2017 IEEE Transportation Electrification Conference and Expo, Asia-Pacific (ITEC Asia-Pacific)
A Design and Control of One-Wheel Type Hybrid
Wheelchair
Yunchnag Kwak, Jongnam Bae, Hongmin Kim
Dept. of Mechatronics Engineering
Kyungsung University
Busan, Korea
kyc9281@ks.ac.kr,bjn13931@ks.ac.kr, khm2120@ks.ac.kr
Abstract—This paper presents a design and control of one-
wheel type hybrid wheelchair which is operated by the manual
power and electric power together. The proposed hybrid
wheelchair uses motorized one wheel for the manual wheelchair
to supply the assistant power. The proposed one-wheel type
hybrid wheelchair uses a BLDC(Brushless DC) motor, and the
motorized part can be easily attachable and detachable from the
conventional manual wheelchair. In this paper, an indirect
estimation for PAS(Power Assistant System) is proposed. The
user requirement for the moving of the wheelchair is estimated
by the acceleration sensor. A novel estimation factor of the user
action is presented, then the reference torque for the assistant
power motor is determined by the proposed factor. The detailed
design and analysis of the proposed hybrid wheelchair are
detailed presented with the simulation and experimental results.
Keywords—Hybrid Wheelchair, Power Assistant Control,
Acceleration sensor
I. INTRODUCTION
This motorized wheelchair is very important personal
mobility for the handicapped peoples. Various motorized
wheelchairs are researched using BLDC(Brushless DC)
motors, SRMs(Switched Reluctance Motors) and DC
motors[1]. Although, the motorized wheelchair is very
effective to extend the life area for the handicapped and old
person, the high cost and the heavy weight are main problems
to expand the supply. Furthermore, the big size of the
motorized wheelchair and heavy weight are not good to carry
inside the vehicle. Compared to this motorized wheelchair, the
manual wheelchair is very light to be carried and it has low
cost, but it is very difficult to move to long distance.
The hybrid wheelchair uses a manual power of the user and
the motorized power together to reduce the user labor. The
hybrid wheelchair uses the mechanical frame of the
conventional manual wheelchair, and a simple electric power
module is added. In the hybrid wheelchair, the main problem is
how to control the assistant power of wheelchair, and the
mechanical structure for the easy assembling and easy
decomposition.
An in-wheel type motor and drive system are replaced by
the conventional wheels of the conventional manual wheelchair
to add proper assistant power[1]-[2]. The previously researched
in-wheel type motorized wheelchair is very effective to reduce
the weight of the system. However, the wheels should be
replaced with the newly designed and expensive electro-
978-1-5386-2894-2/17/$31.00 ©2017 IEEE
978-1-5386-2894-2/17/$31.00 ©2017 IEEE
Jin-Woo Ahn, Dong-Hee Lee
Dept. of Mechatronics Engineering
Kyungsung University
Busan, Korea
jwahn@ks.ac.kr, leedh@ks.ac.kr
mechanical wheels. A similar electric power assistant system is
researched for the handicapped person with 33[kg] weight of
hybrid wheelchair[2].
A front-wheel drive method is a good candidate for the
motorized system with the manual wheelchair. However, the
composition of the motorized part is very difficult. And, the
boarding and getting off are very difficult due to the front
guided drive system.
This paper presents a design and control scheme of a one-
wheel type hybrid. The proposed hybrid wheelchair uses a
simple mechanical structure for the easy assembling and
decomposition to the manual wheelchair. In order to suspend
the weight of the user and produce the enough power, the
mechanical strength is analyzed. A proper mechanical coupling
of the motorized part is presented to connect to the
conventional manual wheelchair with the analysis of the
mechanical stress. Then the proper PAS(Power Assistant
System) is designed to add the electric power of
BLDC(Brushless DC) motor.
For the hybrid system, the motorized drive can be driven by
the joystick and the indirect estimation method of the user
action together. When the joystick is connected, the analog
input of the joystick makes the speed reference of the
wheelchair. Otherwise, the user action to the hand rim of the
wheelchair is estimated by the proposed method. A simple
effect coefficient to estimate the user action is derived from
acceleration sensor signals. Then the power assistant is
determined by the motor current reference from the proposed
method according to the estimated action.
In the computer simulation and experimental results show
the effectiveness of the proposed hybrid wheelchair.
II. REVIEWS OF PREVIOUS RESEARCHES
In the previous researched literatures, various user
command generating methods are presented[1-2]. The
mechanical torque sensor based method is introduced[1]. Fig. 1
shows a wheelchair system using a torque sensor which is
attached on the rim of the wheelchair. The attached torque
sensor can measure the user input command directly. The
motor drive of the wheelchair uses the measured input torque
of the sensor to generate assistant power. This method is very
easy to make the assistant power command of the user. As
shown in Fig. 1, the torque sensor has to be attached on the
each rim in the presented method, and the cost problem with
 2017 IEEE Transportation Electrification Conference and Expo, Asia-Pacific (ITEC Asia-Pacific)

mechanical structure is the difficult to be adopted in the bottom of the seat. The maximum stress is 308Mpa and the
practical system. displacement is 2.95mm at the handle.
Another method is shown in Fig. 2. The EMG
(Electromyogram) sensor is used to analyze the user command
on the hand of the user[2]. The assistant power is determined
by the magnitude and sign of the EMG sensor signal. The
EMG method useful to make the reference of the wheelchair,
but the power of the user cannot be added in the presented
system due to the muscle signal changing at the power adding
point. Furthermore, the sensor signal can be changed by the
health state of the user.

Fig. 3. The basic concept of the proposed hybrid wheelchair

Fig. 1. Direct detecting method of user torque[1]

(a) Analysis results of the maximum stress

Fig. 2. Direct detecting method of EMG sensor[2]

III. DESIGN OF THE HYBRID WHEELCHAIR

A. Design of the Mechanical Structure
Fig. 3 shows the basic design concept of the proposed
hybrid wheelchair. As shown in Fig. 3, the proposed motorized
power part can be directly connected to the rear side frame of
the conventional manual wheelchair. In order to easy connect
and disconnect of the designed motorized part, the mechanical
coupling has to be considered in this paper.
The designed mechanical coupling has to be suspended the (b) Analysis results of the maximum displacement
user weight and the body weight together. Furthermore, the Fig. 4. The analyzed result of the mechanical stress
coupling should be simple to be adopted.
For the easy lock of the designed motorized part to the rear
In order to consider the mechanical strength of the
frame of the wheelchair, the lockable hinge is proposed in the
proposed hybrid wheelchair, the mechanical stress of the
hybrid wheelchair. And, the motorized wheel is suspended by
manual wheelchair is analyzed. Fig. 4 shows the analyzed
the proper suspension system.
results of the manual wheelchair with the standard human
model whose weight is 75[kg]. For the analysis, the upper body Fig. 5 shows the 3-D model of the designed mechanical
is 220[N], a moving body is 460[N] and the lower part of the structure of the proposed motorized part which is connected to
body is 70[N] are exerted. In the FEM analysis of the the rear frame of the wheelchair. As shown in Fig. 5, the in-
mechanical structure, ANSIS program is used. As shown in wheel type BLDC(Brushless DC) motor is positioned in the
Fig. 2, the maximum stress and the displacement by the user center of the designed system. And the in-wheel motor is
weight are inflicted to the wheel connected part except the
 2017 IEEE Transportation Electrification Conference and Expo, Asia-Pacific (ITEC Asia-Pacific)
suspended by the strong spring to make the suitable
suspension. The spring stress is analyzed by the ANSYS to
bear the user weight and guarantee the enough suspension. At
the mechanical frame of the in-wheel BLDC motor, the 24V
battery pack is fixed. The designed PAS controller is placed on
the right side. In the left and right side frame, the proposed four
hinge locks are used to connect the rear frame of the
wheelchair.
Fig. 5. 3-D model of the proposed motorized part
Fig. 6 shows the FEM analyzed results of the designed
motorized part. As shown in Fig. 6, in the maximum load of
the wheelchair, the proposed system can suspend the
disturbance load from the user weight and battery weight. The
maximum load is suppressed in the center point of the frame
which is connected point of the in-wheel BLDC motor. And
the designed aluminum frame can withstand the disturbance
load without any serious distortion of the frame and connection
part of the proposed design.
Fig. 6. Mechanical stress analysis of the proposed motorized part
B. Design of the Electric System
Table I shows the required performance of the hybrid
wheelchair.
TABLE I. DESIRED PERFORMANCE
Pay load Total Weight Climbing angle Mileage
125[kg] 10[kg] 10% 10km
In order to satisfy the desired performances, the proper
power of the motor is calculated from the total driving force
F as follows.
F F F F (1)
F m∙a (2)
F m ∙a (3)
F F F F (4)
In (1) ~ (4), F is the acceleration force of the wheelchair,
F is the acceleration of the tire in the wheel, and F denotes
the load force to run the wheelchair with the considerations of
the maximum weight, and climbing angle.
The maximum load of the wheelchair is the climbing
resistive load F at the maximum angle. The load can be
estimated as follow.
F m ∙ g ∙ sin θ (5)
Where, θ is 5.7[deg] at the 10% the climbing angle.
With the considerations of the total load and speed, the
maximum torque of the motor is 12[Nm].
In this paper, 24[V]-300[W] in-wheel type BLDC motor is
determined for the assistant power of the hybrid wheelchair.
IV. DESIGN OF THE PAS CONTROLLER
In order to control of the BLDC motor, the user
requirement has to be correctly estimated. In the proposed
hybrid wheelchair, the BLDC motor can be operated by the
joystick command or the proposed indirect estimation method.
When the joystick is connected to the BLDC motor controller,
the analog input signal of the joystick can make the reference
speed of the motor. The forward and backward references can
be easily determined by the joystick. In this mode, the
wheelchair is operated as full motorized power without any
human power assistant. In the PAS(Power Assistant System)
mode, the pulling force is added together with manpower and
motor power. In order to add the proper assistant power in the
wheelchair, the user actions have to be correctly estimated
when the user adds the manual power to the hand-rim of the
wheelchair.
In this paper, indirect estimation of the user reference from
the acceleration sensor is proposed to add the assistant power.
Fig. 7 shows the basic definition of the motion to estimate the
user action. In Fig. 7, the motion of the wheelchair is defined as
x,y and z-axis directions based on the center of the seat. When
the user wants to move the wheelchair, the user has to handle
the hand-rim of the wheelchair. Then the acceleration sensor
can detect the motion of the wheelchair instantaneously. The
motion frequency of the user is under 2 ~ 5[Hz], but the
acceleration signal can be detected almost 1[kHz] frequency.
So, the user information can be estimated by the detected
acceleration signals with the proper analysis method. The
actual motion of the wheelchair can be expressed by the 3-axis
direction at the center of the wheelchair as shown in Fig. 7.
 2017 IEEE Transportation Electrification Conference and Expo, Asia-Pacific (ITEC Asia-Pacific)
Fig. 7. The motion definition of wheelchair
Fig. 8 shows raw acceleration signals of 3-axis according to
the user action and user intensity. In the forward and backward
action, the y-axis which is front direction signal is changed.
And the variation is dependent on the user intensity. Other
directions signals are almost constant in the forward and the
backward action.
(a) 3-axis acceleration signals of the forward action
(b) 3-axis acceleration signals of the backward action
Fig. 8. Acceleration signals from the wheelchair motion
Fig. 9 shows calculated motion angles which are derived by
the acceleration signals according to the user action. The actual
motion angles are dependent on the added intensity and
moving direction of the wheelchair. As shown in Fig. 9, the y-
axis and z-axis motion angle are changed as negative value
from the forward action of the user. And, the y-axis motion
angle is positive then the z-axis motion angle is negative at the
backward action shown in Fig. 9.
(a) Forward motion
(b) Backward motion
Fig. 9. Derived motion angles of the wheelchair
Fig. 10 shows the proposed PAS block diagram for the
hybrid wheelchair to add the motorized power. As shown in
Fig.10, the current reference to add the motor power is
determined by the acceleration sensor signal outputs. In the
proposed method, 3-axis acceleration signals are changed to
motion angles. Then, the effect factors are estimated as
follows.
Fig. 10. Current reference generator for the power assistant
Fig. 11 shows the global block diagram of the proposed
hybrid wheelchair. The current reference I ∗ is derived by the
proposed indirect estimation method of the user action. Then,
the PI(Proportional-Integral) current controller is adopted to
keep the reference current. The voltage command of the current
controller is used to determine the duty ratio of the PWM(Pulse
Width Modulation) of the inverter. The power of the inverter is
supplied by the battery which is fixed in the designed body.
 2017 IEEE Transportation Electrification Conference and Expo, Asia-Pacific (ITEC Asia-Pacific)

Fig. 13 and Fig. 14 show the proto-type hybrid wheelchair

module which is attachable to the conventional manual
wheelchair and experimental configuration. As shown in Fig.
14, the designed motorized PAS controller is attached to the
rear frame of the manual wheelchair, and the actual data can be
acquired by serial communication. The main controller is
designed by the TMS320F28035. And the phase current of the
BLDC motor is fed by the ACS712 chip-type current sensor
with the 12-bit embedded ADC(Analog to Digital Converter)
of the TMS320F28035 and This board can obtain the
acceleration value from the MPU6050. The phase current is
controlled by the PWM method with the 10[kHz] switching
frequency.
Fig. 11. The proposed PAS block diagram of the hybrid wheelchair

V. SIMULATION AND EXPERIMENTAL RESULTS

In order to verify the proposed hybrid wheelchair, the
computer simulation and experiments are implemented with
the manufactured hybrid wheelchair system. For the
simulation, the Matlab-Simulink tool is used. The main
controller is modelized as the digital controller. The power
system is designed as Simpower system of the Matlab-
Simulink. The actual measured data from the acceleration
sensor is used in the simulation to verify the proposed method. Fig. 13. Proto-type hybrid wheelchair module

Fig. 12 shows the simulation results of the proposed PAS

controller in the forward and backward moving. As shown in
Fig. 12(a), the effect factors are analyzed as forward action
according to the user action. Then the forward current is
applied to the motor. Similarly, the backward current is applied
in the backward motion estimation by the effect factors.

(a) Forward moving Fig. 14. The manufactured proto-type hybrid wheelchair

Fig. 15 shows the experimental results of the proposed

control scheme. As shown in Fig. 14, the current reference is
generated according to the measured acceleration signals.
Fig. 16 shows the experimental results at the forward and
backward moving in the proposed indirect estimation method.
As shown in Fig. 16, the effect factors are changed by the user
action, then the motor current is applied to follow the user
action. According to the forwarding action, the motor speed is
changed as forward direction. In Fig. 16(b), the backward
current is properly applied to add the backward moving of the
proposed hybrid wheelchair.
Fig. 17 shows the experiment results at the joystick control
(b) Backward moving mode. As shown in Fig. 17, the reference speed is input by the
Fig. 12. The simulation results at the Hybrid Wheelchair
 2017 IEEE Transportation Electrification Conference and Expo, Asia-Pacific (ITEC Asia-Pacific)

joystick signal. Then, the actual motor speed follows the

reference user input.

(a) Forward moving

Fig. 17. The experiment results of the proposed hybrid wheelchair(Joystick)

VI. CONCLUSIONS
In this paper, an one wheel type hybrid wheelchair is
presented with the mechanical design and the proper indirect
PAS(Power Assistant System). The proposed hybrid
wheelchair is consisted by the conventional manual wheelchair
and the attachable motorized part to add the assistant power
according to the user motion.
For the easy assembling and decomposition, the proper
mechanical hinge and lock are presented with the FEM
analysis of the mechanical stress and displacement in this
(b) Backward moving
paper.
Fig. 15. The experiment results of acc signal and current reference
The proposed PAS with the indirect estimation of the user
action uses the acceleration sensor signal to predict the
wheelchair motion. The proposed effect factor with the
consideration of the motion angles can properly estimate the
motion of the wheelchair. The reference current to move the
wheelchair can follow the user reference.
In the computer simulation and experiments, the proposed
hybrid wheelchair can keep the user action such as forward and
backward with the presented indirect estimation method.
ACKNOWLEDGMENT
This work was supported by “Human Resources Program
in Energy Technology ” of the Korea Institute of Energy
(a) Forward moving Technology Evaluation and Planning (KETEP), granted
financial resource from the Ministry of Trade, Industry &
Energy, Republic of Korea. (No. 20164010200940) and
supported by The Leading Human Resource Training Program
of Regional Neo industry through the National Research
Foundation of Korea(NRF) funded by the Ministry of Science,
ICT and future Planning(NRF-2016H1D5A1910536)
REFERENCES
[1] J. S. Kong, "Development of the Driving-will Control System for a
Power-assisted Electric Wheelchair", Journal of the Korea Academia-
Industrial cooperation Society, Vol. 13, No. 3, March, 2012, pp. 1296-
1301
[2] Y. Oonishi, S. Oh, Y. Hori, "A New Control Method for Power-Assisted
(b) Backward moving Wheelchair Based on the Surface Myoelectric Signal", IEEE
Fig. 16. The experiment results of the proposed PAS method TRANSACTIONS ON INDUSTRIAL ELECTRONICS, VOL. 57, NO.
9, pp. 3191-3196, Sep. 2010