Design of a portable hydraulic ankle-foot orthosis

Author

Neubauer, Brett C. ; Nath, Jonathan ; Durfee, William K.

Author_Institution

Univ. of Minnesota, Minneapolis, MN, USA

fYear

2014

fDate

26-30 Aug. 2014

Firstpage

1182

Lastpage

1185

Abstract

Small-scale hydraulics is ideal for powered human assistive devices including powered ankle foot orthoses because a large torque can be generated with an actuator that is small and light. A portable hydraulic ankle foot orthosis has been designed and is undergoing preliminary prototyping and engineering bench test evaluation. The device provides 90 Nm of ankle torque and has an operating pressure of 138 bar (2,000 psi). The battery-operated hydraulic power supply weighs about 3 kg and is worn at the waist. The ankle component weighs about 1.2 Kg and connects to the power supply with two hoses. Performance simulation and preliminary bench testing suggests that the device could be useful in certain rehabilitation applications.

Keywords

orthotics; prosthetic power supplies; ankle component; ankle torque; battery-operated hydraulic power supply; human assistive device; portable hydraulic ankle-foot orthosis; powered ankle foot orthoses; pressure 138 bar; small-scale hydraulics; Actuators; Fluids; Foot; Muscles; Power supplies; Testing; Torque;

fLanguage

English

Publisher

ieee

Conference_Titel

Engineering in Medicine and Biology Society (EMBC), 2014 36th Annual International Conference of the IEEE

Conference_Location

Chicago, IL

ISSN

1557-170X

Type

conf

DOI

10.1109/EMBC.2014.6943807

Filename

6943807