Page 22 - Mobility Management, September/October 2021

ATP Series
Power Base Priorities
“In addition, advanced programming and drive algorithms can be set up to automatically slow a chair down when entering a turn and then accelerate out of it to prevent the backend whip that used to occur.
“The intuitive nature of driving a mid-wheel-drive chair is a huge advantage, especially for an individual who was previously ambulatory. But the jolting/vibratory forces that were often felt by the end user, coupled with the concern of high centering while negotiating obstacles and inclines, were often two significant deter- rents to recommending this drive-wheel configuration. Again, for manufacturers that have made design innovation a priority, their engineering teams worked the problem and created improvements to the chassis design, suspension systems and motor technology that significantly reduce the terrain’s effect on the end user, keep all six wheels on the ground, and virtually eliminate these two issues.”
Improvements to Rear-Wheel Drive
That leaves rear-wheel drive, known for its longer turning radius and often thought to be less maneuverable.
“I think a lot of us who’ve been in this industry for a long
time have gravitated toward or had a soft spot in our hearts for rear-wheel drive,” said Brad Peterson, VP of Sales for Amylior. “Having been with Quantum [Rehab] when mid-wheel drive was
really starting to grab more marketshare, people kind of forgot about rear-wheel drive because of the maneuverability that the mid-wheel drive base gave... but they forgot about why they liked [rear-wheel drive] in the first place.”
Amylior’s version of rear-wheel drive makes many people do a double take: “The first time I saw the Amylior R3, I [thought] ‘That’s a mid-wheel-drive chair,’” Peterson said. “You see the casters on the ground in the rear, not an anti tip. You see the shortened wheelbase, and it looks more mid-wheel drive.
“I think when you look at other bases — are there more choices or less choices, is there kind of a homogenization of some of the different technologies? — and look at the [R3], it does look like a mid-wheel drive. But the R3 definitely has a lot of traits that set it apart from not only rear-wheel drives, but also other chairs that are saying they’re hybrids. The patented dual-action suspension in Amylior products is really what makes the chair unique, because it allows the chair to react to the ground, but also stay amazingly stable in multiple environments, configura- tions and weights. So we don’t use locks, we don’t use gas cylin- ders, we don’t use any kind of a cable mechanism to give stability to the chair. It’s just the mechanical workings of the suspension in addition to the geometry of the chair.”
The distance from the drive wheel to the front caster, Peterson
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