Development of Spring-Supported Flexible Pneumatic Actuators with Vertical Flexibility

Himena TAHARA, FeiFei CHO, Tetsuya AKAGI, Shujiro DOHTA, Takashi SHINOHARA, Masashi YOKOTA

In caring for the elderly and people with disabilities, the periodic repositioning of the patient’s body is essential to prevent bedsores. These complex works put excessive mental and physical strain on caregivers. In the previous study, a soft actuator developed for wrist rehabilitation was used to develop a prototype active mattress to prevent bedsores. However, conventional actuators have the problem of being inflexible under vertical loads. Therefore, in this study, a Spring-Supported Flexible pneumatic Actuator (SSFA) with a coil spring as a part of the structure is proposed and investigated with the aim of developing a vertically flexible soft actuator. Specifically, the Crossed-Located Support Type SSFA and the Hemispherical Arrangement Support Type SSFA with vertical flexibility and capable of bending motion and vertical extension motion are developed. In addition to radial bending and vertical extension, the development of 3-Pillar Parallel Link Type SSFA and 6-Pillar Parallel Link Type SSFA capable of generating rotational motion around a vertical axis is proposed and investigated. The basic static characteristics of these actuators are also examined. The developed 6-Pillar Parallel Link Type SSFA is expected to be applied to health support devices that require multi-action movements, such as rehabilitation equipment. This is due to its ability to achieve both vertical flexibility and a high degree of freedom in movement.

Transactions of the JFPS/ JFPS International Journal of Fluid Power System

日本フルードパワーシステム学会

Vol.18

No.1

22

28

1881-5286

10.5739/jfpsij.18.90

https://www.jstage.jst.go.jp/article/jfpsij/18/1/18_90/_pdf/-char/en