Disclosure of Invention
Aiming at the defects of the prior art, the invention aims to provide a wearable passive ankle exoskeleton capable of controlling auxiliary force and a control method thereof, and aims to solve the problem that the conventional passive ankle exoskeleton cannot control the spring force when the spring releases energy, so that the assistance effect cannot be further optimized or individual difference requirements cannot be met.
To achieve the above object, in a first aspect, the present invention provides a wearable passive ankle exoskeleton with controllable assist force, comprising: the device comprises a spring, a roller, a first supporting bracket, a second supporting bracket, a rope, a cam, a first spring bracket, a second spring bracket, a first fixing bracket and a second fixing bracket;
the first spring support is arc-shaped, and two ends of the first spring support are respectively connected with the first fixing support and the second fixing support; when the first fixing support and the second fixing support stand on the ground, the arc-shaped plane of the first spring support is parallel to the ground;
the bottom end of the first supporting bracket is hinged with the first fixed bracket, and the bottom end of the second supporting bracket is hinged with the second fixed bracket; the second spring support is arc-shaped, two ends of the second spring support are respectively connected with the top end of the first support and the top end of the second support, and the arc-shaped plane of the second spring support is parallel to the arc-shaped plane of the first spring support and the arc-opening direction of the second spring support is consistent;
the cam is fixedly connected with the first support bracket; the fixed end of the roller is fixed on the second spring support, the spring is connected in the rope, the rope penetrates through the roller, one end of the rope is connected with the first spring support, and the other end of the rope is wound on the cam;
when the wearable passive ankle exoskeleton is worn on one lower limb of a wearer, the first fixing support and the second fixing support are symmetrically positioned on two sides of the ankle of the wearer;
when the wearer stands normally, the spring is in the original long state; when a wearer runs or walks, the ankle joint of the wearer is dorsiflexed or plantarflexed; when the ankle joint of a wearer dorsiflexes, the included angles between the two supporting brackets and the two fixing brackets become smaller, the cam rotates coaxially along with the two supporting brackets, the rope is wound and tightened, and the spring stretches to store energy; when the ankle joint of the wearer bends plantarflexion, the included angles between the two supporting brackets and the two fixing brackets are increased, the cam releases the rope, the spring releases energy, and the ankle of the wearer is assisted to finish plantarflexion movement; the profile of the cam is adjustable, so that the curve of the auxiliary force provided by the spring is adjustable, and the individual difference of the assisting force of a wearer is met.
Optionally, the wearable passive ankle exoskeleton further comprises: binding bands;
the strap connects the first support bracket and the second support bracket to secure the wearable passive ankle exoskeleton to the lower limb of the wearer.
Optionally, the first and second fixing brackets are fixed to the shoe at the ankle of the wearer by screws.
In a second aspect, the present invention provides a method for controlling a wearable passive ankle exoskeleton, comprising the steps of:
the length of the rope is designed for different wearers, so that the spring is in an original length state when the wearers normally stand;
through to different wearers design cam profile to make the speed that the cam released the rope relevant with the cam profile, the assistance-force curve that the spring provided is relevant with the cam profile, satisfies different wearers' demand to the assistance-force.
Optionally, the wearer is running or walking with the ankle joint dorsiflexed or plantarflexed, doing negative work when dorsiflexed, doing positive work when plantarflexed kicking the ground; when the wearer dorsiflexes, the spring stretches to store the negative work done by dorsiflexed.
Optionally, the profile function of the cam is:
wherein F is the ankle joint assisting force provided by the spring, k is the spring stiffness, theta (g) is the functional relation between the ankle joint angle variation theta and the gait cycle g, P (psi) is the functional relation between the cam base circle radius R and the cam angle psi, and psi (g) is the functional relation between the cam angle psi and the gait cycle g.
Optionally, the wearer's ankle heel falls to the ground at 0% of the gait cycle.
Generally, compared with the prior art, the above technical solution conceived by the present invention has the following beneficial effects:
the invention provides a wearable passive ankle exoskeleton capable of controlling auxiliary force and a control method thereof, which can realize control of an assistance curve along with a step cycle by controlling a force curve when a spring releases energy through a cam, further design different cam profile curves, generate different assistance curves to meet specific assistance requirements of different individuals, meet the differences of the assistance individuals of a wearer, further improve the assistance effect and reduce the metabolic consumption of the wearer.
Compared with the active ankle exoskeleton, the wearable passive ankle exoskeleton has the advantages of light weight, simple structure and no driving source and power source; compared with a passive ankle joint exoskeleton, the power assisting device has the advantage of controllable power assisting curve.
Detailed Description
In order to make the objects, technical solutions and advantages of the present invention more apparent, the present invention is described in further detail below with reference to the accompanying drawings and embodiments. It should be understood that the specific embodiments described herein are merely illustrative of the invention and are not intended to limit the invention.
The invention provides a wearable passive ankle exoskeleton with controllable auxiliary force, which comprises: the device comprises a spring, a roller, a first supporting bracket, a second supporting bracket, a rope, a binding belt, a cam, a first spring bracket, a second spring bracket, a first fixing bracket and a second fixing bracket;
the first spring support is arc-shaped, and two ends of the first spring support are respectively connected with the first fixing support and the second fixing support; when the first fixing support and the second fixing support stand on the ground, the arc-shaped plane of the first spring support is parallel to the ground;
the bottom end of the first supporting bracket is hinged with the first fixed bracket, and the bottom end of the second supporting bracket is hinged with the second fixed bracket; the second spring support is arc-shaped, two ends of the second spring support are respectively connected with the top end of the first support and the top end of the second support, and the arc-shaped plane of the second spring support is parallel to the arc-shaped plane of the first spring support and the arc-opening direction of the second spring support is consistent;
the cam is fixedly connected with the first support bracket; the fixed end of the roller is fixed on the second spring support, the spring is connected in the rope, the rope penetrates through the roller, one end of the rope is connected with the first spring support, and the other end of the rope is wound on the cam;
when the wearable passive ankle exoskeleton is worn on one lower limb of a wearer, the first fixing support and the second fixing support are symmetrically positioned on two sides of the ankle of the wearer; the strap connects the first support bracket and the second support bracket to secure the wearable passive ankle exoskeleton to the lower limb of the wearer.
When the wearer stands normally, the spring is in the original long state; when a wearer runs or walks, the ankle joint of the wearer is dorsiflexed or plantarflexed; when the ankle joint of a wearer dorsiflexes, the included angles between the two supporting brackets and the two fixing brackets become smaller, the cam rotates coaxially along with the two supporting brackets, the rope is wound and tightened, and the spring stretches to store energy; when the ankle joint of the wearer bends plantarflexion, the included angles between the two supporting brackets and the two fixing brackets are increased, the cam releases the rope, the spring releases energy, and the ankle of the wearer is assisted to finish plantarflexion movement; the profile of the cam is adjustable, so that the curve of the auxiliary force provided by the spring is adjustable, and the individual difference of the assisting force of a wearer is met.
It is to be understood that in particular embodiments, for ease of understanding, the "support brace" is spoken as a "lower leg brace", the "spring" is functionalized as an "energy storage spring", the "strap" is spoken as a "lower leg strap", and the "fixed brace" is spoken as a "shoe side fixed brace", and the following embodiments will not be described in particular detail.
In one specific embodiment, the invention provides a passive ankle exoskeleton with controllable auxiliary force, which comprises an energy storage spring, a roller, a shank strap, a shank bracket, a rope, a cam, a spring bracket and a shoe side fixing bracket. The rope is connected with the spring support, the spring and the cam through the idler wheel on the shank support. The shoe side fixing support is fixed with the shoe of the wearer, and the lower leg of the wearer is bound with the lower leg support through the lower leg binding band.
The invention utilizes the energy storage spring to stretch and store energy, collects the negative work done by the wearer when the ankle joint dorsiflexes during running or walking, and at the moment, the cam coaxially rotates along with the shank bracket to wind the rope. When the ankle joint bends and pedals the ground, the energy storage spring releases energy, the cam realizes the control of the elongation of the spring according to the shape of the cam, thereby controlling the relationship between the spring force and the angle of the ankle joint and realizing the control of the spring force along with the step period. The force control cams with different profile curves can realize force control curves with different requirements, so that individual differences of power assistance are met, and the power assistance effect is further improved.
Fig. 1 is a schematic overall structure diagram of a passive ankle exoskeleton with controllable auxiliary force, provided by an embodiment of the invention. As shown in fig. 1, includes: the shoe comprises a spring support 1, a rope 2, an energy storage spring 3, a roller 4, a shank bandage 5, a shank support 6, a cam 7 and a shoe side fixing support 8. Wherein, as can be seen from fig. 1, the lower leg support and the shoe side fixing support are both two, and the illustration of the spring support connecting the tops of the two lower leg supports is omitted in fig. 1, and the wearer can directly and unambiguously obtain the above from fig. 1.
The rope 2 is connected with the spring support 1, the spring 3, the roller 4 on the spring support connected with the crus support 6 and the cam 7. The shoe side fixing bracket 8 can be fixed with the shoe of the wearer through screws, and the lower leg of the wearer is bound with the lower leg bracket 6 through the lower leg binding band 5. The cam 7 is fixedly connected with the shank bracket 6, and the shank bracket 6 is hinged with the shoe side fixing bracket 8.
Fig. 2 is a schematic structural diagram of a roller according to an embodiment of the present invention. As shown in fig. 2, the fixed end of the roller 4 is fixed on the spring bracket connected with the lower leg bracket 6, and the rope 2 passes through the roller and can slide on the roller.
Fig. 3 is a schematic view of a cam structure according to an embodiment of the present invention. As shown in fig. 3, the cam 7 is fixedly connected to the lower leg link 6 and rotates coaxially with the lower leg link.
When the wearer normally stands, the length of the rope 2 is controlled, so that the spring 3 is in an original length state, and the rope 2 has certain pretightening force. When the wearer runs or walks, the ankle joint performs negative work when dorsiflexed, and performs positive work when plantarflexed and kicked on the ground.
At the dorsiflexion stage of the ankle joint, the included angle between the shank support 6 and the shoe side fixing support 8 is reduced, at the moment, the cam 7 coaxially rotates along with the shank support 6, the rope 2 is wound, the rope 2 is tightened, and the spring 3 stretches to store energy.
When the ankle joint is plantarflexed, the included angle between the lower leg support 6 and the shoe side fixing support 8 is increased, the cam 7 releases the rope, the energy storage spring 3 releases energy, and the ankle is assisted to finish plantarflexed movement, so that the metabolic energy consumed by the body movement of a wearer is reduced. The control of the elongation of the spring along with the angle of the ankle joint is realized according to the shape of the cam, so that the relationship between the spring force and the angle of the ankle joint is controlled.
Figure 4 is an ankle kinematics curve during running, illustrating the variation of ankle angle (calf to instep angle) with gait cycle, wherein: dorsiflexion is performed in the ankle joint angle decreasing stage, and plantarflexion is performed in the ankle joint angle increasing stage; stage 1 is ankle dorsiflexion, and at the moment, the spring is stretched to store energy; stage 2, the ankle joint is plantarflexed to pedal the ground, and the spring is contracted and released; and in the stage 3, the spring is not deformed and is in an original long state, and the ankle joint moves freely and is not influenced by the spring force. Fig. 5 is a spring deflection curve depicting the variation of spring deflection with gait cycle. Figure 6 is an exoskeleton assistance force curve depicting the variation of the target assistance force with gait cycle, proportional to the amount of spring deflection. When the gait cycle is 0%, the heel of the ankle joint falls to the ground, the ankle joint dorsiflexes to do negative work in the stage 1, the spring stretches to store energy, the ankle joint plantarflexes to do positive work in the stage 2, the spring contracts to release energy, the rope is loosened in the stage 3, the exoskeleton does not provide force, and the ankle joint moves freely.
Let a functional relationship between the ankle joint angle variation amount theta and the gait cycle g be theta (g), let a deformation amount of the spring be x, let a functional relationship between the cam base circle radius R and the cam angle psi be P (psi), and let a functional relationship between the cam angle psi and the gait cycle g be psi (g). Let the spring rate be k.
According to the target passive ankle joint power-assisted curve, the profile curve function relation of the cam is calculated and obtained as follows:
it will be readily understood by those skilled in the art that the foregoing is merely a preferred embodiment of the present invention and is not intended to limit the invention, and that any modification, equivalent replacement, or improvement made within the spirit and principle of the present invention should be included in the scope of the present invention.