DEVELOPMENT OF POWER ASSIST SUIT FOR ASSISTING NURSE CARRING PATIENT

本项目开发的电动套装是为了在病人举起和放下的顺序操作中支持值班护士的肌肉力量。动力套装由肩膀、手臂、腰部和腿部组成，安装在护士身上，将力量直接传递到护士的手臂、腰部和腿部。电动西服源于主从一体的概念，手臂、腰部和腿部都有气动旋转执行器。研制了两种类型的执行器。一种是由微小间隙相互滑动的同心圆盒组成的执行器。另一种是利用插入在铝板之间的套筒的执行器，通过肌肉硬度传感器来感知护士的手臂、腰部和腿部的动作。一种是利用带有安装在传感尖端的膜片的腔体的传感器。感应尖端的凹陷对应于肌肉的硬度，即施力肌肉产生压力信号。另一种是采用感应器的传感器，传感尖端安装在传感表面上。该气动执行器具有结构简单、体积小、重量轻、触感柔和、动作平稳等优点，实验证明，采用旋转执行器和肌肉传感器制作的动力服是可行的，可以作为实际装备的样机。

Powered suit developed in this project is to support muscular force of a attendant nurse in the sequential operation of holding up and down of a patient. The powered suit consists of shoulders, arms, waist and legs, and is fitted on the nurse to transmit the force directly to the arms, waist and legs of the nurse. The powered suit is originated with the concept of master and slave system in one body.The arms , waist and legs have the pneumatic rotary actuators. Two kinds of actuators were developed. One is the actuators consist of concentric round boxes sliding each other with infinitesimal clearance. The other is the actuator utilized cuffs inserted between aluminum plates connected each other with rings.The action of the arms , waist and legs of the nurse were sensed with muscle hardness sensors.Two kinds of the sensors were developed. One is the sensor utilizing a cavity with diaphragm mounted a sensing tip. The dent of the sensing tip corresponding to the hardness of the muscle i.e., exerting force muscle produces pressure signal. The other is the sensor using load cell with a sensing tip mounted on the sensing surface. These pneumatic actuators have the advantages of simple structure, compact size, light weight, has possibility to realize smooth movement with tender touch.Experiments proved that the powered suit using the rotary actuators and the muscle sensors have feasibility and is able to be adopted as the prototype for practical equipment.