- 上一篇：塑料注塑工艺英文文献和翻译
- 下一篇：注塑模具设计CAD/CAE集成英文文献和翻译
or abnormal joints or limbs [2]. The Sports Medicine
Committee of the American Academy of Orthopedic
Surgeons has classified knee braces into four categories:
prophylactic, rehabilitative, functional and patellofemoral.
The majority of these devices can be considered passive
devices. They provide stability, apply precise pressure, or
help maintain alignment of the joints. Improved technology
has allowed for advancements where these devices can be
designed to apply a form of tension to resist motion of the
joint. These devices induce quicker recovery and are more
effective at restoring proper biomechanics and improving
muscle function. These may employ torsion springs, pistons
and simple mechanical devices to make them "semi-active",
rather than passive orthotics.
Some of the more innovative designs allow the torsion
to be adjusted; giving some variety and even further
improvements in efficiency over a simple passive device.
However, their shortcoming is in their inability to be
adjusted in real-time, which is the most ideal form of a
device for rehabilitation. This introduces a second class of
devices beyond passive orthotics. It is comprised of
"active" or powered devices, and although more
complicated in designs, they are definitely the most versatile.
An active or powered orthotic, usually employs some type
of actuator(s). These types of devices are ideal for
providing additional support to the knee, due to their unique
ability to adjust in real-time. The actuator aspects of these
devices allow them to perform augmentations and
enhancements on the human muscles. Examples of work
recently performed in this line of research are the ones
described in [3,4]. Both groups have explored the use of
advanced robotics and innovative actuators to improve the
functional use of ankle-foot-orthoses. Unfortunately,
advances in active orthotics have generally been limited
only to assistance and enhancement. Very little and close tono work is evident where active components are added to
orthotics specifically for the purposes of rehabilitation (i.e.
gait retraining) as it is proposed in this application. Besides,
it is worth mentioning that previous work concerning the
active control of orthotics has been limited, to our
knowledge, to ankle-foot-orthoses. No knee orthosis as
advanced as the one herein proposed has ever been
developed and tested in retraining gait patterns in stroke
patients.
Innovative actuators and force-feedback robotic devices
that provide controlled resistivity and operability that can be
used for patient rehabilitation training and human muscle
enhancement and augmentation have been studied by the
PI's team [5-7]. The developed novel robotic devices are
designed to support and train the human knee, elbow and
fingers. The mechanisms are designed to provide controlled
resistance, force and torque at high dexterity and rapid
response using novel elements that produce controlled
stiffness and actuators. For this purpose, the property of
electro-rheological fluids (ERF) to change the viscosity in
response to an electric field allowing to produce virtually
zero resistance when idle and to provide high resistivity
when stimulated electrically has been exploited.
A key to the above stated innovative robotic device
ability to provide resistivity as well as to operate on-demand
is the property of Electro-Rheological Fluid (ERF) to
increase the viscosity in the presence of an electric field.
Winslow [8] was the first to explain the effect in the 1940's
using oil dispersions of fine powders. These fluids are made
from suspensions of an insulating base fluid and particles