A novel smart assistive knee brace incorporated with shape memory alloy wire actuator

Abstract

The knee plays a significant role in locomotion and stability of the entire body through supporting the body weight and assisting the lower body kinematics during walking. However, the knee is at constant risk of becoming weakened due to disease, age, and accidents. One approach to treating weakened knee is wearing an assistive knee brace. To design a clinical knee brace, many factors such as weight and compliant mechanism should be considered. In this study, a novel smart assistive knee brace mechanism incorporated with wire actuators made of shape memory alloys is proposed to ameliorate the issues associated with weight and flexibility of existing brace designs. Unlike earlier studies, the proposed orthosis includes pressure sensor, shape memory actuator, and smart linkage. Furthermore, two distinct shape memory alloy actuator design concepts with improved stiffness are developed, and the best option is chosen systematically and prototyped. The novel mechanism proposed in this research overcomes the weight of the lower limb during swing phase using the combined shape memory alloy actuation and feed-forward controller design. As such, it can be used as a potential replacement to its conventional counterparts when the higher weight reduction as well as a flexible and controllable mechanism are simultaneously sought.

Research and Application of Information Model of a Lithium Ion Battery Intelligent Manufacturing Workshop Based on OPC UA

“…(3) Creating an OPC UA root object group in that OPC UA server; (4) Adding data labels; (5) Reading the data and converting to the OPC UA protocol; (6) Using OPC UA client to search and read the address space of OPC UA server to obtain data of information model; (7) Loading and browsing of OPC UA client information model; (8) The development of an intelligent information system based on the data obtained by OPC UA client. The information model validation process for OPC UA is shown in Figure 10.…”

“…Lithium ion batteries are favored for their advantages of high-energy density, high-power density, long service life, convenient carrying, and low cost, and have been widely used in the fields of power grid energy and storage [3], automobile and aviation [4], health care [5], consumer electronic products [6], and wearable intelligent products [7]. In recent years, the lithium ion battery industry is developing towards intelligent manufacturing [8].…”

Materials and Manufacturing for Ankle–Foot Orthoses: A Review

“…The excellent power-to-weight ratio of SMA actuators combined with their superelasticity, high fatigue resistance, and capacity to exert a consistent force over a variety of displacements make them suitable for application in the construction of small devices. [205][206][207] However, their implementation faces significant technical difficulty due to mechanical inefficiency and delayed response. [202] Deberg et al [207] used SMA superelastic wires to develop a passive AFO for addressing the drop foot disability.…”

A numerical study towards shape memory alloys application in orthotic management of pediatric knee lateral deviations

“…In these devices, the pseudoelastic effect is used to assert that the force exerted on the teeth does not decrease as treatment proceeds, avoiding the necessity of frequent re-adjustments existing with formerly used steel made apparatuses 13 . In the field of orthopedics, shape memory alloys have been used as passive actuators for knee orthoses 14 , in ankle foot orthoses for persons having drop foot syndrome 15 , as active elements inserted into textiles 16 and as deformable elements in orthoses for patients with spastic knee 17 .…”