Design and Evaluation of a Novel Person Transfer Assist System

Abstract

Person transfer is a major problem for nursing in home and clinical, and this problem is becoming more prominent with the development of aging society and the change of population structure. In this article, a novel person transfer assist system named E-Pat (Easy-Patient Transfer), which can meet the transfer needs of the patient between beds, has been designed and analyzed. The importance and originality of this study are that it explores a theoretical design method for device to enhance patient comfortably when transferred, and put it into practice. The main tasks completed in this article include: (1) a prototype of the device is designed based on the principle of relative static contact point theory. In addition, the corresponding relationship between the human body pressure and the insertion angle is proposed, which provides a theoretical basis for the optimization of the mechanism; (2) based on STM32 (STMicroelectronics 32-bits Microcontroller) chip, the hardware circuit part of the device is designed. According to the transfer environment requirements of the device, the synchronization control algorithm of the device is designed and the experiment is carried out; (3) the performance evaluation of the device is carried out by means of Analytic Hierarchy Process (AHP), through the research of a group of 30 volunteers, the performance of the system has been evaluated accurately, which provides a reference for the industrialization of the prototype. The whole research of this article proves that this kind of person transfer assist system has good performance, it can also reduce the burden of caregivers.INDEX TERMS Person transfer, mechanical design, synchronous control system, performance evaluation.

The Design and User Evaluation of Body-Transfer System via Sliding Transfer Approach for Assisting Functionally Impaired People

“…Recently, a plethora of designs for transfer systems have been developed, a few of them being commercially available. However, the frequency of use of such transfer systems is still limited for a few major reasons, such as high cost, unreliable lifting mechanisms [16][17][18], frequent manual intervention, and unavailability of a complete transfer system (to and from bed to mobility devices, i.e., wheelchair and toilet chair). According to [19], the concept of maneuvering disabled individuals from beds through a robotic device was initiated by Robot for Interactive Body Assistance (RIBA).…”

Analysis, Design and Experimental Research of a Novel Bilateral Patient Transfer Robot

“…The patient transfer part is used to realize the transfer of the patient between the devices, and the moving part of the robot is applied to complete the moving of the patient between different rooms. The products include PowerNurse, designed by Astir Technologies company in the United States [8,9]; C-Pam, developed by DAIHEN company in Japan [10,11]; a patient transfer robot prototype researched by the Institute of Medical Equipment, Academy of Military Medical Sciences of the Chinese People's Liberation Army [12]; a multi-module patient transfer robot prototype, analyzed by Yanshan University [13][14][15]. The patient transfer part of these robots is mostly designed with a multi-module structure, and each module adopts two layers of belt for transmission, the lower layer belt is used for the overall movement and the posture adjustment of the transfer part, and the upper layer belt is used for moving and for posture adjustment of the patient.…”

Design and Analysis of a Lower Limb Rehabilitation Training Component for Bedridden Stroke Patients

“…There are currently 13 million cerebral apoplexy patients living with diseases in China, and about 2 million new cerebral apoplexy patients every year. The disability rate of survivors is 75%, and has become the leading cause of disability in the adult population [1]. In addition, other neurological diseases also lead to movement impairment of the upper and lower limbs, such as spinal cord injury [2].…”