Treadmill testing

Treadmill testing has been used widely in wheelchair propulsion research. On a treadmill participants are able to push in a standardised lab setting. The speed and inclination of the belt can be adjusted to test different set-ups.

Determining power output

Power output can be determined with the help of a drag test. The participant will be asked to sit in an active seating position, with the hands on their lap. The front of the wheelchair will be attached to a load-cell (via a small rope), which determines the resistance of the wheelchair-user combination. The belt will be accelerated till around 1.11 m/s (4 km/h), with the force being recorded in different inclinations (1-5% with 0.5% steps).

Setting power output

Calculate the pulley weight based on the performed drag test. Position the pulley system in front or behind the treadmill to reach the desired power output values. Weight can be added to a basket attached to the pulley system. The power output could also be adjusted based on different inclinations of the belt.

Calibrations

The treadmill can be calibrated with the use of tachometers and angle sensors.

Tachometer

The velocity of the treadmill belt can be determined using a tachometer. A tachometer allows to measure the rotation speed of a moving object.

Angle sensor

The angles of the treadmill can be checked using an angle sensor. Angles should be determined with repeated measurements to check for consistency.

References

De Klerk, R., Vegter, R. J. K., Leving, M. T., De Groot, S., Veeger, H. E. J., & Van der Woude, L. H. V. (2020). Determining and controlling external power output during regular handrim wheelchair propulsion. Journal of Visualized Experiments, 156, e60492. https://doi.org/10.3791/60492