CN114851165A

CN114851165A - Passive arm-assisted exoskeleton

Info

Publication number: CN114851165A
Application number: CN202210488196.8A
Authority: CN
Inventors: 曾贤根; 刘紫敬; 王锋利; 黎领
Original assignee: Hunan Gugong Robot Co ltd
Current assignee: Hunan Gugong Robot Co ltd
Priority date: 2022-05-06
Filing date: 2022-05-06
Publication date: 2022-08-05
Also published as: WO2023213044A1

Abstract

The invention relates to a passive arm assistance exoskeleton which comprises a wearing assembly, a supporting rod and an arm assistance assembly, wherein a positioning device which is rotatably connected with the bottom of the supporting rod is arranged at the bottom of the wearing assembly, the positioning device is detachably arranged on the wearing assembly, the top of the supporting rod is hinged with the arm assistance assembly, the arm assistance assembly comprises a power assisting generator, a power assisting regulator and a telescopic sleeve which is hinged with the top of the supporting rod, the power assisting regulator comprises a regulating block, a grooved wheel and a regulating knob, the power assisting generator comprises a steel wire rope and an elastic element, the head of the steel wire rope is fixedly connected with a pressing block at the end of the elastic element, the end of the steel wire rope penetrates through the grooved wheel to be fixedly connected with the supporting rod, and the arm assistance assembly transmits assistance to the arm of a user through an arm hoop. The exoskeleton robot does not need an external power source, directly provides constant upward supporting force for the arms of a human body, has a simple structure, accords with human engineering, is convenient to disassemble and assemble, and can change the magnitude of assistance through the assistance regulator to realize flexibility, comfort and practicability of the exoskeleton.

Description

Passive arm-assisted exoskeleton

Technical Field

The invention relates to the technical field of exoskeletons, in particular to a passive arm power-assisted exoskeleton.

Background

With the development of society, the society gradually becomes old, and in some scenes such as construction, decoration and the like, which have low automation degree and need a large amount of physical labor to participate, or in scenes which need to keep lifting posture operation for a long time, the proportion of middle-aged and old workers still accounts for a higher level. Due to the fact that the workers are older and have limited physical strength, the working physical strength of the workers is consumed greatly, physical strength overdraft and the like are prone to occurring, the health of the workers is affected after the workers work for a long time, the working efficiency is reduced slightly, and the life safety is threatened seriously.

A mechanical exoskeleton is a device that assists in assisting the human body with assistance from outside the body. Currently, exoskeletons are gradually evolving from the medical rehabilitation field to the industrial field. The exoskeleton can be divided into a shoulder power-assisted exoskeleton, a waist power-assisted exoskeleton, a load-bearing exoskeleton and the like according to functional classification. The power source classification can be divided into a power exoskeleton and a passive exoskeleton, the power exoskeleton can realize larger assistance by designing a motor or a cylinder and the like, but has larger volume and poorer comfort, and is not suitable for the scenes; the passive exoskeleton uses energy storage elements such as springs, elastic bands and the like to realize assistance. Due to the structure of the human body, when the arm is lifted, the arm is laborious no matter the arm is in any position, when the arm is lifted, particularly when a tool or a heavy object is arranged on the arm, the shoulder muscle is easy to fatigue after a long time, and the existing exoskeleton is not quickly disassembled and maintained, so that certain inconvenience is brought to the actual operation process.

Disclosure of Invention

Aiming at the problems, the invention provides the passive arm power-assisted exoskeleton which is driven without external power, has a simple structure, is convenient to disassemble and assemble, is convenient to maintain and can be industrialized.

The technical scheme adopted by the invention for solving the technical problems is as follows: the utility model provides a passive arm helping hand ectoskeleton, is including wearing subassembly, bracing piece and arm helping hand subassembly, the bracing piece bottom is equipped with the positioner that rotates and links to each other, positioner demountable installation is on wearing the subassembly, the bracing piece top is articulated with arm helping hand subassembly, arm helping hand subassembly transmits the helping hand for user's arm through the arm cuff that links to each other.

Preferably, the arm power assisting assembly comprises a power assisting generator, a power assisting regulator and a telescopic sleeve hinged to the top of the supporting rod through a hinge seat, the power assisting regulator comprises an adjusting block arranged at one end in the telescopic sleeve, a grooved wheel arranged on the adjusting block and an adjusting knob driving the adjusting block to slide in the telescopic sleeve, the power assisting generator comprises a steel wire rope and an elastic element arranged at the other end in the telescopic sleeve, the head of the steel wire rope is fixedly connected with a pressing block at the end part of the elastic element far away from the adjusting block, the end part of the steel wire rope penetrates through the grooved wheel to be fixedly connected with the supporting rod, and the power assisting generator, the hinge seat and the power assisting regulator are arranged along the same central line.

As preferred, telescopic tube is including consecutive adjusting collar, spring sleeve and slip axle sleeve, the hinge seat is located to the one end that adjusting collar and spring sleeve met all the cover, in the slip axle sleeve was located to the spring sleeve other end cover, the slip axle sleeve made its and spring sleeve adjust and fixed through the retaining member, just be equipped with waist type hole on the slip axle sleeve, the retaining member passes waist type hole and links to each other with the end cover that spring sleeve other end cover was established, slip axle sleeve external connection has the arm hoop of parcel user's arm, and has relative pivoted degree of freedom between arm hoop and the slip axle sleeve, elastic element installs in spring sleeve intraductly, the regulating block is installed in adjusting collar is inside and slide in adjusting collar.

Preferably, the support rod comprises a first support rod, a second support rod and a third support rod which are connected in sequence, the bottom of the first support rod is connected with the positioning device in a rotating mode through a joint bearing or a spring coupling, a plurality of fixing holes are formed in the first support rod along the axis, the second support rod stretches out and draws back through the matching of elastic pins arranged on the first support rod and fixing holes in different positions on the first support rod, the three bottoms of the support rods are connected with one end, far away from the first support rod, of the second support rod, and the three tops of the support rods are hinged to the arm power assisting assembly.

Preferably, the wearing subassembly includes the waistband, the waistband outside is equipped with the narrow mounting band in middle wide both ends, positioner includes the base that rotates continuous with the bracing piece bottom, spring plunger and locates the C type buckle of base both sides, be equipped with the locating hole that the base position was adjusted to the several on the mounting band, the base carries on spacingly and impresses the locating hole internal fixation through spring plunger through the C type buckle block mounting band of both sides.

Preferably, the elastic element is a compressed spring or a gas spring.

Preferably, the supporting rods and the arm power assisting assemblies are arranged into two groups and are symmetrically arranged on two sides by taking the spine as a central line.

Preferably, the arm hoop is a plastic product, a spongy cushion is arranged in the arm hoop, and the periphery of the arm hoop wraps the arm of the user through a magnetic buckle.

Preferably, the arm hoop is provided with a quick-assembly and disassembly interface connected with the sliding shaft sleeve.

Preferably, the waistband is connected and fixed through an adjusting buckle.

Compared with the prior art, the invention has the following beneficial effects:

1. the elastic element is used as the energy storage element to provide constant supporting force for the human arm, the steel wire rope with fixed length is used for connecting the elastic element and the supporting rod, and the steel wire rope rolls on the grooved wheel, so that the constant upward supporting force can be provided for the human arm through a simple mechanical structure under the condition of not needing any power source, the labor intensity of workers is reduced, and meanwhile, the structure conforms to the human engineering, and the flexibility, comfort and practicability of the exoskeleton are realized;

2. when the arms of a user are lifted, the arm power assisting assembly provides power assisting in the same direction as the arm lifting direction through a built-in elastic element structure, partial gravity on the hands is transmitted to the waist of the user from the arms of the user to the arm hoop sleeve and then to the supporting rod, and finally is transmitted to the waist of the user through the base, so that the load borne by the arms of the user is reduced;

3. the installation belt is arranged on the outer side of the waistband and has certain rigidity, the installation belt is designed to be wide in the middle and narrow in the two ends, C-shaped buckles on the two sides of the base can penetrate through the two ends of the installation belt respectively when the installation belt is installed conveniently, the installation belt moves relatively to the two sides of the base and is combined into a whole, the installation belt is clamped at the two ends of the C-shaped buckles for limiting, the base and the installation belt can be fixed after being adjusted to a proper position and then pressed into corresponding positioning holes through spring plungers, the base and the installation belt can be fixed without the assistance of an external tool when the installation belt is disassembled, only the elastic plungers need to be pulled up, and then the base is moved to the two ends of the installation belt, so that the base and the installation belt can be disassembled quickly, and other structures connected with the base can be separated from the waistband quickly;

4. the adjusting block is enabled to slide in the adjusting sleeve through the adjusting knob, and the adjusting block is enabled to adjust the arm force distance at the end of the elastic element at different positions to provide different power assistance, so that upward supporting force for overcoming the gravity of the arm is generated for the arm, and muscle soreness generated when the arm is lifted for a long time and kept fixed is avoided;

5. the waistband is connected and fixed through the adjusting buckle, the length of the waistband can be adjusted according to the body type, and the waistband enables equipment to be tightly attached to the waist after the waistband is fixed, so that the equipment is strongly and fixedly supported, the size requirements of different body types can be met through the extension and retraction of the supporting rod and the telescopic tube, and the waistband is wide in application range;

6. the invention realizes equipment modularization by designing the quick assembly and disassembly interface, has strong storage property and is convenient for a user to finish wearing independently;

7. the invention has simple integral structure, small volume, light weight, convenient carrying, quick disassembly and assembly, convenient maintenance and suitability for industrialization.

Drawings

FIG. 1 is a schematic view of the present invention in a worn state;

FIG. 2 is a schematic view of the structural connection of the present invention;

FIG. 3 is an enlarged view of the point A in FIG. 2;

FIG. 4 is a schematic view of the mounting of the power assist arm assembly of the present invention;

FIG. 5 is a cross-sectional view of the internal structure of the arm assist assembly of the present invention;

fig. 6 is a schematic diagram of the elastic element providing assistance.

Detailed Description

The invention will now be described in detail with reference to fig. 1-6, wherein exemplary embodiments and descriptions of the invention are provided to illustrate the invention, but not to limit the invention.

A passive arm assistance exoskeleton comprises a wearing assembly, a supporting rod 3 and an arm assistance assembly, wherein a positioning device which is connected with each other in a rotating mode is arranged at the bottom of the supporting rod, the positioning device is detachably mounted on the wearing assembly, the top of the supporting rod is hinged to the arm assistance assembly through a hinge seat, the arm assistance assembly transmits assistance to an arm of a user 1 through an arm hoop 7 which is connected with each other, the supporting rod and the arm assistance assembly are arranged into two groups and are symmetrically arranged on two sides by taking a spine as a central line, the wearing assembly comprises a waistband which is made of a fabric material and is fixedly connected through an adjusting buckle, length adjustment can be carried out according to the body shape of the user, so that exoskeleton equipment is tightly attached to the waist, a mounting belt 5 which is wide in the middle and narrow in two ends is fixed on the outer side of the waistband through rivets, certain rigidity is achieved, and the positioning device comprises a base 6, a base and an arm power assisting assembly which are connected with the bottom of the supporting rod in a rotating mode, The spring plunger 11 and locate the C-type buckle 12 of both sides of base, there are locating holes of several regulation base positions on the mounting band, used for regulating different positions of the base and spacing, the torsion that the base produces in the use can be eliminated in the use of C-type buckle cooperating with spring plunger, guarantee the stability of the base, two C-type buckles penetrate from both ends of mounting band separately while installing, and relative movement to laminating the base both sides to unite and regulate to the required position of the base on the mounting band, and limit the base through C-type buckle both ends card mounting band, press the pin on the spring plunger into the correspondent locating hole to fix after confirming the position; when the mounting belt is detached, the spring plunger is pulled up, and the base is moved to any one end of the mounting belt, so that the function of quick assembly and disassembly can be realized. The support rod comprises a first support rod 301, a second support rod 302 and a third support rod 303 which are sequentially connected, the first support rod and the second support rod are hollow cylindrical support rods, the bottom of the first support rod is rotatably connected with the positioning device through a joint bearing 10, because the joint bearing can do conical motion in a certain range around an axis, similarly, springs also have the same characteristic, namely, the joint bearing can be replaced by a spring coupling, a plurality of fixing holes 14 are formed in the first support rod along the axis, the second support rod can be combined into support rods with different lengths through matching of elastic pins 15 and fixing holes in different positions on the first support rod to meet the requirements of different users on different heights, the bottom of the third support rod is connected with one end of the second support rod, which is far away from the first support rod, and keeps relative rotation, the top of the third support rod is hinged with the arm power assisting component, and the bottom of the specific first support rod is connected with one end of the joint bearing through a pin shaft, the other end of the joint bearing is connected with the base, the top of the support rod III is hinged with the arm power assisting assembly through the hinge seat, the joint bearing or the spring coupling is arranged at the bottom of the support rod, and the hinge seat is arranged at the top of the support rod, so that the freedom degree of any angle of the arm can be met, and the flexibility of a user is not influenced. The arm power assisting assembly comprises a power assisting generator, a power assisting regulator and a telescopic sleeve 2 which is hinged with the top of the support rod through a hinge seat, the power assisting regulator comprises a regulating block 25 arranged at one end in the telescopic sleeve, a grooved wheel 8 arranged on the regulating block and a regulating knob 19 driving the regulating block to slide in the telescopic sleeve, the power assisting generator comprises a steel wire rope 9 and an elastic element 20 arranged at the other end in the telescopic sleeve, the elastic element adopted in the scheme is a pressure spring and can be replaced into a gas spring, the head of the steel wire rope is fixedly connected with a pressing block 21 at the end part of the elastic element far away from the regulating block, the end part of the steel wire rope penetrates through the grooved wheel to be fixedly connected with the support rod III, the power assisting generator, the hinge seat and the power assisting regulator are arranged along the same central line, the regulating block is driven by the regulating knob to slide in the regulating sleeve to adjust the distance between the regulating block and the end part of the pressure spring, and the power assisting of different sizes can be provided, therefore, upward supporting force which overcomes the gravity of the arm is generated to the arm, so that the arm can be kept fixed for a long time without muscle soreness when being lifted, and the labor intensity of workers in the working process is reduced. The telescopic sleeve comprises an adjusting sleeve 201, a spring sleeve 202 and a sliding shaft sleeve 203 which are sequentially connected, one end of the adjusting sleeve connected with the spring sleeve is sleeved in a hinge seat, the other end of the spring sleeve is sleeved in the sliding shaft sleeve, a specific pressure spring is arranged in the spring sleeve, an adjusting block is arranged in the adjusting sleeve and slides in the adjusting sleeve, the sliding shaft sleeve is adjusted and fixed with the spring sleeve through a locking piece 23, a waist-shaped hole 24 is arranged on the sliding shaft sleeve, the locking piece penetrates through the waist-shaped hole and is connected with an end cover 22 sleeved at the other end part of the spring sleeve, so that the arm length of users with different body types can be adapted to different positions of the waist-shaped hole through the locking piece fixedly connected with the spring sleeve, an arm hoop sleeve wrapping the arms of the users is connected to the outside of the sliding shaft sleeve, the arm hoop sleeve is a plastic product, and a sponge cushion is arranged in the arm hoop sleeve to enhance the comfort level of the users, the periphery of the arm hoop sleeve wraps the arm of a user through the magnetic buckle, the arm hoop sleeve can be attached to the arms of users with different body types through adjustment of the magnetic buckle, so that better fixation can be achieved, the arm hoop sleeve is also provided with a quick assembly disassembly interface connected with the sliding shaft sleeve, equipment modularization can be achieved through the quick assembly disassembly interface, the device has strong storage performance, meanwhile, the user can conveniently and independently complete wearing, relative rotation freedom degree is formed between the arm hoop sleeve and the sliding shaft sleeve, and the exoskeleton can be ideally worn in a state that the hinge base rotation center and the shoulder joint are just aligned, so that when the arm wearing is most comfortable, the arm swinging angle is the same as the exoskeleton swinging angle, when the hinge base rotation center and the shoulder joint are not aligned, because the arm hoop sleeve is bound with the arm, and the included angle error can be eliminated through relative rotation of the arm hoop sleeve and the sliding shaft sleeve, the swing angle of the exoskeleton is automatically adjusted to be consistent with the swing angle of the arm, so that the flexibility and the comfort of a user are ensured.

The support rod and the telescopic sleeve can be replaced mutually, and the same power assisting effect can be achieved after the support rod and the telescopic sleeve are replaced.

The weight of the arm of a human body is about 4Kg, the weight of the arm of different body types can change, the equipment utilizes the lever principle F1L 1-F2L 2, takes the hinge seat as a fulcrum, one end of the hinge seat is arranged on the arm, the other end of the hinge seat is connected with the pressure spring through the steel wire rope, the elasticity generated by the compression of the pressure spring provides supporting force for the arm, because the force applying arm and the force arm of the assisting force corresponding to the arm moving to different positions are changed, when the arm naturally droops, the included angle between the arm and the supporting rod is about 20 degrees, the tension direction of the steel wire rope is basically on the same line with the axis of the supporting rod at the moment, although the pressure spring is compressed to the maximum, the force arm is 0, the supporting force is not generated for the arm, the generated effect is that when the work is not needed, the arm can naturally fall down, but the included angle gradually increases along with the gradual increase of the included angle, the assisting force for the arm also gradually increases, however, the deformation of the compression spring is not enough to generate the force for supporting the arm, so that the force felt by the arm is smaller. When the included angle reaches 40 degrees, the supporting force which can sufficiently support the arm can be basically generated, that is, the set supporting force can be reached, namely the arm moves between 20 degrees and 40 degrees, the generated supporting force is not enough to support the weight of the arm, so that the supporting force is relatively weak, the restraint feeling can not be basically generated, when the included angle reaches 45 degrees, the assistance effect is gradually obvious, when the included angle reaches 90 degrees, the assistance is the largest, when the arm reaches 40 degrees to 170 degrees, although the pressure of the compression spring is gradually reduced, the supporting force of the equipment to the arm is basically constant due to the change of the force arm, and the magnitude of the assistance provided by the compression spring in the whole process is shown in fig. 6, wherein the x axis represents the included angle between the arm and the telescopic supporting rod, and the y axis represents the supporting force of the arm.

In the implementation process, the installation belt is fixed on the waistband through rivets, the waistband is bound according to the body type of a user, the arm hoop is fixed on the arm of the user, the C-shaped buckle penetrates through two ends of the installation belt and moves to the two sides of the base to be combined with the base into a whole through relative motion, the base is pressed into the positioning hole through the spring plunger after the position of the base is determined, then the base, the supporting rod and the telescopic sleeve are connected and the pressure spring and the steel wire rope are installed, the supporting rod and the telescopic sleeve are adjusted according to users with different body types and the telescopic sleeve is fixed with the arm hoop, then the adjusting knob is rotated according to the length of the arm, so that the adjusting block is driven to slide in the adjusting sleeve to provide proper assistance, when the arm of the user is raised, the arm assistance component provides assistance in the same direction as the arm raising direction through the built-in spring structure, and partial gravity on the hand is transmitted from the arm of the user to the arm hoop, and then the support rod extends to the telescopic support rod, and finally the support rod is transmitted to the waist of the user through the base, so that the bearing load of the arm of the user is reduced.

The technical solutions provided by the embodiments of the present invention are described in detail above, and the principles and embodiments of the present invention are explained herein by using specific examples, and the descriptions of the embodiments are only used to help understanding the principles of the embodiments of the present invention; meanwhile, for a person skilled in the art, according to the embodiments of the present invention, the specific implementation manners and the application ranges may be changed, and in conclusion, the content of the present specification should not be construed as limiting the invention.

Claims

1. A passive arm-assist exoskeleton, comprising: including wearing subassembly, bracing piece (3) and arm helping hand subassembly, the bracing piece bottom is equipped with the positioner that rotates and link to each other, positioner demountable installation is on wearing the subassembly, the bracing piece top is articulated with arm helping hand subassembly, arm helping hand subassembly transmits the helping hand for user (1) arm through arm cuff (7) that link to each other.

2. The passive arm assist exoskeleton of claim 1 wherein: the arm helping hand subassembly includes power generation ware, helping hand regulator and passes through hinge seat articulated telescope tube (2) with the bracing piece top, the helping hand regulator is including locating regulating block (25) of the intraductal one end of telescope tube, locating sheave (8) on the regulating block and drive regulating block gliding adjust knob (19) of telescope tube, the power generation ware includes wire rope (9) and locates elastic element (20) of the intraductal other end of telescope tube, the wire rope head links to each other with fixed briquetting (21) of the tip that elastic element kept away from the regulating block, and the wire rope tip passes the sheave and links to each other with the bracing piece is fixed, just power generation ware, hinge seat and helping hand regulator are arranged along same central line.

3. The passive arm assist exoskeleton of claim 2 wherein: the telescopic tube is including consecutive adjusting collar (201), spring sleeve (202) and slip axle sleeve (203), the hinge seat is located to the one end that adjusting collar and spring sleeve met all overlapping, in the slip axle sleeve was located to the other pot head of spring sleeve, the slip axle sleeve makes it adjust and fix with spring sleeve through retaining member (23), just be equipped with waist type hole (24) on the slip axle sleeve, end cover (22) that the retaining member passed waist type hole and was established with the other pot head of spring sleeve are continuous, slip axle sleeve external connection has the arm hoop of parcel user's arm, and has relative pivoted degree of freedom between arm hoop and the slip axle sleeve, elastic element installs in the spring sleeve intraductly, the regulating block is installed in adjusting collar inside and slide in adjusting collar.

4. The passive arm assist exoskeleton of claim 1 wherein: the bracing piece is including bracing piece one (301), bracing piece two (302) and the bracing piece three (303) that meet in proper order, a bracing piece bottom is passed through joint bearing (10) or spring coupling and is rotated with positioner and link to each other, and is equipped with a plurality of fixed orificess (14) along the axis on the bracing piece one, the cooperation that different rigidity fixed orifices was gone up to two elastic pin (15) and the bracing piece one that are equipped with of bracing piece two stretches out and draws back, the one end that bracing piece one was kept away from to three bottoms of bracing piece and bracing piece two links to each other, three tops of bracing piece are articulated with arm helping hand subassembly.

5. The passive arm assist exoskeleton of claim 1 wherein: the utility model discloses a dress subassembly, including wearing subassembly and waistband (4), the waistband outside is equipped with wide narrow mounting band (5) in middle two, positioner includes and rotates base (6), spring plunger and the C type buckle (12) of locating the base both sides that link to each other with bracing piece bottom, be equipped with the locating hole that the base position was adjusted to the several on the mounting band, the base carries on spacingly and impresses the locating hole internal fixation through spring plunger (11) through the C type buckle block mounting band of both sides.

6. The passive arm assist exoskeleton of claim 2 wherein: the elastic element is a pressure spring or a gas spring.

7. The passive arm assist exoskeleton of claim 1 wherein: the support rods and the arm power-assisted assemblies are arranged into two groups and are symmetrically arranged on two sides by taking the spine as a central line.

8. The passive arm assist exoskeleton of claim 1 wherein: the arm cuff is a plastic product, a spongy cushion is arranged in the arm cuff, and the periphery of the arm cuff wraps the arm of a user through a magnetic buckle.

9. The passive arm assist exoskeleton of claim 3 wherein: the arm hoop is provided with a quick dismounting interface connected with the sliding shaft sleeve.

10. The passive arm assist exoskeleton of claim 5 wherein: the waistband is connected and fixed through adjusting the buckle.