in which the front roller 11 of the front wheel assembly 10 and the rear roller 21 of the rear wheel assembly 20 are supported on the support surface G0, the front wheel assembly 10 (shown as an example of the first one of the front wheel assembly 10 and the rear wheel assembly 20) is folded rotatably about the front rotation axis O1 (shown as an example of the first rotation axis) toward the cushion assembly 80 until a first intermediate state C17 (shown in FIG. 19Q) in which the front wheel assembly 10 (shown as an example of the first one) is laterally supported on the support surface G0, wherein the front rotation axis O1 (shown as an example of the first rotation axis) is provided at the junction (shown as a front junction P1) of the front wheel assembly 10 (shown as an example of the first one of the front wheel assembly and the rear wheel assembly 20) and the cushion assembly 80.

This process may be considered to be a process of folding the wheelchair 800 "kneeling down" toward the front side.

As shown in fig. 19K for example, the front-rear wheel expanded state C11, it is understood that the front-rear wheel expanded state C11 means a state in which both the front wheel frame 12 of the front wheel assembly 10 supporting the front wheel 11 and the rear wheel frame 22 of the rear wheel assembly 20 supporting the rear wheel 21 are in an expanded state (i.e., are in a substantially standing state) with respect to the cushion assembly 80 so that a user can sit on the cushion assembly 80. In fig. 19K, in the front-rear wheel deployed state C11, (the front wheel frame 12 of) the front wheel assembly 10 may be in the front-wheel deployed position P121 with respect to the seat cushion assembly 80, and (the rear wheel frame 22 of) the rear wheel assembly 20 may be in the rear-wheel deployed position P201 with respect to the seat cushion assembly 80.

The first intermediate state C17 (as shown in fig. 19Q) is as shown in fig. 19Q, in which the "front wheel assembly 10 is supported laterally on the support surface G0" means that, in comparison to the front-rear wheel deployed state C11, the front wheel assembly 10 is particularly in a laterally placed state rather than a standing state of the front wheel frame 12 with respect to the support surface G0, or the front wheel assembly 10 is stably supported on the support surface G0 by at least two front-rear fulcrums as viewed laterally rather than by only one fulcrum of the front roller 11. In other words, for the illustrated embodiment, from the front-rear wheel expanded state C11 shown in fig. 19K to the first intermediate state C17 shown in fig. 19Q (as shown in fig. 19Q), the front support of the folding wheelchair 800 is changed from being supported by only the front roller 11 to being supported in common by the front roller 11 and the other parts of the front wheel assembly 10. In fig. 19Q, in the first intermediate state C17 (as shown in fig. 19Q), the (front wheel frame 12 of the) front wheel assembly 10 may be in the front wheel intermediate position P120 between the front wheel deployed position P121 and the front wheel folded position P122 with respect to the seat cushion assembly 80, and the (rear wheel frame 22 of the) rear wheel assembly 20 may be in the rear wheel deployed position P201 with respect to the seat cushion assembly 80.

Step S2 is to rotationally expand the cushion assembly 80 about the front rotational axis O1 (shown as an example of the first rotational axis) with respect to the front wheel assembly 10 (shown as an example of the first direction) from the first intermediate state C17 (shown as fig. 19Q), while rotationally fold the rear wheel assembly 20 (shown as an example of the second direction of the front wheel assembly 10 and the rear wheel assembly 20) about the rear rotational axis O2 (shown as an example of the second rotational axis) with respect to the cushion assembly 80 until an end 804 (shown as an example of the second rotational axis) of the cushion assembly 80, which is located near the front rotational axis O1 (shown as an example of the first rotational axis) and where the front end of the cushion assembly 80 in the normal use state is supported on the support surface G0, is rotated and expanded about the rear rotational axis O2 (shown as an example of the second rotational axis) with respect to the cushion assembly 80, is located at a position where the rear wheel assembly 20 (shown as an example of the second rotational axis) is connected to the cushion assembly 80 (shown as a second direction P) in the front wheel assembly) in the figure, in a state of normal use, in a state of the front, from the state of the front wheel assembly 10 (shown as an example of the fig. 19Q).

It should be understood that in step S2, "the seat cushion assembly 80 is rotated and unfolded about the front rotation axis O1, and the rear wheel assembly 20 is rotated and folded relative to the seat cushion assembly 80" means that at least two rotational movements are performed simultaneously for a period of time, and the start time and the end time of the two rotational movements may be different. Preferably, in the illustrated embodiment, both rotational movements begin at the same time, but do not end at the same time.

The first folded state C20 is shown in fig. 19T, in which the "end 804 of the seat cushion assembly 80 is supported on the support surface G0" it is understood that the end 804 of the seat cushion assembly 80 is stably supported on the support surface G0 by at least two front and rear fulcrums, which may directly contact the support surface G0 or indirectly contact the support surface G0 through the footrest 53 and the rolling wheel 54 as in the illustrated embodiment, as seen from the side. Or "the end 804 of the seat cushion assembly 80 is supported on the support surface G0" is understood to mean that the center of gravity line of the seat cushion assembly 80 passes through the end face of the end 804 from the side up.

In going from the first intermediate state C17 shown in fig. 19Q (as shown in fig. 19Q) to the first folded state C20 shown in fig. 19T, the folding wheelchair 800 is supported from resting on the front wheel assembly 10 in a sideways position while the rear rollers 22 are supported, to resting on the front wheel assembly 10 in a sideways position alone, and to resting on the end 804 of the seat cushion assembly 80 (indirectly via the footrest 53 and the rolling wheel 54 in the drawings). In fig. 19T, in the first folded state C20, (the front wheel frame 12 of) the front wheel assembly 10 may be returned to the front wheel extended position P121 with respect to the seat cushion assembly 80 (more precisely, the seat cushion assembly 80 with respect to the front wheel frame 12), and (the rear wheel frame 22 of) the rear wheel assembly 20 may be in the rear wheel folded position P202 with respect to the seat cushion assembly 80.

Step S3 is to rotationally fold the front wheel assembly 10 (shown as an example of the aforementioned first party) about the front rotational axis O1 (shown as an example of the first rotational axis) toward the cushion assembly 80 to the second folded state C23 (shown in fig. 20) in a state in which the aforementioned end portion 804 of the cushion assembly 80 is supported on the support surface G0 from the first folded state C20 (shown in fig. 19T).

Second folded state C23 as shown in fig. 20, in the illustrated second folded state C23, (the front wheel frame 12 of) the front wheel assembly 10 is rotatably folded to the front wheel folding position P122 with respect to the seat cushion assembly 80. In fig. 20, in the second folded state C23, (the front wheel frame 12 of) the front wheel assembly 10 may be in the front wheel folded position P122 with respect to the seat cushion assembly 80.

It will be appreciated that in another embodiment, the rear wheel assembly 20 may also be used as an example of the aforementioned first party, i.e. first the rear wheel assembly 20 is folded rotationally about the rear axis of rotation O2, in other words the folding wheel chair 800 is "kneeled down" towards the rear side. Preferably, as in the illustrated embodiment, the aforementioned first party is the front wheel assembly 10, i.e., the second party is the rear wheel assembly 20. The inventors considered that the entire center of gravity of the wheelchair for the elderly was relatively rear, since the backrest assembly 30 was required to be supported by the entire wheelchair, and the center of gravity of the wheelchair was also relatively rear. In addition, the front wheel assembly 10 is folded by rotating first, which is also advantageous for folding the pedal assembly 50 when the front wheel assembly 10 is provided with the pedal assembly 50.

In the illustrated embodiment, the folding wheelchair 800 may also include the first drive assembly 100 and/or the second drive assembly 200 as previously described. The first driving assembly 100 may include a first movable member 101 and a first link 102, where the first movable member 101 is movably disposed in the seat cushion assembly 80 back and forth, and two ends of the first link 102 are respectively hinged to the first movable member 101 and the front wheel assembly 10 (as an example of the aforementioned first party). The second driving assembly 200 may include a second movable member 201 and a second link arm 202, wherein the second movable member 201 is movably disposed on the seat cushion assembly 80 back and forth, and both ends of the second link arm 202 are respectively hinged to the second movable member 201 and the rear wheel assembly 20 (as an example of the aforementioned second direction).

In the illustrated folding method F0, the front wheel assembly 10 (as an example of the aforementioned first party in the figure) can be rotationally unfolded or folded relative to the seat cushion assembly 80 by causing the first driving unit 103 to drive the first movable member 101 to move back and forth, and/or the rear wheel assembly 20 (as an example of the aforementioned second party in the figure) can be rotationally unfolded or folded relative to the seat cushion assembly 80 by causing the second driving unit 203 to drive the second movable member 201 to move back and forth.

For example, in the folding method F0, the unfolded and folded state of the front wheel assembly 10 (in the drawing, as an example of the aforementioned first party) and/or the rear wheel assembly 20 (in the drawing, as an example of the aforementioned second party) with respect to the seat cushion assembly 80 may be determined by detecting the movement position of the first movable member 101 and/or the second movable member 201.

As an example, when it is detected by the proximity sensor that the first movable member 101 reaches the movement position shown in fig. 19Q, for example, the rotating motor as an example of the first driving unit 103 may be controlled by the controller to output a rotational movement opposite to the previous rotational direction, so that the seat cushion assembly 80 is rotationally unfolded with respect to the front wheel assembly 10, while triggering the second driving unit 203 to drive the second movable member 201 to move forward to rotationally fold the rear wheel assembly 20 with respect to the seat cushion assembly 80. For another example, in step S1, the process of "kneeling" the wheelchair 800 toward the front side may be performed by a control handle, such as a remote control, transmitting a trigger signal to the controller, so that the controller transmits an activation signal to the first driving unit 103, so that the first driving unit 103 drives the first movable member 101 to move backward, thereby rotating the front wheel assembly 10 relative to the seat cushion assembly 80 to fold, and kneeling the wheelchair 800 as a whole.

In the above-described folding method F0, the center of gravity transfer can be achieved by selectively changing the positions of the front wheel assembly 10 and the rear wheel assembly 20, and particularly in step S2, the center of gravity transfer of the entire folding wheelchair 800 can be well controlled by controlling the rotational unfolding speed between the front wheel assembly 10 and the seat cushion assembly 80 and the rotational folding speed between the rear wheel assembly 20 and the seat cushion assembly 80, for example, by controlling the movement speeds of the first movable member 101 and the second movable member 102, so that the entire folding process is smoothly performed.

For example, in the folding wheelchair 800, the weight of the left and right rear wheel assemblies 20 may occupy about 1/3 of the weight of the entire wheelchair, the position of the center of gravity of the entire wheelchair may be greatly changed by changing the position thereof, the left and right rear wheel assemblies 20 may be positioned under the wheelchair cushion 802 in the folded state, may be positioned at the rear side of the wheelchair cushion 802 in the unfolded state, the front wheel assembly 10 may be positioned under the wheelchair cushion 802 in the folded state, and may be positioned at the front of the folding wheelchair 800 in the unfolded state.

In the illustrated folding method F0, the rear wheel assembly 20 (shown as an example of the aforementioned second direction) can be caused to avoid the front wheel assembly 10 (shown as an example of the aforementioned first direction) when the rear wheel assembly 20 (shown as an example of the aforementioned second direction) is folded rotatably with respect to the seat cushion assembly 80, and fig. 19R can be referred to.

In the illustrated folding method F0, the rolling axis of the rear roller 21 (shown as an example of a roller) of the rear wheel assembly 20 (shown as an example of the aforementioned second direction in the drawings) can be shifted from extending laterally of the cushion assembly 80 to extending in the thickness direction T80 of the cushion assembly 80 when the rear wheel assembly 20 (shown as an example of the aforementioned second direction in the drawings) is folded rotatably with respect to the cushion assembly 80, and reference can be made to the comparison of fig. 19Q and 19T.

As previously described, the front wheel assembly 10 may include a front wheel frame 12 supporting the front roller 11, and the front wheel assembly 10 is rotatably coupled to the seat cushion assembly 80 through an upper end of the front wheel frame 12. In the illustrated embodiment, the front wheel assembly 10 of the folding wheelchair 800 may also include a pedal assembly 50. Pedal assembly 50 may include a pedal assembly 51 and a scroll wheel 54. The pedal assembly 51 may include a pedal arm 52 and a foot pedal 53, among other things. The upper end of the pedal arm 52 may be rotatably provided to the front wheel frame 12, and the pedal 53 may be connected to the lower end of the pedal arm 52. A rolling wheel 54 may be provided to the footrest assembly 51.

In the illustrated folding method F0, the folding wheelchair 800 reaches the first intermediate state C17 (shown in fig. 19Q) from the front and rear wheel-extended state C11 (shown in fig. 19K) via the rolling wheel 54 of the pedal assembly 50 contacting the second intermediate state C15 (shown in fig. 19O) of the support surface G0, and during the process from the second intermediate state C15 (shown in fig. 19O) to the first intermediate state C17 (shown in fig. 19Q), the rolling wheel 54 rolls on the support surface G0, driving the pedal arm 52 of the pedal assembly 51 to rotate and extend relative to the front wheel frame 12.

In the illustrated folding method F0, the foot pedal 53 may be made rotatable with respect to the pedal arm 52 to the first pedal-spread position P531 and the second pedal-spread position P533. Wherein, the included angle α53 between the pedal 53 and the pedal arm 52 is a first predetermined value V1 and a second predetermined value V2 at the first pedal-spread position P531 and the second pedal-spread position P533, respectively, and the second predetermined value V2 is larger than the first predetermined value V1. As previously described, the footrest assembly 51 in the first pedal-extended position P531 allows a user to place his/her feet on the footrest 53. The first predetermined value V1 may be, for example, 105 ° to 135 °.

In the illustrated folding method F0, the folding wheelchair 800 can reach the first intermediate state C17 (shown in fig. 19Q) from the second intermediate state C15 (shown in fig. 19O) via the third intermediate state C16 (shown in fig. 19P). During the course from the second intermediate state C15 (shown in fig. 19O) to the third intermediate state C16 (shown in fig. 19P), the foot pedal 53 can be held in the first pedal-extended position P531 with respect to the pedal arm 52. In the process from the third intermediate state C16 (shown in fig. 19P) to the first intermediate state C17 (shown in fig. 19Q), the foot pedal 53 can be rotated and deployed from the first pedal deployment position P531 to the second pedal deployment position P533 with respect to the pedal arm 52. As mentioned above, the second predetermined value V2 corresponding to the second pedal-extended position P533 may be 175-185 °. Accordingly, the foot pedal 53 can be rotatably extended from the first pedal-extended position P531 to the flush position where the foot pedal 53 is substantially flush with the support surface G0 with respect to the pedal arm 52, and subsequent folding actions can be not interfered with.

It is to be understood that the second intermediate state C15 (shown in fig. 19O) is not necessarily a starting state in which the scroll wheel 54 starts to contact the bearing surface G0 but may be a state in which the scroll wheel 54 has contacted the bearing surface G0 for a while. For example, in the illustrated embodiment, the folding wheelchair 800 has also undergone intermediate states C12, C13 and C14 in sequence during the process of unfolding the front and rear wheels C11 (as shown in fig. 19K) to a second intermediate state C15 (as shown in fig. 19O). In the intermediate state C12, the front end of the foot pedal 53 of the pedal assembly 50 starts to contact the support surface G0, then the foot pedal 53 of the pedal assembly 50 is gradually and entirely flattened to the intermediate state C13, the angle α 53 between the pedal arm 52 and the foot pedal 53 may be slightly reduced, then the rolling wheel 54 is rolled forward from the intermediate state C13 to the intermediate state C14 in a state where the foot pedal 53 is flattened on the support surface G0, during which the angle α 53 between the pedal arm 52 and the foot pedal 53 may be slightly increased, and then the second intermediate state C15 of fig. 19O (as shown in fig. 19O) is reached, and the angle α 53 between the pedal arm 52 and the foot pedal 53 is restored to the angle at which the foot pedal 53 is in the first pedal-spread position P531 with respect to the pedal arm 52.

In the illustrated folding method F0, in going from the second intermediate state C15 (as shown in fig. 19O) to the third intermediate state C16 (as shown in fig. 19P), the pedal 53 can be held at the first pedal-spread position P531 with respect to the pedal arm 52 by the stopper means (e.g., the stopper means 55 of the aforementioned pedal assembly 50), and the pedal arm 52 can be rotated with respect to the front wheel frame 12 to the pedal-retracted position P522 (as shown in fig. 19P, see also fig. 5B), and the front wheel frame 12 is released from the stopper means 55 at the pedal-retracted position P522, whereby the pedal 53 can be rotated under the action of gravity with respect to the pedal arm 52 from the first pedal-spread position P531 shown in fig. 19P to the second pedal-spread position P533 shown in fig. 19Q, thereby reaching the first intermediate state C17 (as shown in fig. 19Q) from the third intermediate state C16 (as shown in fig. 19P).

For example, as mentioned in the foregoing description of the pedal assembly 50, the urging portion 123 of the front wheel frame 12 may contact the stopper rod 56 of the stopper device 55 shown in fig. 3 to 5B to apply a pressing force to the stopper rod 56, so that the stopper rod 56 may release the engagement with the spread engagement portion 531a of the connection portion 531 of the pedal 53, and thus the stopper action of the stopper device 55 may be released.

In the illustrated folding method F0, in the second folded state C23 shown in fig. 20, the pedal arm 52 can be held at the pedal-folded position P522 with respect to the front wheel frame 12. For example, the buckling portion 520 of the pedal arm 52 and the buckling portion 102a of the first linking arm 102 shown in fig. 3 to 5B may be buckled to each other so that the pedal arm 52 is held at the pedal-folded position P522.

In the illustrated folding method F0, in the second folded state C23 shown in fig. 20, the pedal 53 can be held at the pedal-folded position P532 with respect to the pedal arm 52. For example, the pedal 53 may be held at the pedal-retracted position P532 by the stopper 58 of the stopper 55 shown in fig. 3 to 5B being engaged with the retracting engagement portion 531B of the connection portion 531 of the pedal 53.

As previously described, the rear wheel assembly 20 includes the rear wheel frame 22 supporting the rear wheels 21, and the rear wheel assembly 20 may be rotatably coupled to the seat cushion assembly 80 through the upper end of the rear wheel frame 22.

In the illustrated embodiment, the folding wheelchair 800 may include a back rest assembly 30 that is foldably mounted to a seat cushion assembly 80. The folding wheelchair 800 may also include a back lock assembly 60 for locking the back assembly 30 in the back extended position P301 relative to the seat cushion assembly 80. The folding wheelchair 800 may also further include an unlocking assembly 70 for unlocking the backrest assembly 30 from the backrest deployment position P301.

In the illustrated folding method F0, during the process from the first intermediate state C17 (shown in fig. 19Q) to the first folded state C20 (shown in fig. 19T), the unlocking assembly 70 may be triggered to unlock the seatback assembly 30 from the seatback unfolding position P301 during the folding of the rear wheel carrier 22 of the rear wheel assembly 20 relative to the seat cushion assembly 80, and further, the seatback assembly 30 may be folded relative to the seat cushion assembly 80 under the action of gravity.

In the illustrated embodiment, the backrest assembly 30 may have vertically extending mounting sections 311 on the sides. The folding wheelchair 800 may also include armrests 4.

In the illustrated folding method F0, the armrests 4 can be folded relative to the mounting sections 311 of the seatback assembly 30 prior to the seatback assembly 30 folding relative to the seat cushion assembly 80 under the force of gravity. For example, as can be seen in fig. 19D to 19H, the armrest 4 can be folded relative to the mounting section 311 by a hinged four-bar mechanism A1. This folding operation may be performed manually. In the folded state of the armrest shown in fig. 19H, the angle α43 between the armrest 4 and the mounting section 311 may be-10-20 °.

In the illustrated embodiment, the folding wheelchair 800 may include a steering assembly 90 for steering the direction of travel of the folding wheelchair 800. As previously described, the steering assembly 90 may include the steering seat 901 and the steering bracket 902, wherein the steering bracket 902 may be disposed at the front end of the armrest 4. The console 901 may be provided with a joystick 903 for manual manipulation. The console 901 may be supported to the console 902 in a foldable manner.

In the illustrated folding method F0, the steering bracket 902 is switched from the steering flipped open state (as shown in fig. 19A) to the steering folded state (as shown in fig. 19C) before the seatback assembly 30 is folded with respect to the seat cushion assembly 80 by gravity, and further, before the armrest 4 is folded with respect to the mounting segment 311. As shown in fig. 19A, in the manipulation-flipped-open state, the manipulation base 901 is flipped open to the front side of the manipulation bracket 902, and the manipulation lever 903 is exposed on the upper side of the manipulation base 901. As shown in fig. 19C, in the folded state, the console 901 is folded over the console 902, and the joystick 903 is located at the lower side of the console 901.

In the illustrated embodiment, the back assembly 30 may include a back frame 31 and a back cushion 32 providing a back surface 321, and the back assembly 30 may be foldably mounted to the seat cushion assembly 50 by the back frame 31.

In the illustrated folding method F0, the cushion 32 can be pushed relative to the back rest 31 from the cushion push-out position P321 to the cushion folding position P322 before the back rest assembly 30 is folded relative to the cushion assembly 80, wherein the cushion 32 is located further to the front side in the cushion push-out position P321 than in the cushion folding position P322. For example, referring to fig. 19G to 19K, the cushion 32 can be pushed from the cushion push-out position P321 to the cushion folding position P322 by the hinge four-bar mechanism A3 with respect to the back rest 31.

Fig. 21A to 21I show a part of the process of unfolding the folding wheelchair 800 from the folded state C23 shown in fig. 20.

From the folded state C23 shown in fig. 20 to the state of fig. 21B via the state of fig. 21A, the first movable member 101 moves downward, and the first link arm 102 rotates the front wheel frame 12 of the front wheel assembly 10 relative to the seat cushion assembly 80 to be unfolded to the state in which the front wheel frame 12 is laterally disposed, as shown in fig. 21B. It should be understood that the folding wheelchair 800 in the folded state C23 shown in fig. 20 may be placed upside down, that is, for example, the end 804 of the seat cushion assembly 80 of the folding wheelchair 800 faces the front side, and the seat cushion assembly 80 is supported on the support surface G0 by the lower side 806, and the seat cushion assembly 80 may be rotated and unfolded relative to the front wheel frame 12 of the front wheel assembly 10 by the movement of the first movable member 101 to the state of fig. 21B.

From the state of fig. 21B, the rear wheel frame 22 of the rear wheel assembly 20 is rotated and unfolded with respect to the seat cushion assembly 80 as shown in fig. 21C, and then, at the same time, the seat cushion assembly 80 is rotated and folded with respect to the front wheel frame 12 of the front wheel assembly 10 as shown in fig. 21D until the state shown in fig. 21E. Similar to the previous folding method, simultaneous means herein that at least some of the time is simultaneous, but the start time and end time of the two rotational movements are not necessarily identical. In the illustrated embodiment, the rear wheel frame 22 begins to rotatably expand relative to the seat cushion assembly 80 as shown in fig. 21C, and then the seat cushion assembly 80 begins to rotatably fold relative to the front wheel frame 12 as shown in fig. 21D. In the state shown in fig. 21E, the rear wheel assembly 20 is rotationally deployed to the rear wheel deployment position P201 with respect to the seat cushion assembly 80, and the seat cushion assembly 80 is rotationally folded to a predetermined angle with respect to the front wheel frame 12 of the front wheel assembly 10.

Starting from the state shown in fig. 21E, the seat cushion assembly 80 and the front wheel frame 12 of the front wheel assembly 10 start to be rotatably unfolded, and pass through fig. 21F, 21G and 21H in order to reach the state of fig. 21I. Approximately Jie Cheng, the front legs of the folding wheelchair 800 begin the process of climbing. From the state shown in fig. 21E to the state shown in fig. 21G, the pedal arm 52 of the pedal assembly 50 is naturally pivoted and retracted with respect to the front wheel frame 12, and the roller wheel 54 of the pedal assembly 50 is rolled on the support surface G0, and the foot pedal 53 is also lapped on the support surface G0. From the state shown in fig. 21G to the state shown in fig. 21H, as the angle between the cushion assembly 80 and the front wheel frame 12 of the front wheel assembly 10 expands to a predetermined value, the pedal assembly 50 as a whole is separated from the support surface G0, as shown in fig. 21H. The rotational deployment between the seat cushion assembly 80 and the front wheel frame 12 of the front wheel assembly 10 then continues until the condition of fig. 21I.

Other parts of the folding wheelchair 800 such as the backrest module 30, the armrest module 40 and the steering module 90 may be referred to as the reverse of the folding process, and will not be described herein.

The folding wheelchair 800 may be equipped with an inertial measurement unit, for example, including an angle sensor, a gyroscope + accelerometer, etc., so that the folding wheelchair 800 can only be operated in a safe state, the unfolded starting position can only be vertical (as shown in fig. 20) or horizontal (that is, in the aforementioned case where the end 804 of the folding wheelchair 800 in the folded state C23 faces the front side and the lower side 806 is supported on the support surface G0), and the folded starting position can only be horizontal (as shown in fig. 19K).

In general, for the illustrated folding wheelchair, a user can firstly fold the control assembly, then unlock and fold the hand assembly, then stand up to fold the back cushion of the backrest assembly, and then instruct the folding wheelchair to perform automatic folding operation, firstly, the front wheel assembly comprising the pedal assembly performs folding operation, the folding operation of the front wheel assembly is stopped when the pedals in the pedal assembly are unfolded, then the left and right rear wheel assemblies start folding operation under the drive of the second drive unit, at the same time, the front wheel assembly performs unfolding operation again, and cooperates with the left and right rear wheel assemblies to fold for avoiding, the unlocking assembly of the backrest assembly is triggered before the left and right rear wheel assemblies are completely folded, and the backrest assembly also automatically folds after the left and right rear wheel assemblies are completely folded, at the moment, the front wheel assembly can be in a completely unfolded position, so that folding operation can be performed again, and the backrest assembly of the folding wheelchair can be pulled to a state as shown in fig. 18 if the whole wheelchair is required to move.

When the folding wheelchair is unfolded, as described above, the folding wheelchair can have two placing positions for starting the automatic unfolding action, the first is that the whole wheelchair is vertically placed, and the second is that the whole wheelchair is horizontally placed, and even when the folding wheelchair is horizontally placed, the folding wheelchair can be simply converted into the state of fig. 21B through the unfolding of the front wheel assembly. Then the left and right rear wheel assemblies are rotated under the driving action of the second driving unit respectively, and at the same time, the front wheel assemblies are folded to match the gravity center position change of the whole wheelchair, when the left and right rear wheel assemblies are fully unfolded, the front wheel assemblies are unfolded again, and at the moment, the gravity center position is transferred from the right side of the front roller to the left side of the front roller, so that the whole folding wheelchair can be converted from a vertical state (shown in fig. 20) to a horizontal state (shown in fig. 21I) along with the unfolding of the front wheel assemblies. The front wheel assembly and the rear wheel assembly which participate in unfolding in the whole machine after the driving device finishes driving can be locked by a screw rod in the driving device, for example, and the stability of the structure can be ensured. The user may then open the back assembly, automatically lock it when moved to the extended back position, and then turn the folded back cushion up. The user can put down the armrests on both sides after sitting on the cushion assembly, the armrests can be locked after being put down, and finally the user can control the folding wheelchair by opening the folded control assembly.

The folding wheelchair can automatically fold or unfold the wheelchair in a gravity center transferring mode and convert the posture of the wheelchair, and a user does not need to participate. The rear wheel assembly can be folded and stored under the cushion in a simple rotating mode, and the front wheel assembly can be stored under the cushion when being folded. The front wheel assembly can change the angle between the front wheel assembly and the ground, so that the aim of changing the included angle between the seat cushion and the ground is fulfilled, and the function of easily entering and exiting the folding wheelchair when the pedal plate contacts the ground to form a slope can be developed.

While the invention has been described in terms of preferred embodiments, it is not intended to be limiting, but rather to limit the invention to the particular embodiments disclosed, and modifications may be made by those skilled in the art without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention. Therefore, any modification, equivalent variation and modification of the above embodiments according to the technical substance of the present invention fall within the protection scope defined by the claims of the present invention.

Claims

1. A folding wheelchair, comprising a seat cushion assembly, a front wheel assembly and a rear wheel assembly, wherein the upper ends of the front wheel assembly and the rear wheel assembly are rotatably connected to the front connection position and the rear connection position of the seat cushion assembly, respectively, and characterized in that the front roller of the front wheel assembly and the rear roller of the rear wheel assembly are supported on a supporting surface,

The folding wheelchair further comprises a first drive assembly, wherein the first drive assembly comprises:

A first movable member is movably disposed on the seat cushion assembly in a forward and backward manner;

A first connecting arm, both ends of which are respectively hinged to the first movable member and a first one of the front wheel assembly and the rear wheel assembly; and

A first driving unit, used for driving the first movable member to move forward and backward, whereby the first side can be rotated to unfold or fold relative to the seat cushion assembly under the driving action of the first connecting arm;

The first side is the front wheel assembly, the front wheel assembly includes a front wheel frame supporting a front roller, and the front wheel assembly is rotatably connected to the seat cushion assembly through the upper end of the front wheel frame;

The front wheel assembly also includes a pedal assembly, and the pedal assembly includes:

Footrest assembly, including:

A pedal arm, the upper end of which is rotatably disposed on the front wheel frame;

a foot pedal connected to the lower end of the pedal arm; and

a rolling wheel, disposed on the pedal assembly and configured to roll in contact with the support surface during the process of the front wheel frame rotating and folding relative to the seat cushion assembly,

When the pedal assembly is in any state, the rolling wheel is located at a position closer to the supporting surface relative to the connecting portion of the foot pedal, the pedal arm, and the front wheel frame.

2. The folding wheelchair according to claim 1, characterized in that:

A front rotation axis and a rear rotation axis are respectively provided between the upper ends of the front wheel assembly and the rear wheel assembly and the seat cushion assembly;

The front rotation axis and the rear rotation axis are skew lines, whereby the second side of the front wheel assembly and the rear wheel assembly avoids the first side when the seat cushion assembly is folded.

3. The folding wheelchair according to claim 2, characterized in that:

The front rotation axis extends along the lateral direction of the seat cushion assembly, and the rear rotation axis extends obliquely upward toward the side.

4. The folding wheelchair according to claim 2, characterized in that:

The first party is the front wheel assembly;

The rear wheel assembly is arranged so that the rear wheel assembly rotates relative to the seat cushion assembly between a rear wheel unfolded position and a rear wheel folded position. In the rear wheel unfolded position, the rolling axis of the rear roller of the rear wheel assembly extends along the lateral direction of the seat cushion assembly, and in the rear wheel folded position, the rolling axis of the rear roller extends along the thickness direction of the seat cushion assembly.

5. The folding wheelchair according to claim 1, characterized in that:

The folding wheelchair further comprises a second drive assembly, wherein the second drive assembly comprises:

A second movable member is movably disposed on the seat cushion assembly in a forward and backward manner;

A second connecting arm, both ends of which are respectively hinged to the second movable member and the second side of the front wheel assembly and the rear wheel assembly; and

The second driving unit drives the second movable member to move forward and backward, whereby the second side can be folded or unfolded relative to the seat cushion assembly under the driving action of the second connecting arm.

6. The folding wheelchair according to claim 5, characterized in that:

The seat cushion assembly comprises a lower guide rod and an upper guide rod, wherein the lower guide rod and the upper guide rod both extend forward and backward and are arranged at the middle position of the cushion of the seat cushion assembly in the left-right direction;

The first movable member can be movably arranged on the lower guide rod, and the second movable member can be movably arranged on the upper guide rod.

7. The folding wheelchair according to claim 5, characterized in that the folding wheelchair further comprises:

a position detection unit, used for detecting a moving position of the first movable member and/or the second movable member;

The controller transmits a control signal to the first driving unit and/or the second driving unit based on the movement position detected by the position detection unit.

8. The folding wheelchair according to claim 1, characterized in that:

The pedal arm is provided with a mounting hole having a cross section with an elongated direction;

The foot pedal has a connecting portion and is rotatably connected to the pedal arm through the connecting portion, whereby the foot pedal can be rotated relative to the pedal arm to a first pedal deployment position for a user to step on, wherein the connecting portion has a deployment mating portion;

The pedal assembly further includes a limiting device, which includes:

a limiting rod movably passing through the mounting hole of the pedal arm along the extension direction; and

A limiting elastic member, the elastic force of which has a tendency to cause the limiting rod to move along the extension direction until it abuts against the side wall of the mounting hole, whereby the limiting rod cooperates with the unfolding mating portion of the connecting portion so that the foot pedal is maintained in the first pedal unfolding position relative to the pedal arm.

9. The folding wheelchair according to claim 8, characterized in that:

The front wheel frame includes a force applying portion;

The pedal arm is configured to be rotatable and retractable relative to the front wheel frame to a pedal retracted position. At the pedal retracted position, the force-applying portion applies force to the limit rod, so that the limit rod overcomes the elastic force of the limit elastic member and disengages from the unfolding mating portion of the connecting portion, whereby the pedal is rotatable relative to the pedal arm.

10. The folding wheelchair according to claim 8, characterized in that:

The pedal arm is configured to be rotatable and retractable relative to the front wheel frame to a pedal retracted position, and the first connecting arm is configured to be rotatable and retractable relative to an upper portion of the front wheel frame to a connecting arm extended position. The pedal arm and the first connecting arm are respectively provided with a buckling portion and a buckling portion. When the first connecting arm is located at the connecting arm extended position and the pedal arm is located at the pedal retracted position, the buckling portion of the first connecting arm is buckled with the buckling portion of the pedal arm.

11. The folding wheelchair according to claim 8, characterized in that:

The foot pedal is configured to be rotatable relative to the pedal arm to a pedal folded position, and the limit device also includes a limit member, which is connected to the limit rod and is rotatably arranged on the pedal arm, and the connecting portion also has a folding mating portion. When the foot pedal is located in the pedal folded position, the limit member cooperates with the folding mating portion of the connecting portion, so that the foot pedal remains in the pedal folded position.

12. The folding wheelchair according to claim 1, further comprising:

a backrest assembly rotatably mounted on the seat cushion assembly; and

Back locking assembly, comprising:

A locking support, mounted to the seat cushion assembly and provided with a locking slot;

a mating assembly mounted to the backrest assembly and provided with a locking shaft, wherein the backrest assembly is locked in the backrest deployment position relative to the seat cushion assembly by the locking shaft being engaged in the locking groove; and

The back-locking elastic member has an elastic force which has a tendency to keep the lock shaft stuck in the lock groove.

13. The folding wheelchair according to claim 12, further comprising:

Unlock components, including:

a trigger lever rotatably mounted to the seat cushion assembly; and

An unlocking member is movably supported on the locking support and is configured to be pushed by one end of the trigger rod as the trigger rod rotates, thereby pushing the lock shaft out of the lock slot, thereby unlocking the backrest assembly from the backrest deployment position.

14. The folding wheelchair according to claim 13, characterized in that:

The first side is the front wheel assembly, the rear wheel assembly includes a rear wheel frame supporting a rear roller, and the rear wheel assembly is rotatably connected to the seat cushion assembly through the upper end of the rear wheel frame;

The folding wheelchair is configured such that, during the process of the rear wheel frame rotating and folding relative to the seat cushion assembly from the rear wheel unfolded position to the rear wheel folded position, the rear wheel frame pushes the trigger rod to rotate the trigger rod, and then the trigger rod pushes the lock shaft out of the lock slot.

15. The folding wheelchair according to claim 12, characterized in that:

The matching component comprises a locking bracket, which is rotatably mounted on the backrest component, and the locking shaft is arranged at one end of the locking bracket.

16. The folding wheelchair according to claim 1, further comprising:

A backrest assembly having a vertically extending mounting section on the side;

A handrail assembly, comprising a folding assembly, wherein the folding assembly comprises an armrest, a first rod and a second rod, wherein the armrest has a rod segment, wherein the rod segment, the first rod, the second rod and the mounting segment form a hinged four-bar mechanism, wherein the rod segment and the mounting segment respectively constitute a connecting rod and a frame of the hinged four-bar mechanism, and the first rod and the second rod respectively constitute connecting rods located at the upper side and the lower side of the hinged four-bar mechanism;

Wherein, the hinged four-bar mechanism is configured to be switchable from a four-bar unfolded state to a four-bar folded state. In the four-bar unfolded state, the angle between the first bar and the bar segment is α1 and the clamp faces downward. In the four-bar folded state, the angle between the first bar and the bar segment is α2 and the clamp faces upward, wherein α1 is 170-180° and α2 is 0-10°.

17. The folding wheelchair according to claim 1, further comprising:

Handrail assemblies, including handrails; and

A control component, used to control the forward direction of the wheelchair, comprising:

A control seat provided with a control lever for manual control; and

The control bracket is arranged at the front end of the armrest, and the control seat is foldably supported on the control bracket and is arranged to be switchable between a control open state and a control folded state. In the control open state, the control seat is folded to the front side of the control bracket, and the control rod is exposed on the upper side of the control seat. In the control folded state, the control seat is folded above the control bracket, and the control rod is located on the lower side of the control seat.

18. The folding wheelchair according to claim 1, further comprising a backrest assembly,

The backrest assembly comprises:

A backrest frame having a vertically extending mounting section on the side;

Cushions, providing a backrest surface;

An upper and a lower push rod, the back cushion, the two push rods and the backrest frame form a hinged four-bar mechanism, wherein the back cushion and the backrest frame respectively constitute a connecting rod and a frame of the hinged four-bar mechanism, and the two push rods constitute two connecting rods of the hinged four-bar mechanism, and the back cushion is arranged to be switchable from a back cushion push-out position to a back cushion folding position via a back cushion middle position relative to the backrest frame, and the back cushion is closer to the front side in the back cushion push-out position than in the back cushion folding position; and

A backrest elastic member has one end connected to one of the two push rods and the other end connected to the cushion. The elastic force of the backrest elastic member enables the cushion to have a tendency to switch from the middle position of the cushion to the cushion push-out position or the cushion folded position.

19. A method for folding a folding wheelchair, the folding wheelchair comprising a seat cushion assembly, a front wheel assembly and a rear wheel assembly, characterized in that:

The folding method comprises:

From the front and rear wheel unfolded state C11, in a state where the front roller of the front wheel assembly and the rear roller of the rear wheel assembly are supported on a support surface, the first side of the front wheel assembly and the rear wheel assembly is rotated and folded toward the seat cushion assembly around a first rotation axis until the first side is horizontally supported on the support surface in a first intermediate state C17, wherein the first rotation axis is provided at a connection between the first side and the seat cushion assembly;

From the first intermediate state C17, in a state where the first side is supported horizontally on the support surface, the seat cushion assembly is rotated and unfolded relative to the first side around the first rotation axis, and at the same time, the second side of the front wheel assembly and the rear wheel assembly is rotated and folded relative to the seat cushion assembly around the second rotation axis until the end of the seat cushion assembly close to the position of the first rotation axis is supported on the support surface in the first folded state C20, wherein the second rotation axis is provided at the connection between the second side and the seat cushion assembly;

From the first folded state C20, with the end of the seat cushion assembly supported on a support surface, the first side is rotated about the first rotation axis toward the seat cushion assembly and folded to a second folded state C23.

20. The folding method according to claim 19, characterized in that:

The first party is a front wheel assembly.

21. The folding method according to claim 19, characterized in that:

The folding wheelchair also includes:

A first driving assembly includes a first movable member and a first connecting arm, wherein the first movable member is movably arranged on the seat cushion assembly, and both ends of the first connecting arm are respectively hinged to the first movable member and the first side, and the first driving unit drives the first movable member to move forward and backward, so that the first side is rotated, unfolded or folded relative to the seat cushion assembly under the driving action of the first connecting arm; and/or

The second driving assembly includes a second movable member and a second connecting arm. The second movable member can be movably arranged on the seat cushion assembly forward and backward. Both ends of the second connecting arm are respectively hinged to the second movable member and the second party. The second driving unit drives the second movable member to move forward and backward, so that the second party can be rotated, unfolded or folded relative to the seat cushion assembly under the driving action of the second connecting arm.

22. The folding method according to claim 21, characterized in that:

By detecting the moving position of the first movable member and/or the second movable member, the unfolding and folding state of the first side and/or the second side relative to the seat cushion assembly is determined.

23. The folding method according to claim 19, characterized in that:

When the second side is rotated and folded relative to the seat cushion assembly, the second side avoids the first side; and/or

When the second side is rotated and folded relative to the seat cushion assembly, the rolling axis of the roller of the second side is changed from extending along the lateral direction of the seat cushion assembly to extending along the thickness direction of the seat cushion assembly.

24. The folding method according to claim 19, characterized in that:

The first side is a front wheel assembly, the front wheel assembly includes a front wheel frame supporting a front roller, and the front wheel assembly is rotatably connected to the seat cushion assembly through the upper end of the front wheel frame;

Footrest assembly, including:

a foot pedal connected to the lower end of the pedal arm; and

A rolling wheel, arranged on the pedal assembly;

The folding wheelchair reaches the first intermediate state C17 from the front and rear wheel unfolded state C11 via the second intermediate state C15 in which the rolling wheel contacts the supporting surface. In the process from the second intermediate state C15 to the first intermediate state C17, the rolling wheel rolls on the supporting surface, driving the pedal arm to rotate and unfold relative to the front wheel frame.

25. The folding method according to claim 24, characterized in that:

The foot pedal is rotatable relative to the pedal arm to a first pedal deployment position and a second pedal deployment position, wherein the angle between the foot pedal and the pedal arm in the first pedal deployment position and the second pedal deployment position is a first predetermined value V1 and a second predetermined value V2, respectively, and the second predetermined value V2 is greater than the first predetermined value V1;

The folding wheelchair reaches the first intermediate state C17 from the second intermediate state C15 via the third intermediate state C16. During the process from the second intermediate state to the third intermediate state C16, the foot pedal is maintained at the first pedal unfolded position relative to the pedal arm. During the process from the third intermediate state C16 to the first intermediate state C17, the foot pedal is rotated and unfolded from the first pedal unfolded position to the second pedal unfolded position relative to the pedal arm, wherein the second predetermined value V2 is 175-185°.

26. The folding method according to claim 25, characterized in that:

In the process from the second intermediate state to the third intermediate state C16, the foot pedal is maintained in the first pedal extended position relative to the pedal arm through the limiting device, and the pedal arm is rotated to the foot pedal folded position relative to the front wheel frame, and in the foot pedal folded position, the front wheel frame releases the limiting effect of the limiting device, whereby the foot pedal is rotated from the first pedal extended position to the second pedal extended position relative to the pedal arm under the action of gravity, thereby reaching the first intermediate state C17 from the third intermediate state C16.

27. The folding method according to claim 24, characterized in that:

In the second folded state C23, the pedal arm is maintained in a pedal-folded position relative to the front wheel frame; and/or

In the second folded state C23, the foot pedal is maintained at the pedal folded position relative to the pedal arm.

28. The folding method according to claim 19, characterized in that:

The second side is the rear wheel assembly, the rear wheel assembly includes a rear wheel frame supporting a rear roller, and the rear wheel assembly is rotatably connected to the seat cushion assembly through the upper end of the rear wheel frame;

The folding wheelchair also includes:

A backrest assembly, foldably mounted on the seat cushion assembly;

a backrest locking assembly for locking the backrest assembly in a backrest deployed position relative to the seat cushion assembly; and

an unlocking assembly, used to unlock the backrest assembly from the backrest deployment position;

During the process from the first intermediate state C17 to the first folding state C20, the unlocking assembly is triggered to unlock the backrest assembly from the backrest unfolded position during the folding of the rear wheel frame relative to the seat cushion assembly, thereby allowing the backrest assembly to be folded relative to the seat cushion assembly under the action of gravity.

29. The folding method according to claim 28, characterized in that:

The backrest assembly has a vertically extending mounting section on the side;

The folding wheelchair also includes armrests;

Before the backrest assembly is folded relative to the seat cushion assembly under the action of gravity, the armrest is folded relative to the mounting section. In the folded state of the armrest, a fourth angle between the armrest and the mounting section is -10-20°.

30. The folding method according to claim 29, characterized in that:

The folding wheelchair further comprises a control component for controlling the forward direction of the folding wheelchair;

The control component comprises:

A control seat provided with a control lever for manual control; and

A control bracket is arranged at the front end of the armrest, and the control seat is foldably supported on the control bracket;

Before the armrest is folded relative to the mounting section, the control bracket is switched from a control open state to a control folded state. In the control open state, the control seat is flipped to the front side of the control bracket, and the control rod is exposed on the upper side of the control seat. In the control folded state, the control seat is folded above the control bracket, and the control rod is located on the lower side of the control seat.

31. The folding method according to claim 28, characterized in that:

The backrest assembly comprises a backrest frame and a cushion providing a backrest surface, and the backrest assembly is foldably mounted on the seat cushion assembly through the backrest frame;

Before the backrest assembly is folded relative to the seat cushion assembly, the cushion is pushed from a cushion push-out position to a cushion folded position relative to the backrest frame, wherein the cushion is closer to the front side in the cushion push-out position than in the cushion folded position.