Wearable accompanying sitting-assisting exoskeleton
Technical Field
The invention belongs to the technical field of exoskeleton power assisting devices, and particularly relates to a wearable accompanying sitting-assisting exoskeleton.
Background
At present, when workers in many industries work, because the workers do not have a large working space or limit specific working operations, the workers often need to keep a standing or semi-squatting posture for a long time, so that the workers easily feel tired, the comfort level and the working efficiency of the workers are reduced, occupational diseases can be caused for a long time, and bone deformation is caused. For example, when a doctor performs an operation, the doctor sometimes needs to keep a semi-squatting position, and only can rely on his own legs to provide supporting force, so that the doctor is tired. The sitting assisting exoskeleton not only can provide support for a human body, but also does not influence the working operation of a user.
Most of the existing exoskeleton uses power sources such as a motor, a hydraulic system and a pneumatic system to provide power for walking of people, and the power sources can make the overall structure of the exoskeleton more complex and more heavy, so that the exoskeleton is not beneficial to wearing the exoskeleton for working operation. For example, patent document 201510384049.6 discloses a sitting type lower limb exoskeleton, which enables a human body to sit on the seat at any time through a seat between two legs, and can assist the walking of the human body by using a motor drive, but sitting posture support of the human body is realized through a damping clutch at a knee joint, so that the sitting posture support is unstable when the human body sits down, and in addition, the overall complexity and weight of the exoskeleton are increased due to the motor, so that the energy consumption is high. The knee joint connection of the existing exoskeleton mostly adopts simple hinging, for example, patent document with the application number 201410705631.3 discloses a wearable exoskeleton seat, sitting posture support of a human body is achieved through two brackets of thighs and shanks and a telescopic rod between the brackets, the knee joint connection is only simple in hinging, stability is poor, and friction between the thighs and the shanks is aggravated.
Disclosure of Invention
Aiming at the defects of the prior art, the invention aims to provide a wearable walking aid sitting exoskeleton.
The technical scheme adopted for solving the technical problems is as follows:
A wearable accompanying sitting-assisting exoskeleton comprises an upper body brace, a seat, a left leg and a right leg, wherein the left leg and the right leg have the same structure and comprise a supporting mechanism, thighs, knee joints, shanks, ankles and soles,
The supporting mechanism comprises a guide rail upper stop block, a sliding block, a first gas spring connecting piece, a guide rail lower stop block, a gas spring and a second gas spring connecting piece; the upper end and the lower end of the guide rail are respectively fixed on the lower surface of a thigh skeleton of the thigh through an upper guide rail stop block and a lower guide rail stop block, and the sliding block is slidably arranged on the guide rail;
The knee joint comprises bearing seats, sleeves, bearings and knee joint connecting shafts, wherein the bearing seats are respectively arranged on two sides of the upper end of a shank skeleton of a shank, each bearing seat is provided with a bearing, the knee joint connecting shafts penetrate through the upper end of the shank skeleton of the shank and the two bearings, the knee joint connecting shafts are fixedly connected with inner rings of the bearings, the knee joint connecting shafts can rotate relative to the shank skeleton, the lower ends of thigh skeletons of the thighs are fixedly connected with the knee joint connecting shafts, and the sleeves are sleeved on the knee joint connecting shafts and are positioned between the inner rings of the bearings and the thigh skeletons of the thighs.
The ankle joint comprises a connecting pin, a connecting block, an ankle joint sleeve, a straight rotating shaft and an ankle joint connecting piece, wherein the ankle joint connecting piece is rotatably installed at the lower part of a shank telescopic pipe of a shank, one end of the straight rotating shaft is fixedly connected with the ankle joint connecting piece, the other end of the straight rotating shaft is fixedly connected with one end of the ankle joint sleeve, one end of the connecting block is provided with a sliding groove, one end of the connecting block, which is provided with the sliding groove, is inserted into the other end of the ankle joint sleeve, the connecting pin is inserted into the sliding grooves of the ankle joint sleeve and the connecting block, the connecting pin can slide along the sliding grooves, so that the connecting block can slide back and forth along the ankle joint sleeve, the movement freedom degree of the ankle joint along the front-back direction of an exoskeleton is provided, and the other end of the connecting block is rotatably connected with the rear end of a sole.
The thigh comprises a thigh framework and thigh binding bands, wherein the upper end of the thigh framework is fixedly connected with the seat framework of the seat, two sides of the lower end of the thigh framework are respectively provided with end lugs fixedly connected with a knee joint connecting shaft, and the upper end of the shank framework of the shank is positioned between the two end lugs.
The seat comprises a seat framework and a seat cushion arranged on the seat framework, wherein two inclined rods connected with respective thigh frames extend from two sides of one end of the seat framework respectively, and the connection positions of the thigh framework and the inclined rods are adjustable.
The shank comprises a shank framework, shank telescopic tubes and shank binding bands, wherein the shank telescopic tubes are inserted into the shank framework and locked through clamping rings, and the insertion depth of the shank telescopic tubes into the shank framework is adjustable.
Compared with the prior art, the invention has the beneficial effects that:
1. The existing passive lower limb exoskeleton supporting mechanism does not consider that when a human body walks, the leg lifting needs to provide a part of force to offset the elasticity of the air spring, and the walking of the human body is hindered, so that the air spring and the guide rail sliding block are combined, one end of the air spring is fixed on the sliding block, and the other end of the air spring is fixed on the lower leg framework, so that when the human body walks, the sliding block can move upwards along the guide rail, the leg lifting action is completed, and the human body does not need to apply extra force to offset the elasticity of the air spring. The thigh and the shank of the lower limb exoskeleton commonly adopt the hinging mechanism, so that larger friction force can be generated on the inner walls of the thigh and the shank, the service life of a product is influenced, and a certain obstruction can be caused to the rotation of the knee joint.
2. The ankle joint of the existing product generally has only 1 rotational degree of freedom, and the ankle joint of the human body has 3 rotational degrees of freedom, so that the movement flexibility of the ankle part of the existing product is poor. The ankle joint comprises 4 degrees of freedom, can freely rotate around xyz three axes, enables the ankle to freely and flexibly move, accords with human engineering, and also has 1 degree of freedom of movement along the front-back direction, the degree of freedom of movement can dynamically adjust the distance between the sole and the lower leg in the process of movement and squatting, so that walking and squatting are smoother, the depth of a connecting block inserted into an ankle joint sleeve can be automatically adjusted during squatting, squatting actions are smoother, impact force of an exoskeleton on a human body during squatting is reduced, and the defect that the distance between the sole and the lower leg of an existing product is fixed is overcome.
3. The invention has simple structure, small overall weight, convenient wearing and carrying, no need of complex operation, and can transfer the force of the exoskeleton on the human body to the upper body through the upper body braces, improve the stress condition of the human body and reduce the obstruction of the exoskeleton on normal walking of the human body.
Drawings
FIG. 1 is a schematic diagram of the overall structure of the present invention;
FIG. 2 is a schematic illustration of the connection of the support mechanism of the present invention to the thigh and calf;
FIG. 3 is a schematic illustration of the connection of the gas spring to the calf bone of the present invention;
FIG. 4 is a schematic illustration of the knee joint of the present invention coupled to the thigh and calf;
FIG. 5 is an exploded view of the ankle joint of the present invention in connection with the sole and lower leg;
FIG. 6 is an exploded view of the thigh frame and seat frame of the present invention;
FIG. 7 is a schematic view of the structure of the seat frame of the present invention;
In the figure, 1, an upper body brace, 2, a seat, 3, thigh, 4, a supporting mechanism, 5, shank, 6, knee joint, 7, ankle joint, 8, sole;
201. seat cushion, 202, seat frame, 301, thigh frame, 302, thigh strap, 401, guide rail upper stop, 402, slider, 403, first gas spring connector, 404, guide rail, 405, guide rail lower stop, 406, gas spring, 407, second gas spring connector, 501, shank frame, 502, shank extension tube, 601, knee joint connecting shaft, 602, sleeve, 603, bearing, 604, bearing seat, 701, connecting pin, 702, connecting block, 703, ankle sleeve, 704, straight shaft, 705, ankle connector, 801, foot strap;
202-1, inclined rods, 301-1, end lugs, 502-1, circumferential grooves, 702-1 and sliding grooves.
Detailed Description
The present application will be described in more detail with reference to the following examples and the accompanying drawings, which should not be construed as limiting the scope of the application.
The invention relates to a wearable walking aid sitting exoskeleton (exoskeleton for short, see fig. 1-7), which comprises an upper body brace 1, a seat 2, a left leg and a right leg, wherein the upper body brace 1 is connected with the seat 2, the seat 2 is respectively connected with the left leg and the right leg, the left leg and the right leg have the same structure and respectively comprise a supporting mechanism 4 and a thigh 3, a knee joint 6, a shank 5, an ankle joint 7 and a sole 8 which are sequentially connected, and the thigh 3 is fixedly connected with the seat 2;
the supporting mechanism 4 comprises a guide rail upper stop block 401, a sliding block 402, a first gas spring connecting piece 403, a guide rail 404, a guide rail lower stop block 405, a gas spring 406 and a second gas spring connecting piece 407, wherein the upper end and the lower end of the guide rail 404 are respectively fixed on the lower surface of a thigh framework 301 of a thigh 3 through the guide rail upper stop block 401 and the guide rail lower stop block 405, the sliding block 402 is slidably arranged on the guide rail 404, the travel of the sliding block 402 is limited through the guide rail upper stop block 401 and the guide rail lower stop block 405, the upper end of the gas spring 406 is rotationally connected with the first gas spring connecting piece 403 through a pin shaft, the first gas spring connecting piece 403 is fixedly connected with the sliding block 402, the lower end of the gas spring 406 is rotationally connected with the second gas spring connecting piece 407 through a pin shaft, the second gas spring connecting piece 407 is fixedly connected with the lower leg framework 501 of a shank 5, and during the leg lifting and sitting, the gas spring 406 pushes the sliding block 402 to slide towards the guide rail upper stop block 401, and the initial elasticity of the gas spring 406 is released, so that no additional force is required to be applied by a human body to counteract the initial elasticity of the gas spring 406;
The knee joint 6 comprises a bearing seat 604, a sleeve 602, bearings 603 and a knee joint connecting shaft 601, wherein the bearing seats 604 are respectively arranged on two sides of the upper end of a shank skeleton 501 of a shank 5, each bearing seat 604 is provided with a bearing 603, the outer ring of each bearing 603 is in interference fit with the bearing seat 604, the knee joint connecting shaft 601 penetrates through the upper end of the shank skeleton 501 of the shank 5 and two bearings 603, the knee joint connecting shaft 601 is in interference fit with the inner ring of each bearing 603, the knee joint connecting shaft 601 can rotate relative to the shank skeleton 501, the lower end of the thigh skeleton 301 of the thigh 3 is fixedly connected with the knee joint connecting shaft 601, the sleeve 602 is sleeved on the knee joint connecting shaft 601 and is positioned between the inner ring of each bearing 603 and the thigh skeleton 301, rotation between the thigh 3 and the shank 5 is realized through the bearings 603, rotation between the thigh 3 and the shank 5 is converted into rotation between the inner ring and the outer ring of each bearing 603, the conventional hinged surface contact is changed into point contact, and friction force is reduced, and the rotation of the knee joint 6 is more compliant;
The ankle joint 7 comprises a connecting pin 701, a connecting block 702, an ankle joint sleeve 703, a linear rotating shaft 704 and an ankle joint connecting piece 705, wherein the ankle joint connecting piece 705 is rotatably arranged at the lower part of a shank telescopic pipe 502 of a shank 5 to realize rotation of the ankle joint 7 around a z axis, one end of the linear rotating shaft 704 is fixedly connected with the ankle joint connecting piece 705, the other end of the linear rotating shaft 704 is fixedly connected with one end of the ankle joint sleeve 703 to realize rotation of the ankle joint 7 around an x axis, one end of the connecting block 702 is provided with a sliding groove 702-1, the connecting pin 701 is inserted into the other end of the ankle joint sleeve 703, the connecting pin 701 is inserted into the sliding groove 702-1 of the ankle joint sleeve 703 and the connecting block 702-1, connection between the connecting block 702 and the ankle joint sleeve 703 is realized, the connecting pin 701 can slide along the sliding groove 702-1, so that the connecting block 702 slides reciprocally along the ankle joint sleeve 703, namely, in a forward and backward direction of an exoskeleton, in a process of sitting down, the human body, the depth of the connecting block 702 inserted into the ankle joint sleeve 703 can be automatically adjusted under the action of the human body under the action of the lower skeleton 5, and the action of the human body, and the depth of the connecting block 702 can freely move freely around the human body, and the human body can freely, and freely rotate around the human body, and the human body can freely, and the human body can rotate, and the human body freely.
The thigh 3 comprises a thigh skeleton 301 and thigh binding bands 302, the thigh binding bands 302 are installed on the thigh skeleton 301, the upper end of the thigh skeleton 301 is fixedly connected with a seat 2, two sides of the lower end of the thigh skeleton 301 are respectively provided with end lugs 301-1, two end lugs 301-1 are respectively fixedly connected with a knee joint connecting shaft 601 through locking nuts, the upper end of a shank skeleton 501 of a shank 5 is located between the two end lugs 301-1, a sleeve 602 is arranged between each end lug 301-1 and a corresponding bearing 603, one end face of the sleeve 602 is in contact with an inner ring of the bearing 603, axial limiting is conducted on the thigh skeleton 301 through the sleeve 602, in order to enable a knee joint 6 to be firmer, gaskets are added between the end lugs 301-1 of the thigh skeleton 301 and the locking nuts to increase the contact area, and when the thigh binding bands are installed, the sleeve 602 is abutted against the inner ring of the bearing 603, so that the thigh skeleton 301, the knee joint connecting shaft 601 and the inner ring of the bearing 603 are fixedly connected together, and the shank skeleton 501 and the bearing 603 of the shank 5 are converted into a rotary joint between the thigh skeleton 301 and the outer ring of the bearing 603.
The shank 5 comprises a shank skeleton 501, a shank extension tube 502 and shank straps (not shown), the shank extension tube 502 is inserted into the shank skeleton 501 and locked by a clamp, the length of the shank 5 is adjusted by adjusting the depth of the shank extension tube 502 inserted into the shank skeleton 501 so as to meet users with different heights, the shank straps are arranged on the shank skeleton 501, a circumferential groove 502-1 is arranged at the lower part of the shank extension tube 502 and used for installing an ankle joint connector 705, and the ankle joint connector 705 is prevented from moving along the axial direction of the shank extension tube 502, but relative rotation between the ankle joint connector 705 and the shank extension tube 502 is not hindered.
The seat 2 comprises a seat framework 202 and a seat cushion 201 arranged on the seat framework 202, wherein the upper surface of the seat cushion 201 is concave to prevent a human body from sliding downwards, two inclined rods 202-1 connected with respective thigh frameworks 301 extend out of two sides of one end of the seat framework 202 respectively, the inclined rods 202-1 incline towards the ground, an included angle between each inclined rod and a horizontal plane is 60-80 degrees, a plurality of threaded holes used for being connected with the thigh framework 301 are formed in the inclined rods 202-1 along the length direction, the length of thighs 3 is adjusted by adjusting the connection position of the thigh framework 301 and the inclined rods 202-1 when the seat is worn, the inclined rods 202-1 enable the exoskeleton to keep horizontal except for the inclined rods 202-1, the human body sits on the seat 2, and the thighs always keep inclined towards the ground, so that comfort is improved.
The pin shaft between the gas spring 406 and the gas spring connecting piece is in a step shape, the tail end of the pin shaft is axially limited through the cotter pin, and the surface of the pin shaft is smooth, so that the friction between the gas spring 406 and the pin shaft is small.
The working principle and the working flow of the invention are as follows:
The exoskeleton is worn by adjusting the distance between the seat frame 202 and the thigh frame 301 according to the height of the user and fixing the distance by bolts, adjusting the depth of inserting the shank extension tube 502 into the shank frame 501 and fixing the depth by clips, and wearing the upper body harness 1 on the upper body of the user to bind the thigh strap 302, the shank strap and the foot strap 801 on the sole 8 with the thigh, the shank and the foot of the user respectively, thereby completing the wearing of the exoskeleton.
When a user sits down, the gas spring 406 pushes the sliding block 402 to slide towards the direction of the upper guide rail stop block 401, the position of the sliding block 402 is fixed when the sliding block slides to the position of the upper guide rail stop block 401, the user continues to sit down at the moment, the gas spring 406 is compressed, when the gas spring 406 reaches the limit position, the sitting posture of the user is fixed, at the moment, the included angle between the thigh bone 301 and the calf bone 501 is about 100 degrees, the knee joint 6 is close to the position of the calf 5 instead of being propped against the knee joint of the user, so that the sitting posture is more comfortable, a certain counter force can be generated in the compression process of the gas spring 406, the human body is buffered, and the sitting process is more flexible and gentle, and the user experience is more comfortable. During sitting or squatting, the lower leg 5 rotates towards the front of the exoskeleton, the lower end of the lower leg 5 has a horizontal backward acting force on the ankle joint 7, and under the action of the acting force, the ankle joint sleeve 703 moves backward, so that the depth of the connecting block 702 inserted into the ankle joint sleeve 703 is reduced, the squatting action is smoother, and the impact force of the exoskeleton on a human body during squatting is reduced;
When the user stands up, the gas spring 406 is extended to provide a certain supporting force, the sliding block 402 slides along the guide rail 404 towards the knee joint 6, the compressed gas of the gas spring 406 is released to provide upward supporting force for the thigh 3 and the seat 2, and the supporting force is not required for the user to provide by himself/herself.
The invention is applicable to the prior art where it is not described.