Soft Pneumatic Actuators for Rehabilitation
Pneumatic artificial muscles are pneumatic devices with practical and various applications as common actuators. They, as human muscles, work in agonistic-antagonistic way, giving a traction force only when supplied by compressed air. The state of the art of soft pneumatic actuators is here analyzed:...
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doaj-18895495f6924b028f6038dd31d4e4792020-11-24T22:02:19ZengMDPI AGActuators2076-08252014-05-01328410610.3390/act3020084act3020084Soft Pneumatic Actuators for RehabilitationGuido Belforte0Gabriella Eula1Alexandre Ivanov2Silvia Sirolli3Department of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering, Politecnico di Torino, Corso Duca degli Abruzzi 24, Torino 10129, ItalyDepartment of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering, Politecnico di Torino, Corso Duca degli Abruzzi 24, Torino 10129, ItalyDepartment of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering, Politecnico di Torino, Corso Duca degli Abruzzi 24, Torino 10129, ItalyDepartment of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering, Politecnico di Torino, Corso Duca degli Abruzzi 24, Torino 10129, ItalyPneumatic artificial muscles are pneumatic devices with practical and various applications as common actuators. They, as human muscles, work in agonistic-antagonistic way, giving a traction force only when supplied by compressed air. The state of the art of soft pneumatic actuators is here analyzed: different models of pneumatic muscles are considered and evolution lines are presented. Then, the use of Pneumatic Muscles (PAM) in rehabilitation apparatus is described and the general characteristics required in different applications are considered, analyzing the use of proper soft actuators with various technical properties. Therefore, research activity carried out in the Department of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering in the field of soft and textile actuators is presented here. In particular, pneumatic textile muscles useful for active suits design are described. These components are made of a tubular structure, with an inner layer of latex coated with a deformable outer fabric sewn along the edge. In order to increase pneumatic muscles forces and contractions Braided Pneumatic Muscles are studied. In this paper, new prototypes are presented, based on a fabric construction and various kinds of geometry. Pressure-force-deformation tests results are carried out and analyzed. These actuators are useful for rehabilitation applications. In order to reproduce the whole upper limb movements, new kind of soft actuators are studied, based on the same principle of planar membranes deformation. As an example, the bellows muscle model and worm muscle model are developed and described. In both cases, wide deformations are expected. Another issue for soft actuators is the pressure therapy. Some textile sleeve prototypes developed for massage therapy on patients suffering of lymph edema are analyzed. Different types of fabric and assembly techniques have been tested. In general, these Pressure Soft Actuators are useful for upper/lower limbs treatments, according to medical requirements. In particular devices useful for arms massage treatments are considered. Finally some applications are considered.http://www.mdpi.com/2076-0825/3/2/84textile actuatorspneumatic musclespneumatic soft actuatorssoft actuators for active clothsactive suitsnew soft actuators for limbs rehabilitationnew motors for human limbssoft actuators for human control movementsunusual woven applicationstextile engineering for intelligent garments |
collection |
DOAJ |
language |
English |
format |
Article |
sources |
DOAJ |
author |
Guido Belforte Gabriella Eula Alexandre Ivanov Silvia Sirolli |
spellingShingle |
Guido Belforte Gabriella Eula Alexandre Ivanov Silvia Sirolli Soft Pneumatic Actuators for Rehabilitation Actuators textile actuators pneumatic muscles pneumatic soft actuators soft actuators for active cloths active suits new soft actuators for limbs rehabilitation new motors for human limbs soft actuators for human control movements unusual woven applications textile engineering for intelligent garments |
author_facet |
Guido Belforte Gabriella Eula Alexandre Ivanov Silvia Sirolli |
author_sort |
Guido Belforte |
title |
Soft Pneumatic Actuators for Rehabilitation |
title_short |
Soft Pneumatic Actuators for Rehabilitation |
title_full |
Soft Pneumatic Actuators for Rehabilitation |
title_fullStr |
Soft Pneumatic Actuators for Rehabilitation |
title_full_unstemmed |
Soft Pneumatic Actuators for Rehabilitation |
title_sort |
soft pneumatic actuators for rehabilitation |
publisher |
MDPI AG |
series |
Actuators |
issn |
2076-0825 |
publishDate |
2014-05-01 |
description |
Pneumatic artificial muscles are pneumatic devices with practical and various applications as common actuators. They, as human muscles, work in agonistic-antagonistic way, giving a traction force only when supplied by compressed air. The state of the art of soft pneumatic actuators is here analyzed: different models of pneumatic muscles are considered and evolution lines are presented. Then, the use of Pneumatic Muscles (PAM) in rehabilitation apparatus is described and the general characteristics required in different applications are considered, analyzing the use of proper soft actuators with various technical properties. Therefore, research activity carried out in the Department of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering in the field of soft and textile actuators is presented here. In particular, pneumatic textile muscles useful for active suits design are described. These components are made of a tubular structure, with an inner layer of latex coated with a deformable outer fabric sewn along the edge. In order to increase pneumatic muscles forces and contractions Braided Pneumatic Muscles are studied. In this paper, new prototypes are presented, based on a fabric construction and various kinds of geometry. Pressure-force-deformation tests results are carried out and analyzed. These actuators are useful for rehabilitation applications. In order to reproduce the whole upper limb movements, new kind of soft actuators are studied, based on the same principle of planar membranes deformation. As an example, the bellows muscle model and worm muscle model are developed and described. In both cases, wide deformations are expected. Another issue for soft actuators is the pressure therapy. Some textile sleeve prototypes developed for massage therapy on patients suffering of lymph edema are analyzed. Different types of fabric and assembly techniques have been tested. In general, these Pressure Soft Actuators are useful for upper/lower limbs treatments, according to medical requirements. In particular devices useful for arms massage treatments are considered. Finally some applications are considered. |
topic |
textile actuators pneumatic muscles pneumatic soft actuators soft actuators for active cloths active suits new soft actuators for limbs rehabilitation new motors for human limbs soft actuators for human control movements unusual woven applications textile engineering for intelligent garments |
url |
http://www.mdpi.com/2076-0825/3/2/84 |
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