Development of medical care assist bed using pneumatic planar soft actuator

本研究利用自行开发之气动平面软体驱动器之原理，研制出一种以气动橡胶球组成之医疗辅助床。床是由409个柔软的网球组成的两层结构。上层球与人体接触。下层球根据床的应用发挥不同的作用。为了实现褥疮的预防，本研究通过实验研究了人体接触压力的分散和体位的改变。身体接触压力的分散在下层球的压力恒定的情况下，上层球的压力增加或减少。球由于内部压力的增加和减少而膨胀和收缩。膨胀球上方的身体接触压力增加，收缩球上方的身体接触压力减小。然后，每个bo ...更多信息 可以通过控制上球的内部压力来调节接触压力。其结果是，能够实现对褥疮预防有效的身体接触压力的分散.人体姿态的变化这张床可以携带一个人躺在床上，速度为2.5mm/s。然后，我们试图通过改变纵向携带方向和将床的每个部分沿纵向分成沿着三个部分来实现有效防止褥疮的30度横向位置。在实验中，身体接触压力分布在肩部和腰部的气动软触觉传感器最初在我们的实验室开发的测量。所得到的接触压力分布几乎与30 °侧向位置的接触压力分布相当。研究结果表明，该床可用于辅助体位改变工作，既可分散人体接触压力，又可进行体位改变工作，对预防褥疮的发生有较好的效果。少

In this study, a medical care assist bed composed of pneumatic rubber balls has been developed, of which operation is based on the principle of the pneumatic planar soft actuator already developed by us. The bed is constructed with two layers structure of 409 soft tennis balls. The upper layer balls contact with a human body. The down layer balls play a different role depending on applications of the bed. In order to realize bedsore prevention, the ability of a dispersion of body contact pressure and a change of body posture has been experimentally examined.The results are summarized as followed :1. Dispersion of body contact pressureUnder the condition of that the pressure in the down layer balls is constant, the pressure in the upper layer balls is increased or decreased. The balls are expanded and contracted owing to the increase and decrease of the inner pressures. The body contact pressure above the expanded ball increases, and it decreases above the contracted ball. Then, each bo … More dy contact pressure can be adjusted by controlling the inner pressure of the upper balls. As a result, the dispersion of body contact pressure effective for bedsore prevention can be realized.2. Change of body postureThis bed can carry a human lying on the bed at a speed of 2.5mm/s. Then, we have tried to realize a lateral position of 30 degree effective for bedsore prevention by means of changing the carrying direction lengthwise and crosswise of each part of the bed divided into three along longitudinal direction. In experiments, body contact pressure distributions at the shoulder and waist were measure with a pneumatic soft tactile sensor originally developed in our laboratory. The obtained body contact pressure distributions are almost equivalent to one of the lateral position of 30 degree. This result shows the applicability of the bed to the assist for change of body posture work.The study has proved the availability of the developed bed to both the dispersion of body contact pressure and the change of body posture work effective to prevent a bedsore. Less