Analysis of low-cost wearable servo valve using buckled tubes for optimal arrangement of tubes

Aiming to improve worldwide nursing care system, improving quality of life for elderly and disable people, invention and innovation of human friendly and safe wearable rehabilitation devices are rapidly increasing. This paper presents a novel, low-cost and wearable servo valve using buckled tube for pneumatic actuators. In the previous study, the construction, operating principle and the statics and dynamics of the valve were reported. In this paper, the analytical model of the valve is discussed. To confirm the validity of the valve, experimental results and calculated results based on the model and identified system parameters are compared. As a result, it is confirmed that the proposed model of the valve is valid to obtain suitable arrangement of the buckled tubes analytically.