Methods of steering heavy mobile medical equipment
First Claim
1. A method for steering mobile medical equipment having four wheels, the method comprising:
- supporting medical equipment with a base above a floor over which a left steerable wheel, a right steerable wheel, and a pair of front wheels roll;
receiving an input steering angle other than zero;
linearly sweeping a long link in response to the input steering angle,pivoting a pair of short links in response to the linearly sweeping of the long link;
pivoting a pair of cam plates in response to the pivoting of the pair of short links;
transferring the pivoting of one of the pair of cam plates to a left wheel assembly to position the left steerable wheel at a left wheel angle; and
transferring the pivoting of another one of the pair of cam plates to a right wheel assembly to position the right steerable wheel at a right wheel angle.
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Accused Products
Abstract
Methods for steering mobile medical equipment are disclosed. In one embodiment, the method includes supporting medical equipment with a base above a floor over which a left steerable wheel, a right steerable wheel, and a pair of front wheels roll; receiving an input steering angle other than zero; linearly sweeping a long link in response to the input steering angle, pivoting a pair of short links in response to the linearly sweeping of the long link; pivoting a pair of cam plates in response to the pivoting of the pair of short links; transferring the pivoting of one of the pair of cam plates to a left wheel assembly to position the left steerable wheel at a left wheel angle; and transferring the pivoting of another one of the pair of cam plates to a right wheel assembly to position the right steerable wheel at a right wheel angle.
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Citations
17 Claims
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1. A method for steering mobile medical equipment having four wheels, the method comprising:
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supporting medical equipment with a base above a floor over which a left steerable wheel, a right steerable wheel, and a pair of front wheels roll; receiving an input steering angle other than zero; linearly sweeping a long link in response to the input steering angle, pivoting a pair of short links in response to the linearly sweeping of the long link; pivoting a pair of cam plates in response to the pivoting of the pair of short links; transferring the pivoting of one of the pair of cam plates to a left wheel assembly to position the left steerable wheel at a left wheel angle; and transferring the pivoting of another one of the pair of cam plates to a right wheel assembly to position the right steerable wheel at a right wheel angle. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6)
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7. A method for steering mobile medical equipment having four wheels, the method comprising
supporting medical equipment with a base above a floor over which a left steerable wheel, a right steerable wheel, and a pair of front motorized wheels roll; -
receiving an input steering angle other than zero; linearly sweeping a long link in response to the input steering angle, pivoting a pair of short links in response to the linearly sweeping of the long link; pivoting a pair of cam plates in response to the pivoting of the pair of short links; positioning the left steerable wheel with a left wheel assembly at a left wheel angle in response to the pivoting of one of the pair of cam plates; positioning the right steerable wheel with a right wheel assembly at a right wheel angle in response to the pivoting of another one of the pair of cam plates; and limiting the generating of the left wheel angle and the right wheel angle to avoid radius turns of substantially zero and avoid driving a first motorized wheel of the pair of front motorized wheels in one direction of rotation while concurrently driving a second motorized wheel of the pair of front motorized wheels in an opposite direction of rotation. - View Dependent Claims (8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17)
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Specification