CN108326828A

CN108326828A - Software pneumatic type joint assistance equipment

Info

Publication number: CN108326828A
Application number: CN201810188340.XA
Authority: CN
Inventors: 鲍磊; 赵鑫
Original assignee: Beijing Software Robot Technology Co Ltd
Current assignee: Beijing Soft Robot Tech Co Ltd
Priority date: 2018-03-07
Filing date: 2018-03-07
Publication date: 2018-07-27

Abstract

This application involves human body power-assisted machinery fields, disclose a kind of software pneumatic type joint assistance equipment, including：Limbs attachment and at least one set of air bag on limbs attachment surface is set；Wherein, the limbs attachment is used to the joint assistance equipment being fixed on limbs surface；Every group of air bag corresponds to the joint setting of the limbs, and every group of air bag includes at least one air bag, and the sectional area and/or volume of at least one air bag reduce from the joint to both sides.The technical solution of the embodiment of the present application is by using the air bag set-up mode reduced to joint both sides, the deformation that air bag can be generated is set to reduce to both sides from articulation center, to which the power-assisted for making equipment provide and whole deformation are more consistent with the action form in joint, more meet while needing power-assisted of joint action providing, so that equipment is integrally all more bonded limbs under any state, meets the needs of user is to various aspects such as equipment performance and comforts comprehensively.

Description

Soft pneumatic type joint power assisting equipment

Technical Field

The application relates to the field of human body assistance machinery, in particular to soft pneumatic type joint assistance equipment.

Background

A human body assisting machine is generally a device for assisting or enhancing purposes, providing additional mechanical power to a human body, and assisting the human body to perform actions which are normally difficult to realize, and a typical human body assisting machine is generally attached to a relevant part of the human body in the form of an exoskeleton. As a device used close to the human body, whether the human body power-assisted machine is a civil or military human body power-assisted machine, the final aim is to improve the operation efficiency and the comfort of the user as much as possible on the premise of meeting the safety and the practicability.

Early human body assistance machines all consisted of rigid components, which are easier to implement and control linear force transmission and provide strong body support, but users are also very likely to feel uncomfortable when wearing them because of the bulkiness and coldness of the rigid components; meanwhile, when the rigid part completes some soft and skillful actions, such as joint actions and the like, the rigid part is difficult to perfectly match with the requirements of the human body. For this purpose, pneumatically driven flexible parts have further appeared in the prior art, which are primarily used to assist the joint action.

Further, the prior art provides soft robotic gloves as shown in fig. 1, which assist the fingers in flexion and extension by providing a series of air cells (pneumatic network) at the finger site. Specifically, as shown in fig. 2, when the airbag of the pneumatic network is inflated, the unrestricted side of the airbag expands in volume, and the expansion of one side causes the overall bending deformation, thereby providing assistance for the finger bending.

However, in the process of implementing the present invention, the inventor finds that the multiple air cells of the pneumatic network in the prior art are indiscriminately arranged on the whole limb (finger), and the inflation and the inspiration and contraction of each air cell are indiscriminately, and the final effect of the actual inflation and contraction is shown in fig. 2. As can be seen from fig. 2, the actual force transmission and deformation of the pneumatically driven flexible member in the prior art is still greatly different from the limb structure of the human body. By adopting the design mode shown in fig. 1 and 2, although the power assisting device which is uniformly bent into a semicircular shape can drive the fingers to bend to a certain extent, the bending condition is different from the bending condition of human limbs (the human limbs are more similar to a connecting rod structure in series, the bending is only generated at the joints, and the structures except the joints are still straight), so that the power assisting device can be arched at the joints and cannot be attached to the limbs in actual use; if the arching is restrained from detaching from the limb by a tighter bind, excessive binding force (pulling force or friction, etc.) may be applied locally to the limb, causing discomfort to the user and possibly even injury to the user's limb.

In addition, the design mode of fig. 1 and 2 can provide assistance for joint flexion, but when the joint extends, if the air bag is only pumped (can be pumped into a negative pressure state) to reversely deform the air bag so as to drive the limb to expand, the reverse deformation of the air bag caused by pumping is small in the current material and process level, so that sufficient assistance is difficult to provide, and the effect of assisting the limb to extend is not ideal.

Disclosure of Invention

In view of the above, the main objective of the present invention is to provide a soft pneumatic joint assistance device that is better matched with joint movement and is more comfortable for a user to wear, so as to improve the efficiency, effect and comfort of the joint assistance device.

In order to achieve the above object, according to a first aspect of the embodiments of the present application, there is provided a soft pneumatic joint assist apparatus, comprising: a limb attachment and at least one set of air cells disposed on a surface of the limb attachment; wherein the limb attachment is used to immobilize the joint assist device on a limb surface; each group of air bags is arranged corresponding to one joint of the limb, each group of air bags comprises at least one air bag, and the cross-sectional area and/or the volume of the at least one air bag are/is reduced from the joint to two sides.

Optionally, in each set of balloons, the at least one balloon is disposed in correspondence with at least one surface of the joint.

Optionally, a plurality of air bags arranged on the same surface are communicated through at least one air passage channel.

Optionally, at least one rotating shaft is arranged on the side surface of the joint, and the bottoms of the multiple air bags arranged on the same surface are connected with the rotating shaft.

Optionally, a rigid and/or flexible support is provided on the outside of the balloon, through which support the balloon is connected to the spindle.

Optionally, the base of the bladder extends along a side of the joint to the opposite surface, encircling the limb and wrapping around the joint.

Optionally, each set of balloons includes one balloon disposed on the inner surface of the joint and/or a plurality of balloons disposed on the outer surface of the joint.

Optionally, the one balloon disposed on the inner surface of the joint remains flexible in a non-inflated state and hardens into a particular shape after inflation.

Optionally, said one balloon disposed on said inner surface of said joint is made of a high tenacity plastic film, thermoplastic polyurethane elastomer rubber or high strength composite cloth.

Optionally, the cross-section of the air bag is arranged in an arc shape, an arch shape, a water drop shape or a crescent shape.

Optionally, the at least one air passage channel communicates with at least one set of air cells.

Optionally, the at least one air channel is provided at the bottom and/or at the side of the air bag.

Optionally, the limb attachment is a cloth-like and/or tape-like material that is secured to the surface of the limb by wrapping and/or restraining.

Optionally, the at least one air passage channel communicating with the same air bag are parallel to each other.

Optionally, the at least one air passage channel separates each balloon into a plurality of regions.

Optionally, each air passage channel is connected with an inflation tube.

Optionally, each set of balloons is arranged symmetrically with respect to the joint centre.

Optionally, in each set of balloons, the cross-sectional area and/or volume of the balloon at the first end of the joint is/are generally slightly larger than the other end.

Optionally, the length of the one balloon disposed on the inner surface of the joint is greater than the length of each balloon of the plurality of balloons disposed on the outer surface of the joint; meanwhile, the length of the air bag arranged on the inner surface of the joint is similar to the total length of the air bags arranged on the outer surface of the joint.

Optionally, the total length of each set of balloons is no more than twice the total length of the articulation region.

The technical scheme of this application embodiment is through adopting the gasbag setting mode that reduces to joint both sides, and the deformation that makes the gasbag can produce reduces to both sides from joint center department to the helping hand that makes equipment provide and holistic deformation more conform with the action form of joint, when providing the needs helping hand that more satisfies joint action, still make equipment whole all more laminate limbs under any state, satisfy the user to equipment performance and travelling comfort all the way's demand comprehensively.

Drawings

FIG. 1 is a typical example of a prior art soft robotic glove;

FIG. 2 is a representative example of a pneumatic network at one finger in the soft robotic glove of FIG. 1;

FIG. 3 is a schematic diagram of a soft pneumatic joint assist device according to an embodiment of the present application;

FIG. 4 is a schematic view of another embodiment of the present application showing the construction of a soft pneumatic joint assist device;

FIG. 5 is a schematic view of the soft pneumatic joint assist device of the embodiment of FIG. 4 of the present application in another orientation;

FIG. 6 is a schematic diagram of a soft pneumatic joint assist device according to yet another embodiment of the present application.

Detailed Description

In order to make the technical solutions of the present invention better understood, the present invention will be described in further detail with reference to the accompanying drawings and specific embodiments. While exemplary embodiments of the present disclosure are shown in the drawings, it should be understood that the present disclosure may be embodied in various forms and should not be limited to the embodiments set forth herein. Rather, these embodiments are provided so that this disclosure will be thorough and complete, and will fully convey the scope of the disclosure to those skilled in the art.

The essence of human helping hand machinery is that the activity of human body provides auxiliary power, therefore human use is experienced and is the performance index of crucial to helping hand equipment, has appeared that pneumatically driven's flexible component promotes user experience among the prior art, but current flexible component still has certain defect when dealing with the bending and the extension of joint portion. To further improve the performance of the power assisting apparatus, an embodiment of the present application provides a soft pneumatic joint power assisting apparatus, as shown in fig. 3, including: a limb attachment and at least one set of air cells disposed on a surface of the limb attachment; wherein the limb attachment is used to immobilize the joint assist device on a limb surface; each group of air bags is arranged corresponding to one joint of the limb, each group of air bags comprises at least one air bag, and the cross-sectional area and/or the volume of the at least one air bag are/is reduced from the joint to two sides.

Here, the two sides are directions away from the joint with the joint as a center. Through this kind of gasbag mode of setting that reduces to both sides, among the technical scheme of this application embodiment, the deformation that the gasbag can produce reduces to both sides from the joint center to make the helping hand that equipment provided and holistic deformation more accord with the action form of joint. Therefore, the power assisting equipment provided by the application can enable the power assisting equipment to meet the requirements of joint action, on the other hand, the whole equipment can be more attached to limbs in any state, the efficiency and the effect of auxiliary action are improved, the comfort degree of a user in use is also improved, and the requirements of the user on all aspects are met comprehensively.

Optionally, the air bag is made of flexible materials such as silica gel; the limb attachment is typically a cloth-like and/or tape-like material that is secured to the surface of the limb by wrapping and/or restraining means, such as an elastic fabric that may be wrapped around the limb, or a set of components that are attached by snap/adhesive means, etc. and then wrapped around the limb. The limb attachment is entirely similar to an appliance worn on a joint or a limb, such as a knee pad, an elbow pad, a wrist pad, an ankle pad, a sphygmomanometer, a belt, a waist pack, a backpack, an arm pack, a watch, a bracelet, or a glove shown in fig. 1, and various limb attachment means existing in the prior art can be used in the technical solution of the present application, and are not listed here, and the specific form of the limb attachment should not be considered as a limitation to the specific embodiment of the present application.

Example one

Furthermore, the at least one air bag is arranged corresponding to at least one surface of the joint, and a plurality of air bags on the same surface are communicated through an air passage channel; the air passage channel can be communicated with only a plurality of air bags of the group, and can also be communicated with a plurality of groups of air bags simultaneously.

The surfaces of the joint typically include an inner surface, an outer surface, and a side surface, where the inner surface refers to the surface corresponding to the fold of the joint when it is flexed, the outer surface refers to the surface corresponding to the protrusion of the joint when it is flexed, and the side surface refers to the surface other than the inner or outer surface. The balloon is preferably provided at the outer and/or inner surface of the joint.

In a preferred embodiment of the present application, as shown in fig. 3, the soft pneumatic joint assist device preferably has a plurality of air cells disposed at the outer surface of the joint, the plurality of air cells have a plurality of consecutive arches, the cross-sectional area/volume of the plurality of air cells decreases from the joint to both sides (i.e., the air cells at the center of the joint are largest, and the air cells at both sides gradually decrease), and the plurality of air cells are communicated with each other through at least one air passage channel.

The air passage channels are preferably arranged in the center of the bottom of the air bag, but the position and/or the number of the air passage channels can be adjusted according to the use condition of the equipment. For example, according to the shape of the limb, an air channel is arranged on one or two sides of the air bag so as to facilitate the arrangement of the inflation tube along the side edge of the limb; a plurality of air channel channels can be arranged at the bottom of the air bag in parallel to enhance the efficiency and effect of inflation and deflation. Each air bag can be further separated into a plurality of areas through a plurality of air passage channels, and even each air passage channel can be respectively connected with an inflation tube and the like. The above preferred arrangements may improve the inflation and/or deflation effect of the balloon to some extent, and the number and/or arrangement of the air passages should not be considered as limiting the embodiments of the present application.

Example two

In another preferred embodiment of the present application, the bottoms of the plurality of air bags disposed on the outer surface of the joint further extend to the side of the joint, a rotating shaft is disposed at the position corresponding to the side of the joint, and the bottoms of the plurality of air bags are connected with the rotating shaft. The deformation form and the force applying direction of the air bag can be further limited by limiting and fixing the rotating shaft, so that the expansion force generated by the expansion of the air bag is better converted into the bending force of the joint.

Further, a rigid and/or flexible stent may be added outside the balloon, through which the balloon is connected to the shaft. For flexible gasbag, the spacing and the fixed action of support are more obvious, therefore can control deformation and power transmission better, further promote the work efficiency and the effect of equipment.

EXAMPLE III

In another preferred embodiment of the present application, the shape and arrangement of the air bags are further modified as shown in fig. 4 and 5. Specifically, in fig. 4, the bottom of the bladder extends further along the side of the joint to the opposite surface (an example of extension from the outer surface to the inner surface of the joint is shown in fig. 4), eventually forming a form that wraps around the limb and joint. In the preferred embodiment of fig. 4 and 5, the section of the air cell parallel to the limb direction is in a drop shape, and the section of the air cell perpendicular to the limb direction is in a crescent shape. In this preferred embodiment, the gasbag wraps the limbs, can increase the gasbag volume on the one hand, improves the helping hand of exporting when expanding, and on the other hand also can improve the travelling comfort of wearing.

Example four

In yet another preferred embodiment of the present application, the number of balloons is not limited to the multiple balloon form shown in FIGS. 3-5, nor is the placement limited to the outer surface of the joint shown in FIGS. 3-5. In particular, in the solution of the embodiments of the present application, each set of balloons comprises at least one balloon, and each set of balloons may be provided at the outer and/or inner surface of the joint. That is, alternatively, a plurality of balloons may be provided on the inner or outer surface of the joint as shown in fig. 3-5, wherein the cross-sectional area of each balloon decreases smoothly from the center to both sides, and the maximum cross-sectional area of the plurality of balloons (i.e., the cross-sectional area at the center of each balloon) decreases from the joint to both sides. Of course, it is also possible to provide only one balloon on the inner or outer surface of the joint, the cross-sectional area of which decreases smoothly from the joint to the sides. The plurality of balloons are preferably disposed as shown in FIG. 3, and more preferably, the plurality of balloons are disposed primarily at the outer surface of the joint; the single balloon is preferably disposed as shown in fig. 6, and more preferably, the single balloon is disposed primarily at the inner surface of the joint; the cross-section of the single balloon in fig. 6 is curved, with the highest point of the curve corresponding to the center of the joint and then tapering off to either side.

In addition, in the embodiment shown in fig. 3-5, the multiple air bags are all shown in the form of a single air bag, when the number of the air bags is single, the cross-sectional area and/or volume of the air bag at the center of the joint is the largest, and the cross-sectional areas and/or volumes of the air bags at the two sides of the center are gradually decreased; of course, in the embodiment of the present application, an even number of air bags may be adopted, and when the number of the air bags is even, the area and/or volume of the cross section of the air bag closest to the joint center is the largest by taking the joint center as the symmetry axis, and then the area and/or volume of the cross section of the air bag decreases in sequence towards the two sides. Of course, an asymmetric balloon arrangement is also an alternative embodiment, for example, the cross-sectional area and/or volume of the balloon at the first end of the joint may be made larger than the other end as a whole, while maintaining a decreasing trend towards both sides, depending on the shape of the limb or the specific situation of the force required for the joint movement. Typically, the volume of the front end air bag can be set to be larger because the action amplitude of the front end of the joint is larger; alternatively, the area of the bottom of the posterior balloon may be made larger, as is often necessary to provide sufficient support at the posterior end of the joint. Here, the technical solution of the embodiment of the present application only requires that the cross-sectional area and/or volume of the airbag decreases from the joint to both sides as a whole, and the number and arrangement of the airbags should not be regarded as limitations to the specific embodiment of the present application.

The comparison of the cross-sectional area and/or volume of the balloon preferably refers to the cross-sectional area and/or volume of the balloon in an inflated state, because the volume of the balloon after the deflation is small and the difference of the cross-sectional area and/or volume is not obvious.

In other preferred embodiments of the present solution, the size, number and total length of the balloons depend on the size of the joint, but in general each set of balloons is only placed in the vicinity of the joint and does not extend too far to either side. The total length of each group of air bags does not exceed twice of the total length of the joint moving area; the joint movement area mainly refers to a main limb area which can deform when the joint moves; usually, the bones, muscles and the skin of the body surface are deformed during the movement of the joints, but the deformation of the skin of the limbs is preferred here in view of the fact that it is mainly the deformation of the skin that can be observed directly. In addition, in the arrangement mode of the single air bag, the length of the single air bag is larger than that of each air bag in the arrangement mode of the plurality of air bags; or in other words, the length of the single air bag is similar to the total length of the plurality of air bags in the arrangement mode of the plurality of air bags. More preferably, in the embodiment shown in fig. 6, the individual balloons disposed on the inner surface of the joint do not always remain flexible, and may be made of, for example, a high tenacity plastic film, TPU (Thermoplastic polyurethane elastomer rubber), or high strength composite cloth, and remain soft when not inflated, and harden into a particular shape upon inflation to provide additional support to the joint when inflated.

The embodiment of the application provides a software pneumatic type joint helping hand equipment for the deformation that the gasbag can produce reduces to both sides from the joint center through adopting the gasbag setting mode that reduces to joint both sides, thereby makes the helping hand that equipment provided and holistic deformation and the action form of joint more conform to. Therefore, according to the technical scheme, on one hand, the assistance provided by the equipment can meet the requirements of joint movement, on the other hand, the whole equipment can be more attached to limbs in any state, the efficiency and the effect of auxiliary movement are improved, the comfort degree of a user in use is also improved, and the requirements of the user in all aspects are comprehensively met.

The above description is only exemplary of the present invention and should not be taken as limiting the scope of the present invention, and any modifications, equivalents, improvements, etc. that are within the spirit and principle of the present invention should be included in the present invention.

Claims

1. A soft pneumatic joint assistance device, comprising: a limb attachment and at least one set of air cells disposed on a surface of the limb attachment; wherein,

the limb attachment is used for fixing the joint power assisting device on the surface of a limb;

each group of air bags is arranged corresponding to one joint of the limb, each group of air bags comprises at least one air bag, and the cross-sectional area and/or the volume of the at least one air bag are/is reduced from the joint to two sides.

2. The joint assist device of claim 1 wherein in each set of bladders, the at least one bladder is disposed in correspondence with at least one surface of the joint.

3. The joint assistance apparatus of claim 2, wherein the plurality of air cells disposed on the same surface communicate through at least one air passage channel.

4. The joint assistance device according to claim 2, wherein at least one rotation shaft is provided on a side surface of the joint, and bottoms of the plurality of air bags provided on the same surface are connected to the rotation shaft.

5. The joint assistance device of claim 4 wherein the balloon is provided with a rigid and/or flexible bracket on the outside thereof, the balloon being connected to the shaft by the bracket.

6. The joint assistance device of claim 2 wherein the base of the bladder extends along a side of the joint to the opposite surface, encircling the limb and wrapping around the joint.

7. The joint assistance device of claim 2 wherein each set of bladders includes one bladder disposed on an interior surface of the joint and/or a plurality of bladders disposed on an exterior surface of the joint.

8. The joint assistance apparatus of claim 7 wherein said one balloon disposed on said inner surface of said joint remains flexible in a non-inflated state and hardens into a particular shape after inflation.

9. The joint assistance apparatus of claim 8 wherein said one balloon disposed on said inner joint surface is made of a high tenacity plastic film, a thermoplastic polyurethane elastomer rubber, or a high strength composite cloth.

10. The joint assistance device of claim 1 wherein the cross-section of the bladder is arcuate, arched, drop-shaped, or crescent-shaped.

11. The joint assistance apparatus of claim 3 wherein said at least one air passage channel communicates with at least one set of air cells.

12. The joint assistance apparatus of claim 3 wherein said at least one air passage channel is disposed at the bottom and/or side of said air bladder.

13. A joint assistance device according to claim 1 wherein said limb attachment is a cloth-like and/or tape-like material secured to the surface of the limb by wrapping and/or tethering.

14. The joint assistance apparatus of claim 3 wherein the at least one air passage channel communicating with the same air cell are parallel to each other.

15. The joint assistance apparatus of claim 3 wherein the at least one air passage channel separates each air bladder into a plurality of zones.

16. The joint assistance device of claim 3 or 15, wherein each of the air passage channels is connected to a respective inflation tube.

17. The joint assist device of claim 1 wherein each set of air pockets is symmetrically disposed about the joint center.

18. The joint assistance device of claim 1 wherein each set of bladders has a bladder with a cross-sectional area and/or volume that is generally slightly larger at a first end of the joint than at the other end.

19. The joint assist device of claim 7 wherein the one of the balloons disposed on the inner surface of the joint has a length greater than a length of each of the plurality of balloons disposed on the outer surface of the joint; meanwhile, the length of the air bag arranged on the inner surface of the joint is similar to the total length of the air bags arranged on the outer surface of the joint.

20. The joint assist device of claim 1 wherein each set of air cells has an overall length that is no more than twice an overall length of the active region of the joint.