I-Corps: Fiber-Reinforced Elasto-Fluidic Systems

I-Corps：纤维增强弹性流体系统

• 批准号: 1464557
• 负责人: Sridhar Kota
• 金额: $ 5万
• 依托单位: Regents of the University of Michigan - Ann Arbor
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Standard Grant
• 财政年份: 2014
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2014-11-15 至 2015-08-31
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=1464557&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: Corps; Fiber; Reinforced; Elasto; Fluidic

Orthosis devices (to correct disorders of limbs or spine) currently being provided to patients are very unappealing. The devices are heavy, large mechanisms that are excessively restrictive of motion, painful, dangerous, and slow to provide results. This I-Corps team has developed fiber-reinforced elasto-fluidics orthosis devices that are lightweight, low cost, soft, and safe for human interaction. The fiber-reinforced elasto-fluidic systems are soft mechanical devices that act much like the arm of an octopus. The device can be made small enough to maintain a low profile while generating sufficient corrective force. The proposed technology also enables the remaining degrees of freedom of the body to be unrestricted. This technology provides the opportunity to develop a wide range of applications that provide solutions to existing problems, novel applications, and enhancements to existing designs.This project focuses on the development of fiber-reinforced elasto-fluidic technology for applications and markets that it can benefit. The fiber-reinforced elasto-fluidic systems combine the high strain energy utilization and flexibility of fibers, the versatility and compressive load abilities of fluids, and the continuum nature of soft materials, exploiting the best features of each. These properties and others combine to make elasto-fluidic systems without contact friction and losses, free of joint backlash, scalable in size, safe for human interaction, resilient to impact, adaptable to external forces and constraints, low cost, and high in power density. These systems have a wide range of forces and motions, are able to be combined in parallel, form complex shapes, and eliminate the need for subsequent mechanisms for geometric or mechanical advantage. The elasto-fluidic technology developed at the University of Michigan converts fluid pressure into a wide range of forces and three-dimensional kinematic motions well beyond the scope of existing pneumatic muscles.

目前提供给患者的矫形器(用于矫正四肢或脊柱疾病)非常缺乏吸引力。这些设备是笨重的大型机械装置，运动过度受限，痛苦、危险，产生效果的速度很慢。这个i-Corps团队已经开发出纤维增强的弹流矫形器设备，这种设备重量轻、成本低、柔软，并且对人类交互是安全的。纤维增强的弹流系统是一种柔软的机械装置，其作用很像章鱼的手臂。该装置可以制作得足够小，以保持低调，同时产生足够的矫正力。拟议的技术还使身体的剩余自由度不受限制。这项技术提供了开发广泛应用的机会，这些应用为现有问题提供解决方案、新的应用和对现有设计的增强。本项目专注于开发纤维增强弹性流体技术，以应用于它可以受益的应用和市场。纤维增强弹流系统结合了纤维的高应变能利用率和灵活性、流体的多功能性和压缩负荷能力以及软材料的连续介质性质，充分利用了每种材料的最佳特性。这些特性和其他特性结合在一起，使弹流系统无接触摩擦和损失、无关节间隙、尺寸可扩展、人类交互安全、抗冲击能力强、适应外力和约束、低成本和高功率密度。这些系统具有广泛的力和运动范围，能够并行组合，形成复杂的形状，并且不需要后续机构来获得几何或机械优势。密歇根大学开发的弹流技术将流体压力转换为各种力和三维运动，远远超出了现有气动肌肉的范围。