CN112618282A

CN112618282A - Passive walking aid lower limb exoskeleton

Info

Publication number: CN112618282A
Application number: CN202011495645.9A
Authority: CN
Inventors: 朱岩; 黄家海
Original assignee: Hangzhou Tianyi Robot Co ltd
Current assignee: Hangzhou Tianyi Robot Co ltd
Priority date: 2020-12-17
Filing date: 2020-12-17
Publication date: 2021-04-09

Abstract

The invention discloses a lower limb exoskeleton for passive walking aid, which comprises a thigh fixing unit, a shank fixing unit and an execution unit positioned at a knee joint; the thigh is fixed the unit, shank is fixed the unit and is used for respectively with the thigh, the shank is laminated mutually and fixed, execution unit includes attenuator and sensor circuit, execution unit and thigh are fixed the unit, shank is fixed the unit and is all connected and pass through the rotation flexibility of attenuator control knee joint, sensor circuit is used for detecting the shank state of human walking process, adjust attenuator damping value when detecting that the thigh lifts up and be in the swing stage and diminish and make the knee joint rotatable, adjust attenuator damping value increase and make the knee joint lock die when detecting that the leg falls to the ground and be in the support stage. The exoskeleton can enable the knee joint to freely swing or lock as required in the walking process so as to provide support for protecting the knee joint or adjust the rotating speed of the knee joint, and has small and compact structure, so that the exoskeleton is more comfortable to wear.

Description

Passive walking aid lower limb exoskeleton

Technical Field

The invention belongs to the technical field of power-assisted exoskeletons, relates to a lower limb exoskeleton, and particularly relates to a passive walking-assisted lower limb exoskeleton.

Background

Along with the demand of people for rehabilitation equipment, a plurality of rehabilitation exoskeletons are produced. At present, the rehabilitation lower limb exoskeleton is mainly a bilateral lower limb exoskeleton which is designed for general paralysis patients and can assist the patients to walk, and the exoskeleton is expensive, heavy and not suitable for popularization and use. In addition, many stroke patients are often hemiplegic, which is manifested by unilateral physical weakness, and bilateral lower limb exoskeletons are not suitable. For the patients with paralysis of lower limbs, the lower limbs are weak, and the patients easily fall down during walking, which is mainly caused by insufficient knee joint supporting force. At present to the rehabilitation facility of knee joint a bit, but this type of equipment adopts the electric drive formula more, and can not dress the walking, can only carry out the training of lying or the training of position of sitting, even can dress, dress comfort level also can not obtain guaranteeing.

Disclosure of Invention

The invention aims to provide a passive walking aid lower limb exoskeleton which can adjust the provided damping according to the walking process of a human body, aiming at the defects of the prior art.

The technical scheme adopted by the invention is as follows:

a passive walking aid lower limb exoskeleton comprises a thigh fixing unit, a shank fixing unit and an execution unit positioned at a knee joint; the thigh fixing unit is used for being attached to and fixed with a thigh, the shank fixing unit is used for being attached to and fixed with a shank, the execution unit comprises a damper and a sensor circuit, the execution unit is connected with the thigh fixing unit and the shank fixing unit and controls the flexibility of a knee joint through the damper, the sensor circuit is used for detecting the walking process of a human body, when the thigh is detected to be lifted up and is in a swing stage, the damping value of the damper is adjusted to be reduced, so that the knee joint can rotate, and when the leg is detected to be grounded and is in a supporting stage, the damping value of the damper is adjusted to be increased, so that the knee.

In the above technical solution, further, the execution unit is further provided with a controller, and an adjustment algorithm or a program is preset in the controller, and is used for adjusting the damping size of the damper in real time according to a detection signal of the sensor circuit.

The damper comprises a damping shell and a cylindrical sealing cavity formed in the damping shell, a damping platform is arranged on the inner wall of the sealing cavity, a damping shaft is arranged in the sealing cavity, a damping shaft arm is arranged on the side surface of the damping shaft, the rotating center of the damping shaft is coaxial with the sealing cavity, one end of the damping shaft extends out of the sealing cavity and is fixedly connected with a shank fixing unit, the damping shaft and the damping platform jointly divide the sealing cavity into two independent cavities, liquid is filled in each cavity, the damper further comprises an adjusting shaft, an oil groove is arranged on the adjusting shaft, the two cavities can be communicated or mutually independent through a notch formed by the oil groove and the damping platform through the rotation of the adjusting shaft, and the size of the notch can be changed along with the rotation of the adjusting shaft; one end of the adjusting shaft is fixedly connected with a motor, a motor base is arranged on the thigh fixing unit, and the motor is arranged in the motor base.

Further, regulating spindle one end stretches into become a part of damping platform in the sealed cavity, the other end with the motor is fixed, the epaxial oil groove of regulating satisfy: the adjusting shaft is rotated, so that the contact surface of the adjusting shaft and the damping table can be changed between seamless and notch forming, the two cavities can be communicated after the notch is formed, and the size of the formed notch can be changed along with the rotation of the adjusting shaft.

Furthermore, the axis of the adjusting shaft is perpendicular to the axis of the damping shaft. Or the axis of the adjusting shaft is parallel to the axis of the damping shaft.

Furthermore, the regulating spindle coaxial set up in the damping axle outside and form adjustable damping axle jointly, and regulating spindle and damping axle still can rotate relatively, rotate the regulating spindle, can make adjustable damping axle and damping platform separate sealed cavity for two independent cavitys jointly, form the notch then with two cavitys intercommunication when rotating the oil groove of regulating spindle to regulating spindle and damping platform, and can change the size of formation notch along with the rotation of regulating spindle.

Furthermore, in any of the above schemes, a groove may be formed in the damping table, the groove does not penetrate through the entire damping table in the thickness direction of the damping table, and the oil groove is communicated with the groove to communicate the two cavities.

Furthermore, in any of the above schemes, at least one of the two cavities has an energy storage element therein for storing energy generated by the rotation of the damping shaft.

Furthermore, the execution unit is also provided with a state button to control the damping state of the damper.

The invention has the beneficial effects that:

the exoskeleton of the invention arranges the damper in the execution unit at the position of the knee joint, the damping of the damper can be adjusted, and the exoskeleton can have various states such as: the knee joint can freely swing or lock as required in the walking process to provide support to protect the knee joint or adjust the rotation speed of the knee joint in a free rotation state, a locking state or a damping state; particularly, the circular damper is adopted in the exoskeleton robot, compared with a linear damper, the exoskeleton robot has a smaller and more compact structure, and is beneficial to reducing the weight of the whole exoskeleton, so that the exoskeleton robot is more comfortable to wear.

Drawings

FIG. 1 is a schematic diagram of one configuration of the exoskeleton of the present invention;

FIG. 2 is a cross-sectional structural view of the exoskeleton of FIG. 1;

FIG. 3 is a side elevational view of the exoskeleton of FIG. 1;

figure 4 is a schematic view (in cross-section) of one embodiment of the damper assembly in the exoskeleton of the present invention;

figure 5 is a schematic view of one embodiment of the damper assembly in the exoskeleton of the present invention (with the damper cover removed and in elevation);

FIG. 6 is a schematic view of the adjustment shaft of FIG. 5 after rotation;

FIG. 7 is a schematic view (isometric view) of a particular construction of the adjustment shaft of the present invention;

FIG. 8 is a schematic view (isometric view) of a particular construction of the damper shaft of the present invention;

FIG. 9 is a partial schematic view of another embodiment of the damper of the present invention; (a) a front view, (b) a cross-sectional view;

FIG. 10 is a partial schematic view of another embodiment of the damper of the present invention; (a) a front view, (b) a cross-sectional view;

FIG. 11 is a schematic view of a damping table in the damper of the present invention.

In the figure: 1 damping shell, 2 damping shaft, 3 lower bearing, 4 upper bearing, 5 adjusting bearing, 6 damping cover, 7 adjusting shaft, 8 pressing cover, 1-1 cavity A, 1-2 cavity B, 1-3 oil injection hole, 1-4 damping platform, 1-5 sealing ring A, 1-7 groove, 6-1 sealing ring B, 7-1 oil groove, 2-1 damping shaft arm, 9 thigh fixing shell, 10 shank fixing shell, 11 shield, 12 bandage, 13 left shaft, 14 left shaft end cover, 15 shaft sleeve, 16 battery, 17 motor, 18 motor seat, 19 right shaft end cover, 20 circuit board, 21 sensor, 9-1 left upper supporting plate, 9-2 right upper supporting plate, 10-1 left lower supporting plate, 10-2 right lower supporting plate, 11-1 key;

the foregoing description is only an overview of the technical solutions of the present invention, and in order to make the technical means of the present invention more clearly understood, the present invention may be implemented in accordance with the content of the description, and in order to make the above and other objects, features, and advantages of the present invention more clearly understood, the following preferred embodiments are specifically described in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings.

Detailed Description

To further illustrate the technical means and effects of the present invention adopted to achieve the intended purpose, the following detailed description is given to the specific implementation, structure, features and effects of the display control method and system according to the present invention in combination with the preferred embodiments.

The foregoing and other technical and scientific aspects, features and advantages of the present invention will be apparent from the following detailed description of preferred embodiments, which is to be read in connection with the accompanying drawings. While the present invention has been described in connection with the preferred embodiments, it is to be understood that the invention is not limited to the disclosed embodiments, but is intended to cover various modifications, equivalent arrangements, and specific embodiments thereof.

The invention relates to a passive walking aid lower limb exoskeleton, which is shown in figures 1, 2 and 3, wherein the exoskeleton is a right lower limb exoskeleton, the left side and the right side of the exoskeleton are independent from each other and can be worn independently. The exoskeleton comprises a thigh fixing unit, a shank fixing unit and an execution unit positioned at a knee joint; the thigh fixing unit is used for being attached and fixed with a thigh, and the shank fixing unit is used for being attached and fixed with a shank, and in the example of fig. 1, the thigh fixing unit comprises a thigh fixing shell 9, a left upper supporting plate 9-1, a right upper supporting plate 9-2, a plurality of binding bands 12, a liner (not shown) located inside the fixing shell and the like; the lower leg fixing unit comprises a lower leg fixing shell 10, a left lower supporting plate 10-1, a right lower supporting plate 10-2, a plurality of binding bands 12, a pad (not shown) positioned at the inner side of the fixing shell and the like. When the knee joint is worn, the thigh fixing unit is attached to a thigh through a plurality of binding bands, the shank fixing unit is attached to a shank through a binding band, an execution unit is arranged between the thigh fixing unit and the shank fixing unit, corresponds to the axis of the knee joint, and comprises a shield 11, a battery 16, a motor 17, a motor base 18, a damper, a controller, a sensor circuit and the like; execution unit and thigh fixed unit, shank fixed unit all is connected and the flexibility through attenuator control knee joint, sensor circuit is used for detecting human walking process, accessible controller adjusts attenuator damping value and diminishes and make the knee joint rotatable when detecting that the thigh lifts up to be in the swing stage, make the knee joint can swing in order to adapt to walking gait, thereby it can not crooked to detect the leg and fall to the ground when being in the support stage then the controller adjusts attenuator damping value increase and makes the knee joint lock die thereby the knee joint, and then provide great holding power, alleviate the bearing of knee joint, play the effect of protection knee joint and prevent to lead to tumbleing because the knee joint muscle is not enough and crooked. The controller can be designed according to needs and pre-stored with corresponding adjusting algorithms or programs, and can adjust the damping value of the damper in real time according to the signals detected by the sensor circuit, so as to control the swing speed of the knee joint. In the invention, the sensor circuit and the controller can be designed according to specific conditions, which can be realized by adopting the prior art, but are not the key points of the invention, so the details are not repeated.

In the example shown in fig. 1, 2 and 3, the thigh fixing shell 9 and the left upper support plate 9-1 and the right upper support plate 9-2 are fixed by screws, and the shank fixing shell 10 and the left lower support plate 10-1 and the right lower support plate 10-2 are fixed by screws. The left upper supporting plate 9-1 is hinged with the left lower supporting plate 10-1 through a left shaft 13, the left shaft 13 is fixedly connected with the left upper supporting plate 9-1, a left shaft end cover 14 is fixed on the left shaft 13 through screws to limit axial movement of the left shaft 13, and a shaft sleeve 15 is installed between the left lower supporting plate 10-1 and the left shaft 13 and plays a role in reducing friction in the rotating process of the left lower supporting plate 10-1. The thigh fixing shell 9 and the shank fixing shell 10 can be made of resin or carbon fiber and other relatively light materials, and the left upper supporting plate 9-1, the right upper supporting plate 9-2, the left lower supporting plate 10-1 and the right lower supporting plate 10-2 can be made of aluminum alloy or carbon fiber and other light and high-rigidity materials, so that the structure is guaranteed to be as light as possible under the condition of sufficient rigidity. When the thigh fixing shell 9 and the lower leg fixing shell 10 are made of a material with better strength (such as carbon fiber), the supporting plates (9-1,9-2,10-1 and 10-2) can be omitted, and only the thigh fixing shell 9 and the lower leg fixing shell 10 need to be hinged.

The circular damper can be adopted as the damper, the structure is shown in fig. 4, 5 and 6, and the circular damper comprises a damping shell 1 and a cylindrical seal cavity (namely, a circular cavity in fig. 5 and 6) formed in the damping shell, wherein the inner wall of the seal cavity is provided with a damping platform 1-4, a damping shaft 2 is further arranged in the seal cavity, the side surface of the damping shaft is provided with a damping shaft arm 2-1, the rotation center of the damping shaft 2 is coaxial with the seal cavity, one end of the damping shaft is extended out of the seal cavity to serve as a connecting end, and the damping shaft 2 and the damping platform 1-4 separate the seal cavity into two independent cavities: the damper comprises a cavity A1-1 and a cavity B1-2, wherein each cavity is filled with liquid (such as hydraulic oil), the damper further comprises an adjusting shaft 7, an oil groove 7-1 is arranged on the adjusting shaft, the two cavities can be separated from each other or communicated through a notch formed by the oil groove and a damping platform through the rotation of the adjusting shaft, and the size of the notch can be changed along with the rotation of the adjusting shaft. When the notch is communicated with the two cavities, the damping shaft arm can rotate; when the oil groove is not connected with the two cavities, the damping shaft arm cannot rotate because the two cavities are respectively filled with liquid. In addition, the oil groove can be set to be in a gradually-changed shape with one large end and one small end, the position of the oil groove corresponding to the damping platform can be changed by rotating the adjusting shaft, so that the opening size of the formed notch is changed, and the damping of the damping shaft can be changed by changing the size of the communicating notch due to the fact that the speed of liquid flowing through the hole cavities with different volumes is different.

The upper right supporting plate 9-2 and the damping cover 6 are fixed through screws, the lower right supporting plate 10-2 is connected to the damping shaft 2 through D-shaped holes so that the upper right supporting plate and the damping shaft 2 cannot rotate mutually, and the lower right supporting plate 10-2 is limited to move along the axial direction through 19 right shaft end covers so as to fix the lower right supporting plate 10-2 and the damping shaft 2 together.

The adjusting shaft 7 is fixed with an output shaft of a motor 17 through a D-shaped shaft or a jackscrew, the motor 17 is fixed on a right upper supporting plate 9-2 through a motor base 18, a battery 16 is also fixed on the right upper supporting plate 9-2, and a circuit board 20 is integrated with a control chip, a sensor circuit and the like and detects the states of thighs and calves together with a sensor 21. The motor 17 can be a steering engine, a brushless motor and the like, and the motor 17 can drive the adjusting shaft 7 to rotate so as to adjust the damping.

In the examples of fig. 4, 5 and 6, the damping shaft 2 is installed at the center of the cylindrical sealed cavity of the damping shell 1, the lower bearing 3 and the upper bearing 4 are installed at the contact position to reduce the friction force of the damping shaft 2 in the rotation process, the damping cover 6 is fixed on the damping shell 1 through screws to limit the axial movement of the damping shaft, in addition, the damping cover 6 can also be installed by welding or gluing, the damping shaft arm 2-1 and the inner side surface of the damping shell 1 have a small gap so that the damping shaft arm 2-1 and the damping shell 1 can rotate with each other, and hydraulic oil is difficult to pass through; the side of the damping shell 1 is installed on the adjusting shaft 7, the axis of the adjusting shaft is perpendicular to the axis of the damping shaft 2, the adjusting shaft sleeve 5 is installed at the bottom of the adjusting shaft 7, which is in contact with the damping shell, so that the friction force of the adjusting shaft 7 in the rotating process is reduced, and the gland 8 is fixed on the damping shell 1 through screws so as to limit the axis movement of the adjusting shaft 7.

An inner cylindrical cavity of the damping shell 1 is divided into a cavity A1-1 and a cavity B1-2 by the combined action of a damping shaft 2 (comprising a damping shaft arm 2-1) and a damping platform 1-4, and the two cavities are filled with hydraulic oil (after assembly, oil is filled through an oil filling hole 1-3 and then the oil filling hole 1-3 is blocked, and a damping cover is hidden for showing an internal structure in figures 5 and 6, but the oil filling hole 1-3 is still reserved). The adjusting shaft 7 is provided with an oil groove 7-1, the oil groove 7-1 can cross the damping platform 1-4 (namely a notch is formed), so that the cavity A1-1 and the cavity B1-2 are in a communicated state, hydraulic oil in the two cavities can flow mutually, the damping shaft 2 can rotate freely, and the sizes of the two ends of the oil groove 7-1 are different, so that the flow rate of the hydraulic oil can be adjusted by rotating the damping shaft 7 to adjust the size of the notch at the position shown by B in fig. 5, and further the torque required by the rotation of the damping shaft 2 can be controlled, wherein the smaller the opening B is, the slower the liquid flow is, the larger the damping is, and the larger the torque required by; conversely, the larger the b-port, the smaller the torque required to rotate the damping shaft 2.

When the adjusting shaft 7 is rotated to the position shown in fig. 6, the oil groove 7-1 cannot cross the damping table 1-4, so that the cavity A1-1 and the cavity B1-2 are not communicated, and the damping shaft 2 cannot rotate and is in a locked state.

Fig. 5 and 6 are a damping communication state and a lock state, respectively.

In addition, there is a compression spring in the chamber B1-2 or an extension spring (spring not shown) in the chamber A1-1, and after the damping shaft 2 is rotated and the chamber B1-2 is compressed, the spring is charged to ensure that the damping has energy to return to its original state. Further, depending on the initial state of damping, a compression spring may be installed in the chamber A1-1 or an extension spring may be installed in the chamber B1-2. In summary, it is ensured that the damping shaft 2 rotates while the spring can store energy. Other possible energy storage members, such as elastic bands, etc., may also be used. In a word, the energy storage part can be used for storing energy while the damping shaft 2 is driven to rotate by acting force generated by bending of the knee joint so as to assist the rebound and extension of the knee joint.

In addition, the adjusting shaft in the invention can also adopt a setting mode completely different from that of fig. 4-6 as shown in fig. 9 and 10, the axis of the adjusting shaft and the axis of the damping shaft are arranged in parallel in fig. 9, one end of the adjusting shaft extends into the sealed cavity to become a part of the damping table, the other end of the adjusting shaft is connected with a motor, when the adjusting shaft is rotated, the contact surface of the adjusting shaft and the damping table can be changed between seamless and notch forming, and the two cavities can be communicated after the notch is formed; in fig. 10, the adjusting shaft and the damping shaft are coaxially arranged and can rotate relatively to form an adjustable damping shaft, the adjusting shaft can be rotated to change the contact surface of the adjusting shaft and the damping table between a seamless state and a notch forming state, the two cavities can be communicated after the notch is formed, and the size of the formed notch can be changed along with the rotation of the adjusting shaft, so that the details are omitted. Besides, in the present invention, the damping platform may also be provided with a groove 1-7, as shown in fig. 11, a groove that is not communicated is opened on the damping platform 1-4 (i.e. does not penetrate the whole damping platform along the thickness direction of the damping platform), and when the oil groove 7-1 is communicated with the groove 1-7, the two cavity cavities A1-1 and B1-2 can be communicated.

By adopting the exoskeleton of the invention, in the walking process of a person, when the leg wearing the exoskeleton falls to the ground and is in a supporting stage, the motor 17 rotates to enable the adjusting shaft 7 to be in the state shown in fig. 6, and the knee joint cannot rotate, thereby protecting the knee joint; when the leg is lifted up and in the swing stage, the motor 17 rotates to enable the adjusting shaft 7 to be in the state shown in fig. 5, and the knee joint can rotate; in the process between the two, the damping can be adjusted according to a preset related algorithm, and further the swing speed of the leg can be limited. In addition, a plurality of state keys 11-1 can be arranged on the exoskeleton, including but not limited to a walking key, a locking state key, a free state key and the like, and the operation of the motor can be directly controlled through the keys so as to conveniently adjust the state of the exoskeleton.

Although the present invention has been described with reference to a preferred embodiment, it should be understood that various changes, substitutions and alterations can be made herein without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention as defined by the appended claims.

Claims

1. The lower limb exoskeleton capable of passively assisting walking is characterized by comprising a thigh fixing unit, a shank fixing unit and an execution unit positioned at a knee joint; the thigh fixing unit is used for being attached to and fixed with a thigh, the shank fixing unit is used for being attached to and fixed with a shank, the execution unit comprises a damper and a sensor circuit, the execution unit is connected with the thigh fixing unit and the shank fixing unit and controls the rotation flexibility of the knee joint through the damper, the sensor circuit is used for detecting the leg state of a human body in the walking process, when the thigh is detected to be lifted up and in the swing stage, the damping value of the damper is adjusted to be reduced, so that the knee joint can rotate, and when the leg is detected to be fallen to the ground and in the supporting stage, the damping value of the damper is adjusted to be increased, so that.

2. The passive walking aid lower limb exoskeleton of claim 1, wherein a controller is further arranged in the execution unit, and an adjusting algorithm or a program is preset in the controller and is used for adjusting the damping size of the damper in real time according to a detection signal of the sensor circuit.

3. The passive walking aid lower limb exoskeleton as claimed in claim 1, wherein the damper comprises a damping shell and a cylindrical sealed cavity formed in the damping shell, a damping platform is arranged on the inner wall of the sealed cavity, a damping shaft is further arranged in the sealed cavity, a damping shaft arm is arranged on the side surface of the damping shaft, the rotation center of the damping shaft is coaxial with the sealed cavity, one end of the damping shaft extends out of the sealed cavity and is fixedly connected with the shank fixing unit, the damping shaft and the damping platform jointly divide the sealed cavity into two independent cavities, each cavity is filled with liquid, the damper further comprises an adjusting shaft, an oil groove is formed in the adjusting shaft, the two cavities can be communicated or independent of each other through a notch formed by the oil groove and the damping platform through rotation of the adjusting shaft, and the size of the notch can be changed along with rotation of the adjusting shaft; one end of the adjusting shaft is fixedly connected with a motor, a motor base is arranged on the thigh fixing unit, and the motor is arranged in the motor base.

4. The passive walking aid lower extremity exoskeleton of claim 3, wherein one end of said adjustment shaft extends into said sealed cavity to become a part of said damping platform, and the other end is fixed to said motor, and the axis of said adjustment shaft is perpendicular to or parallel to the axis of said damping shaft; the oil groove on the adjusting shaft satisfies: the adjusting shaft is rotated, so that the contact surface of the adjusting shaft and the damping table can be changed between seamless and notch forming, the two cavities can be communicated after the notch is formed, and the size of the formed notch can be changed along with the rotation of the adjusting shaft.

5. The passive walking aid lower extremity exoskeleton of any one of claims 1 to 4, wherein a status button is further provided on said execution unit to control the damping status of said damper.