Release date：2026/03/17

With the global trend of population aging and the continuous development of the assistive device industry, the role of powered wheelchairs has gradually shifted from simple mobility aids to smart devices consisting of electronic control and battery systems. Meanwhile, with the continuous improvement of product functionality and battery life, charging safety remains a critical issue when designing powered wheelchairs. Most of all, as battery technology transitions from lead-acid to lithium batteries, effectively eliminating fire and electrical safety risks during charging has become a key technology to consider alongside industry development.

In recent years, the safety of powered wheelchairs during “long-duration charging” and “unattended charging” has become one of the key considerations in product design. Currently, charging devices for powered wheelchair related products must comply with safety regulatory requirements for medical devices and this makes traditional consumer-grade power supplies no longer suitable. Medical-grade chargers compliant with IEC 60601-1 and GB9706.1 series standards have already become an important technical threshold when launching products to the market.

A powered wheelchair charger designed with robust safety features should incorporate a comprehensive protection mechanism across various aspects:

Precise algorithm matching: The chemical characteristics of lithium and lead-acid batteries differ significantly. A charger must provide precise identification capability and strictly follow the CC/CV (constant current/current voltage) charging curve of batteries. High voltage or large current ripple can lead to lithium plating or thermal runaway, resulting in potential safety hazards.

Comprehensive hardware protection: Besides general safety designs including overvoltage protection (OVP), overcurrent protection (OCP), over-temperature protection (OTP) and output short-circuit protection (SCP), for medical applications, additional features like water resistance, dust resistance and fool-proof design must be taken into account as well to prevent safety risks caused by incompatible devices.

Strict Hipot and leakage current controls: As users of powered wheelchairs are often relatively health-vulnerable, a charger must feature a high level of insulation and extremely low leakage current to make sure that even when operating in humid or complex environments, accidental contacts will not lead to injuries or electric shock to users.

Leveraging years of in-depth experience with lithium batteries and lead-acid batteries in the UPS field, APD develops a new generation 60W powered wheelchair charger on the basis of expertise of a powerful firmware development team, with MCU-based digital control technology at its core. This product is designed according to IEC 60601-1 and GB 9706.1 standards and also compliant with GB/T 18029.25 & ISO7176-25 standards for batteries and chargers for powered wheelchairs, meeting international medical-grade electrical safety requirements.

In respect of safety control designs, this product monitors real-time battery status and adjusts charging strategy dynamically through an MCU-based, precise, and smart algorithm. Such a design enables precise CC/CV (constant current/constant voltage) control to ensure lithium batteries and lead-acid batteries operate on the safest charging curve stably and eliminate risks like overcharging and thermal runaway at the source. Safety designs like overvoltage, overcurrent, over-temperature, short-circuit, fool-proof and reverse polarity protection ensure stable and reliable charging all the time.

To address users’ concerns of portability and flight restrictions, this product adopts GaN III technology, which reduces product size by more than 30% and weight by over 20% to achieve a highly efficient, energy-saving, compact and lightweight design. Meanwhile, the dedicated charging module tailored by APD supports charging 2 batteries in a powered wheelchair in parallel. The small-capacity batteries can not only meet battery life and flight requirements, but also provide greater convenience and ease for daily use or air travel.

APD has been ceaselessly dedicated to R&D and manufacturing of power supply and charging technologies, and continuously enhances design verification and manufacturing process control systems in response to safety and reliability requirements for medical applications, leveraging a solid technological foundation and strict quality control to provide medical device manufacturers with medical power solutions compliant with global standards and supporting long-term adoption to address customers’ demands for safety and system integration.