Development of Hexagonal Pyramid-Shaped Flexible Actuator with Anisotropic Stiffness for Upper-Limb Rehabilitation Device

IF 2.2 3区工程技术 Q2 ENGINEERING, MECHANICAL

Actuators Pub Date : 2023-11-14 DOI:10.3390/act12110424

So Shimooka, Hiroki Himuro, Akio Gofuku

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引用次数: 0

Abstract

Rehabilitation devices for passive exercise have been actively researched and developed in accordance with Japan’s aging society. A previous study proposed and tested an extension-type flexible pneumatic actuator (EFPA) with reinforced stiffness that could achieve passive exercise in patients. In addition, a rehabilitation device for shoulder joints with an embedded controller and small valves was proposed and tested. Joints such as the shoulder and scapula were subjected to passive exercise utilizing the tested device. However, it is difficult for patients with contractions to perform the same exercise because the reinforced EFPA can buckle. Here, to realize an EFPA with a higher stiffness, a flexible actuator in the shape of a hexagonal pyramid is proposed and tested. The hexagonal pyramid shape of a flexible actuator has a high stiffness in the direction of motion and flexibility in other directions; hereafter, this characteristic is called anisotropic stiffness. The characteristics of the hexagonal pyramid shape of the EFPA are described and compared with those of a previously reinforced EFPA. An analytical model was proposed to predict and design the shape of the hexagonal pyramid EFPA. The validity of the model is also described.

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上肢康复装置六角锥型各向异性柔性驱动器的研制

针对日本老龄化社会，积极研发被动运动康复器械。先前的一项研究提出并测试了一种具有增强刚度的伸缩型柔性气动执行器(EFPA)，可以实现患者的被动运动。此外，提出并测试了一种带有嵌入式控制器和小阀的肩关节康复装置。关节如肩部和肩胛骨受到被动运动利用测试设备。然而，由于增强后的EFPA会发生屈曲，因此宫缩患者很难进行相同的运动。为了实现具有更高刚度的EFPA，提出并测试了一种六边形金字塔形状的柔性作动器。柔性作动器的六角形金字塔形状在运动方向上具有较高的刚度，在其他方向上具有较高的灵活性;因此，这种特性被称为各向异性刚度。描述了EFPA的六角形金字塔形状的特征，并与先前加固的EFPA进行了比较。提出了一种六角形金字塔EFPA形状预测与设计的解析模型。并对模型的有效性进行了描述。

本文章由计算机程序翻译，如有差异，请以英文原文为准。

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来源期刊

Actuators Mathematics-Control and Optimization

CiteScore

3.90

自引率

15.40%

发文量

315

审稿时长

11 weeks

期刊介绍： Actuators (ISSN 2076-0825; CODEN: ACTUC3) is an international open access journal on the science and technology of actuators and control systems published quarterly online by MDPI.