Digital Controller for an Electric Wheelchair Based on a Low-Cost Hardware

This paper presents a digital motion controller of an electric wheelchair by using a low-cost real-time microcontroller unit (MCU) and an own developed power electronic drive. The speed control of the wheels is implemented through a digital pulse-width modulation technique which is varying with the reference generated by a low-cost joystick. Voltage regulators and power converters are implemented to supply correct voltage levels to control cards and to the DC motors from batteries. Experimental results which have been obtained by using the MCU, the mechanical structure of a used electric wheelchair and the developed electronic drive demonstrate that the proposed digital controller meets the user requirements in terms of reliability, good driving and fair economic cost.