Variable-stiffness chest and abdomen combined wearable breathing assisting robot

Abstract

The invention provides a variable-stiffness chest and abdomen combined wearable breathing assisting robot which comprises a wearable chest upper assisting assembly, a chest lower assisting assembly and an abdomen assisting assembly, and the wearable chest upper assisting assembly comprises a chest upper shell, a soft wrapping material wrapping the chest upper shell and a restraint strap; the chest lower part auxiliary assembly comprises a left chest lower part shell and a right chest lower part shell, the edges of the left chest lower part shell and the right chest lower part shell are wrapped with a left side soft wrapping material and a right side soft wrapping material respectively, and the left chest lower part shell and the right chest lower part shell are connected through an artificial muscle assembly; the abdomen auxiliary assembly comprises an abdomen soft wrapping shell and a parallel driving platform, and the parallel driving platform is located in the abdomen soft wrapping shell; a patient is helped to breathe normally by setting a chest and abdomen combined breathing assisting mechanism, and the breathing assisting efficiency can be greatly improved through a chest and abdomen double-acting assisting mechanism.

Description

Technical Field

[0001] The present invention relates to the field of respiratory assistance medical devices, and in particular to a variable-rigidity chest-abdomen combined wearable respiratory assistance robot. Background Art

[0002] Respiratory diseases are one of the common and serious health problems worldwide. Diseases such as chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), pulmonary fibrosis, and asthma can significantly reduce patients' respiratory function, and severe cases may even require mechanical assistance for breathing. Traditional respiratory assistance devices are mostly static mechanical ventilators, which mainly use external mechanical force to help patients complete the breathing process. Although these devices can effectively improve patients' oxygen intake capacity, they are usually bulky, and patients need to stay in bed for a long time for treatment, which seriously affects their quality of life. In addition, existing ventilator designs are mostly fixed-rigidity devices that cannot be flexibly adjusted according to the patient's different breathing stages or physical conditions, making it difficult to provide more personalized and comfortable respiratory support.

[0003] In recent years, with the development of flexible variable stiffness technology and wearable devices, wearable respiratory assistance devices have gradually become an emerging treatment method. By combining lightweight, wearable devices with intelligent control systems, it is possible to provide continuous respiratory support for patients with limited respiratory function and maintain the freedom of daily activities. However, the wearable respiratory assistance devices currently on the market are mostly limited to local respiratory support, such as simple chest or abdominal assistance, and cannot provide combined support for the chest and abdomen at the same time. Combined chest and abdomen respiratory assistance is of great significance for improving patients' respiratory efficiency and optimizing gas exchange. Summary of the invention

[0004] The purpose of the present invention is to solve the shortcomings of the prior art and to propose a variable stiffness chest-abdomen combined wearable breathing assistance robot.

[0005] To achieve the above object, the present invention adopts the following technical solutions: A variable-rigidity chest-abdomen combined wearable breathing assistance robot comprises a wearable upper chest auxiliary component, a lower chest auxiliary component and an abdominal auxiliary component, wherein the wearable upper chest auxiliary component comprises an upper chest shell, a soft wrapping material coated on the upper chest shell and a restraint belt, wherein the restraint belt is connected to the upper chest shell to form a wearable structure; the lower chest auxiliary component comprises a left chest lower shell and a right chest lower shell, wherein the edges of the left chest lower shell and the right chest lower shell are coated with a left soft wrapping material and a right soft wrapping material respectively, and the left chest lower shell and the right chest lower shell are connected through an artificial muscle component; the abdominal auxiliary component comprises an abdominal soft wrapping shell and a parallel drive platform, wherein the parallel drive platform is located inside the abdominal soft wrapping shell and is connected to the abdominal soft wrapping shell, wherein the parallel drive platform comprises a fixed platform and a moving platform, wherein an upper drive airbag component and a lower drive airbag component are arranged between the fixed platform and the moving platform.

[0006] Furthermore, the artificial muscle assembly is composed of three artificial muscles, and the three artificial muscles are arranged in parallel and arranged up and down at a fixed distance, which can improve their load capacity and thus effectively improve the respiratory assistance efficiency.

[0007] Furthermore, the fixed platform includes an upper plate on the fixed platform, a fixed platform connecting rod and a lower plate on the fixed platform, the two ends of the fixed platform connecting rod are respectively connected to the middle of the upper plate on the fixed platform and the lower plate on the fixed platform, and the upper plate on the fixed platform is fixedly connected to the abdominal soft wrapping shell.

[0008] Furthermore, the moving platform includes a moving platform upper plate, a moving platform connecting rod and a moving platform lower plate. The moving platform connecting rod is provided in plurality and both ends of each moving platform connecting rod are respectively connected to the moving platform upper plate and the moving platform lower plate. The moving platform lower plate is made of variable stiffness material.

[0009] Furthermore, the upper driving airbag assembly and the lower driving airbag assembly are symmetrically arranged on both sides of the upper plate of the moving platform, and the upper driving airbag assembly and the lower driving airbag assembly are each composed of three driving airbags arranged in a 120° circle to increase the driving force during assisted breathing.

[0010] Furthermore, the fixed platform upper plate, the fixed platform connecting rod and the fixed platform lower plate are made into an integrated structure through a molding preparation process.

[0011] Furthermore, the movable platform upper plate, movable platform connecting rod and movable platform lower plate are also made into an integrated structure through a molding preparation process.

[0012] Furthermore, the fixed platform connecting rod runs through the center of the upper plate of the moving platform. Through the coordinated driving of the upper driving airbag assembly and the lower driving airbag assembly, the moving platform can slide up and down along the fixed platform connecting rod, thereby simulating the action of human hand pressing.

[0013] Furthermore, the moving platform lower plate is embedded with moving platform lower plate particle fillers and moving platform lower plate lamellar fillers, and the moving platform lower plate particle fillers are located at both ends of the moving platform lower plate lamellar fillers. Through this combined blocking structure of particles and lamellars, the stiffness can be changed well, thereby greatly improving the patient's breathing assistance effect.

[0014] The beneficial effects of the present invention are as follows: (1) The present invention helps patients breathe normally by setting up a chest-abdomen combined breathing assistance mechanism, and the dual-action assistance mechanism of the chest and abdomen can greatly improve the breathing assistance efficiency; (2) The present invention weaves a flexible nylon belt into an ergonomic wearable structure, which greatly improves the patient's flexible movement ability; (3) The present invention sets an artificial muscle component in the lower part of the chest cavity to drive the tightening and relaxation of the chest cavity shell, thereby playing an effect of assisting chest cavity breathing; (4) The present invention realizes the movement drive of the moving platform by symmetrically arranging the airbag components on the inner side of the parallel drive platform with the upper plate of the moving platform. By alternately filling the mutually symmetrical airbag components with positive pressure, the moving platform can be moved up and down, thereby simulating the effect of a person pressing on the patient's abdomen, thereby assisting the patient to breathe normally; (5) The present invention The effect of variable stiffness is achieved by embedding particles and sheet materials inside the chest shell and the lower plate of the dynamic platform of the parallel drive platform. A particle structure with high filling density, deformability, easy flow and tight stacking is embedded in the part with large curvature change. A sheet material with high surface area, good flexibility and stackability is embedded in the part with small curvature change. Through this combined blocking structure of particles and sheets, the effect of variable stiffness can be well achieved, which greatly improves the patient's respiratory assistance effect. At the same time, this design can not only make the shell structure fit the human body surface well according to different human body shapes in static state, but also change with the ups and downs of the human chest and abdomen when the patient's breathing changes dynamically, making the patient feel like wearing an outer coat, greatly enhancing the patient's comfort and flexibility, and improving the quality of life. BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0015] Figure 1 A schematic diagram of the overall structure of one embodiment of the present invention from one viewing angle; Figure 2 It is a schematic diagram of the overall structure of another perspective of an embodiment of the present invention; Figure 3 It is a structural schematic diagram of a parallel drive platform according to an embodiment of the present invention; Figure 4 for Figure 3 Schematic diagram of the left side; Figure 5 A schematic cross-sectional view of the overall structure of an embodiment of the present invention; Figure 6 for Figure 5 A cross-sectional view of Figure 7 It is a partial enlarged view of the lower plate of the moving platform of one embodiment of the present invention; Figure numbers: 1-upper chest shell; 11-upper chest shell granular filler; 12-upper chest shell lamellar filler; 2-upper chest shell soft wrapping; 3-restraint belt; 4-left lower chest shell; 41-lower chest shell granular filler; 42-lower chest shell lamellar filler; 5-right lower chest shell; 6-left soft wrapping material; 7-right soft wrapping material; 8-artificial muscle assembly; 9-abdomen soft wrapping shell; 10-parallel drive platform; 101-lower side drive airbag assembly; 102-upper side drive airbag assembly; 103-fixed platform; 104-moving platform; 105-fixed platform upper plate; 106-fixed platform connecting rod; 107-fixed platform lower plate; 108-moving platform upper plate; 109-moving platform connecting rod; 110-moving platform lower plate; 111-moving platform lower plate granular filler; 112-moving platform lower plate lamellar filler. DETAILED DESCRIPTION

[0016] In order to provide a further understanding of the purpose, structure, features and functions of the present invention, the following detailed description is given in conjunction with the embodiments.

[0017] like Figure 1-Figure 7 A variable stiffness chest-abdomen combined wearable breathing assistance robot shown in the figure comprises a wearable upper chest auxiliary component, a lower chest auxiliary component and an abdominal auxiliary component; the wearable upper chest auxiliary component comprises an upper chest shell 1 and a soft wrapping material 2 coated on the upper chest shell, which are woven into a wearable structure through a restraint belt 3; the lower chest auxiliary component comprises a left lower chest shell 4, a right lower chest shell 5, and a left soft wrapping material 6 and a right soft wrapping material 7 coated on the lower chest shell, and the two lower chest shells are connected by an artificial muscle component 8, and the expansion and contraction of the artificial muscle component 8 drives the tightening and relaxation of the left lower chest shell 4 and the right lower chest shell 5 with variable stiffness, and then combined with the upper chest shell 1 with variable stiffness, it plays a role in assisting chest breathing; the abdominal auxiliary component comprises an abdominal soft wrapping shell 9 and a parallel drive platform 10, and the bilateral positive pressure drive mode of the parallel drive platform 10 is used to simulate the human pressing action, thereby playing a role in assisting breathing.

[0018] like Figure 3 and Figure 4The parallel driving platform 10 includes an upper driving airbag assembly 102, a lower driving airbag assembly 101, a fixed platform 103 and a moving platform 104. The upper driving airbag assembly 102 and the lower driving airbag assembly 101 are symmetrically arranged on both sides of the moving platform upper plate 108. The upper driving airbag assembly 102 and the lower driving airbag assembly 101 are composed of three driving airbags arranged in a 120° circle to increase the driving force during assisted breathing; the fixed platform 103 includes a fixed platform The upper plate 105, the fixed platform connecting rod 106 and the fixed platform lower plate 107, the fixed platform upper plate 105 is fixedly connected to the abdominal soft wrapping shell 9, and cooperates with the upper side driving airbag assembly 102 and the lower side driving airbag assembly 101 to drive the up and down movement of the moving platform 104, thereby simulating the effect of human hand pressing; the moving platform 104 includes a moving platform upper plate 108, a moving platform connecting rod 109 and a moving platform lower plate 110, and the moving platform lower plate 110 is a variable stiffness material to fit the human abdomen.

[0019] like Figure 1 The wearable upper chest auxiliary component shown includes an upper chest shell 1, an upper chest shell soft wrapping material 2 and a restraint belt 3. The upper chest shell 1 is made of a variable stiffness material so as to better fit the human chest and increase the patient's comfort; the upper chest shell soft wrapping material 2 is wrapped around the upper chest shell 1 to prevent scratching the patient's chest; the upper chest shell 1 and the upper chest shell soft wrapping material 2 are woven into a wearable structure that conforms to the upper part of the human body through the restraint belt 3, which greatly increases the patient's flexible movement ability.

[0020] like Figure 1 and Figure 2 The lower chest auxiliary component shown includes a left lower chest shell 4, a right lower chest shell 5, a left soft wrapping material 6, a right soft wrapping material 7 and an artificial muscle component 8. The left lower chest shell 4 and the right lower chest shell 5 are both made of variable stiffness materials to better fit the human body. The left soft wrapping material 6 and the right soft wrapping material 7 are wrapped around the lower chest shell to prevent scratches on the patient. The lower chest auxiliary component connects the left lower chest shell 4 and the right lower chest shell 5 through the artificial muscle component 8, and uses the expansion and contraction of the artificial muscle component 8 to drive the tightening and relaxation of the lower chest shell.

[0021] like Figure 2 The thoracic breathing assistance mechanism shown drives the contraction and extension of the artificial muscle assembly 8 to tighten and relax the left thoracic lower shell 4 and the right thoracic lower shell 5, and then combines the thoracic upper shell 1 with variable stiffness to assist thoracic breathing.

[0022] like Figure 2The abdominal auxiliary component shown includes an abdominal soft wrapping shell 9 and a parallel drive platform 10, and utilizes the bilateral positive pressure drive mode of the parallel drive platform 10 to simulate the human pressing action, thereby playing a role in assisting breathing.

[0023] like Figure 3 and Figure 4 The parallel drive platform 10 shown includes an upper drive airbag assembly 102, a lower drive airbag assembly 101, a fixed platform 103 and a moving platform 104. The upper drive airbag assembly 102 and the lower drive airbag assembly 101 are each composed of three drive airbags arranged in a 120° circle to increase the driving force during assisted breathing; the fixed platform upper plate 105 of the fixed platform 103 is fixedly connected to the abdominal soft wrapping shell 9, and the moving platform 104 cooperates with the upper drive airbag assembly 102 and the lower drive airbag assembly 101 to simulate the effect of human hand pressing, thereby achieving an abdominal compression-type breathing assistance effect.

[0024] like Figure 3 The fixed platform 103 shown includes a fixed platform upper plate 105, a fixed platform connecting rod 106 and a fixed platform lower plate 107, which are made into an integrated structure through a molding process, and the movable platform 104 includes a movable platform upper plate 108, a movable platform connecting rod 109 and a movable platform lower plate 110, which are also made into an integrated structure through a molding process. The fixed platform connecting rod 106 runs through the center of the movable platform upper plate 108, and the movable platform 104 can slide up and down along the fixed platform connecting rod 106 through the coordinated driving of the upper side driving airbag assembly 102 and the lower side driving airbag assembly 101, thereby simulating the action of human hand pressing.

[0025] like Figure 3 The parallel drive platform 10 shown adopts a double-sided positive pressure driving mode. When the upper driving airbag assembly 102 is filled with positive pressure, the upper driving airbag assembly 102 extends, presses the upper plate 108 of the moving platform downward, and then drives the lower plate 110 of the moving platform with variable stiffness to press the abdomen downward, thereby achieving the effect of assisting the patient to exhale; similarly, when the lower driving airbag assembly 101 is filled with positive pressure, the lower driving airbag assembly 101 extends, presses the upper plate 108 of the moving platform upward, and then drives the lower plate 110 of the moving platform with variable stiffness to move upward, thereby achieving the effect of assisting the patient to inhale.

[0026] like Figure 6 and Figure 7The upper chest shell 1, the left chest lower shell 4, the right chest lower shell 5 and the moving platform lower plate 110 shown are made of a silicone casting process, and variable stiffness materials are embedded therein to achieve the effect of variable stiffness. Granular structures with high filling density, deformability, easy flow and tight stacking (such as sand, glass beads, plastic particles, rubber particles, coffee beans and rice grains, etc.) are embedded in the parts with large curvature changes, and sheet materials with high surface area, good flexibility and stackability (such as paper sheets, plastic sheets, metal foils, rubber sheets, fiber-reinforced composite materials and textile sheets, etc.) are embedded in the parts with smaller curvature changes. Through this combined blocking structure of particles and sheets, the effect of variable stiffness can be well achieved, greatly improving the patient's respiratory assistance effect.

[0027] Working principle: The chest breathing assistance mechanism of a variable-rigidity chest-abdomen combined wearable breathing assistance robot mainly drives the tightening and relaxation of the left chest cavity lower shell 4 and the right chest cavity lower shell 5 through the expansion and contraction of the artificial muscle component 8 under the chest, thereby assisting chest breathing; the abdominal breathing assistance mechanism mainly simulates the effect of human hand compression through the parallel drive platform 10 of the abdomen, thereby assisting breathing; A variable-rigidity chest-abdomen combined wearable breathing assistance robot mainly helps patients breathe normally through a variable stiffness shell and a chest-abdomen combined breathing assistance mechanism. This wearable chest-abdomen combined breathing assistance mechanism not only ensures the efficiency of breathing assistance, but also improves the patient's flexibility of use to a certain extent, and improves the quality of life.

[0028] The present invention has been described by the above-mentioned relevant embodiments, however, the above-mentioned embodiments are only examples for implementing the present invention. It must be pointed out that the disclosed embodiments do not limit the scope of the present invention. On the contrary, changes and modifications made without departing from the spirit and scope of the present invention are all within the scope of patent protection of the present invention.

Claims

1. A variable stiffness chest-abdomen combined wearable breathing assistance robot, characterized in that: The invention comprises a wearable upper chest auxiliary component, a lower chest auxiliary component and an abdominal auxiliary component, wherein the wearable upper chest auxiliary component comprises an upper chest shell (1), a soft wrapping material (2) coated on the upper chest shell (1) and a restraint belt (3), wherein the restraint belt (3) is connected to the upper chest shell (1) to form a wearable structure; the lower chest auxiliary component comprises a left lower chest shell (4) and a right lower chest shell (5), wherein the edges of the left lower chest shell (4) and the right lower chest shell (5) are coated with a left soft wrapping material (6) and a right soft wrapping material (7) respectively. 7), the left chest cavity lower shell (4) and the right chest cavity lower shell (5) are connected via an artificial muscle assembly (8); the abdominal auxiliary assembly comprises an abdominal soft wrapping shell (9) and a parallel drive platform (10), the parallel drive platform (10) is located inside the abdominal soft wrapping shell (9) and connected to the abdominal soft wrapping shell (9), the parallel drive platform (10) comprises a fixed platform (103) and a moving platform (104), an upper drive airbag assembly (102) and a lower drive airbag assembly (101) are arranged between the fixed platform (103) and the moving platform (104).

2. A variable stiffness chest-abdomen combined wearable breathing assistance robot according to claim 1, characterized in that: The artificial muscle assembly (8) is composed of three artificial muscles, and the three artificial muscles are arranged in parallel and arranged up and down at a fixed distance.

3. A variable stiffness chest-abdomen combined wearable breathing assistance robot according to claim 1, characterized in that: The fixed platform (103) comprises a fixed platform upper plate (105), a fixed platform connecting rod (106) and a fixed platform lower plate (107), wherein the two ends of the fixed platform connecting rod (106) are respectively connected to the middle parts of the fixed platform upper plate (105) and the fixed platform lower plate (107), and the fixed platform upper plate (105) is fixedly connected to the abdominal soft wrapping shell (9).

4. The variable stiffness chest-abdomen combined wearable breathing assistance robot according to claim 4, characterized in that: The moving platform (104) comprises a moving platform upper plate (108), a moving platform connecting rod (109) and a moving platform lower plate (110); a plurality of moving platform connecting rods (109) are provided and the two ends of each moving platform connecting rod (109) are respectively connected to the moving platform upper plate (108) and the moving platform lower plate (110); the moving platform lower plate (110) is made of a variable stiffness material.

5. The variable stiffness chest-abdomen combined wearable breathing assistance robot according to claim 4, characterized in that: The upper driving airbag assembly (102) and the lower driving airbag assembly (101) are symmetrically arranged on both sides of the moving platform upper plate (108), and the upper driving airbag assembly (102) and the lower driving airbag assembly (101) are each composed of three driving airbags arranged in a 120° circle.

6. The variable stiffness chest-abdomen combined wearable breathing assistance robot according to claim 3, characterized in that: The fixed platform upper plate (105), the fixed platform connecting rod (106) and the fixed platform lower plate (107) are manufactured into an integrated structure through a molding preparation process.

7. The variable stiffness chest-abdomen combined wearable breathing assistance robot according to claim 4, characterized in that: The movable platform upper plate (108), the movable platform connecting rod (109) and the movable platform lower plate (110) are also manufactured into an integrated structure through a molding preparation process.

8. The variable stiffness chest-abdomen combined wearable breathing assistance robot according to claim 4, characterized in that: The fixed platform connecting rod (106) passes through the center of the moving platform upper plate (108).

9. The variable stiffness chest-abdomen combined wearable breathing assistance robot according to claim 4, characterized in that: A moving platform lower plate particle filler (111) and a moving platform lower plate lamellar filler (112) are embedded in the upper chest cavity shell (1), the left chest cavity lower shell (4), the right chest cavity lower shell (5) and the moving platform lower plate (110), wherein the moving platform lower plate particle filler (111) is located at both ends of the moving platform lower plate lamellar filler (112).

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