A variable stiffness thoraco-abdominal combined wearable respiratory assist robot

Abstract

The present application provides a variable stiffness chest and abdomen combined wearable respiratory assistance robot, which comprises a wearable chest upper auxiliary assembly, a chest lower auxiliary assembly and an abdomen auxiliary assembly, the wearable chest upper auxiliary assembly comprises a thoracic cavity upper shell, a soft wrapping material wrapped on the thoracic cavity upper shell and a restraint belt, the chest lower auxiliary assembly comprises a left thoracic cavity lower shell and a right thoracic cavity lower shell, the edges of the left thoracic cavity lower shell and the right thoracic cavity lower shell are wrapped with left soft wrapping material and right soft wrapping material respectively, and the left thoracic cavity lower shell and the right thoracic cavity lower 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 inside the abdomen soft wrapping shell, the present application helps the patient to breathe normally through the setting of the chest and abdomen combined respiratory assistance mechanism, and the double-acting auxiliary mechanism of the chest and the abdomen can greatly improve the respiratory assistance efficiency.

Description

TECHNICAL FIELD

[0001] The present application relates to the field of respiratory assistive medical devices, and in particular to a variable stiffness chest and abdomen combined wearable respiratory assistive robot. BACKGROUND

[0002] Respiratory diseases are one of the common and serious health problems worldwide, such as chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), pulmonary fibrosis, asthma and other diseases, which can significantly reduce the respiratory function of patients, and even severe patients need to rely on mechanical assistance for breathing. Traditional respiratory assistive devices are mostly static mechanical ventilators, which mainly help patients complete the breathing process through external mechanical force. Although these devices can effectively improve the oxygen uptake capacity of patients, they are usually bulky, and patients need to be treated in bed for a long time, which seriously affects the quality of life. In addition, the existing ventilator design is mostly a fixed rigidity device, which cannot be flexibly adjusted according to the different breathing stages or body states of patients, and it is 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 assistive devices have gradually become a new emerging treatment method. By combining light and wearable devices with intelligent control systems, it can provide continuous respiratory support for patients with limited respiratory function and maintain the freedom of daily activities. However, the wearable respiratory assistive devices 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. Chest and abdomen combined respiratory assistance is of great significance to improve the respiratory efficiency of patients and optimize gas exchange. SUMMARY

[0004] The purpose of the present application is to solve the problems existing in the prior art, and to provide a variable stiffness chest and abdomen combined wearable respiratory assistive robot.

[0005] To achieve the above purpose, the present application adopts the following technical solutions:

[0006] The variable stiffness chest and abdomen combined wearable respiratory assistance robot comprises a wearable upper chest assistance assembly, a lower chest assistance assembly and an abdomen assistance assembly, the wearable upper chest assistance assembly comprises an upper thoracic cavity shell, a soft wrapping material wrapped on the upper thoracic cavity shell and a restraint belt, the restraint belt is connected with the upper thoracic cavity shell to form a wearable structure; the lower chest assistance assembly comprises a left lower thoracic cavity shell and a right lower thoracic cavity shell, the edges of the left lower thoracic cavity shell and the right lower thoracic cavity shell are wrapped with left and right soft wrapping materials respectively, and the left lower thoracic cavity shell and the right lower thoracic cavity shell are connected through an artificial muscle assembly; the abdomen assistance assembly comprises an abdomen soft wrapping shell and a parallel driving platform, the parallel driving platform is located inside the abdomen soft wrapping shell and the abdomen soft wrapping shell is connected, and the parallel driving platform comprises a fixed platform and a movable platform, and an upper driving air bag assembly and a lower driving air bag assembly are arranged between the fixed platform and the movable platform.

[0007] Further, the artificial muscle assembly is composed of three artificial muscles, the three artificial muscles are arranged in parallel and arranged in an upper and lower manner at a fixed distance, which can improve the load capacity and effectively improve the respiratory assistance efficiency.

[0008] Further, the fixed platform comprises a fixed platform upper plate, a fixed platform connecting rod and a fixed platform lower plate, two ends of the fixed platform connecting rod are connected to the middle parts of the fixed platform upper plate and the fixed platform lower plate respectively, and the fixed platform upper plate is fixedly connected with the abdomen soft wrapping shell.

[0009] Further, the movable platform comprises a movable platform upper plate, a movable platform connecting rod and a movable platform lower plate, a plurality of movable platform connecting rods are arranged, and two ends of each movable platform connecting rod are connected with the movable platform upper plate and the movable platform lower plate respectively, and the movable platform lower plate is made of a variable stiffness material.

[0010] Further, the upper driving air bag assembly and the lower driving air bag assembly are symmetrically arranged on both sides of the movable platform upper plate, and each of the upper driving air bag assembly and the lower driving air bag assembly is composed of three driving air bags arranged at an interval of 120° to increase the driving force during respiratory assistance.

[0011] Further, the fixed platform upper plate, the fixed platform connecting rod and the fixed platform lower plate are integrally formed through a forming preparation process.

[0012] Further, the movable platform upper plate, the movable platform connecting rod and the movable platform lower plate are also integrally formed through a forming preparation process.

[0013] Further, the fixed platform connecting rod penetrates the center of the movable platform upper plate, and through the cooperative driving of the upper driving air bag assembly and the lower driving air bag assembly, the movable platform can slide up and down along the fixed platform connecting rod, thereby simulating the action of pressing by human hands.

[0014] Furthermore, the lower plate of the moving platform is embedded with granular filler and sheet filler. The granular filler is located at both ends of the sheet filler. This combined granular and sheet blocking structure can effectively achieve variable stiffness and greatly improve the respiratory assistance effect for patients.

[0015] The beneficial effects of the present invention are: (1) The present invention helps patients breathe normally by setting a combined chest and abdomen respiratory assistance mechanism, and the dual-action assistance mechanism of the chest and abdomen can greatly improve the efficiency of respiratory assistance; (2) The present invention uses flexible nylon bands woven into an ergonomic wearable structure, which greatly improves the patient's flexible movement ability; (3) The present invention uses artificial muscle components set in the lower part of the chest cavity to drive the tightening and relaxation of the chest cavity shell, thereby achieving the effect of assisting chest cavity breathing; (4) The present invention uses airbag components symmetrically arranged on the upper plate of the moving platform on the inner side of the parallel drive platform to achieve the motion drive of the moving platform. By alternately filling the mutually symmetrical airbag components with positive pressure, the moving platform can move up and down, thereby simulating the effect of pressing on the patient's abdomen, thereby assisting the patient to breathe normally; (5) The present invention uses... By embedding granular and sheet materials inside the outer shell of the thoracic cavity and the lower plate of the parallel drive platform, a variable stiffness effect is achieved. In areas with large curvature changes, granular structures with high filling density, deformability, easy flow, and close packing are embedded. In areas with smaller curvature changes, sheet materials with high surface area, good flexibility, and stackability are embedded. This combined granular and sheet-like obstruction structure effectively achieves variable stiffness, significantly improving the respiratory assistance effect for patients. Furthermore, this design not only allows the outer shell structure to conform well to different human body shapes when static, but also adapts to the rise and fall of the chest and abdomen during dynamic changes in the patient's breathing, making it feel like an outer garment, greatly enhancing patient comfort and flexibility, and improving quality of life. Attached Figure Description

[0016] Figure 1 This is a schematic diagram of the overall structure from one perspective of an embodiment of the present invention;

[0017] Figure 2 This is a schematic diagram of the overall structure from another perspective of an embodiment of the present invention;

[0018] Figure 3 This is a schematic diagram of the structure of a parallel drive platform according to an embodiment of the present invention;

[0019] Figure 4 for Figure 3 A left-view diagram;

[0020] Figure 5 This is a cross-sectional schematic diagram of the overall structure according to an embodiment of the present invention;

[0021] Figure 6 for Figure 5 A sectional view;

[0022] Figure 7 This is a partially enlarged view of the lower plate of the moving platform according to an embodiment of the present invention;

[0023] Reference numerals: 1-Upper thoracic shell; 11-Upper thoracic shell granular filler; 12-Upper thoracic shell sheet filler; 2-Upper thoracic shell soft wrapping; 3-Restraint strap; 4-Left lower thoracic shell; 41-Lower thoracic shell granular filler; 42-Lower thoracic shell sheet filler; 5-Right lower thoracic shell; 6-Left soft wrapping material; 7-Right soft wrapping material; 8-Artificial muscle assembly; 9-Abdominal soft wrapping shell; 10-Parallel drive platform; 101-Lower drive airbag assembly; 102-Upper 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 sheet filler. Detailed Implementation

[0024] To provide a further understanding of the purpose, structure, features and functions of the present invention, detailed descriptions are provided below with reference to embodiments.

[0025] like Figures 1-7 The illustrated wearable respiratory assistive robot with variable stiffness combined with thoracic and abdominal components includes a wearable upper chest assistive component, a lower chest assistive component, and an abdominal assistive component. The wearable upper chest assistive component includes an upper thoracic shell 1 and a soft covering material 2 covering the upper thoracic shell, which are woven into a wearable structure by restraint straps 3. The lower thoracic assistive component includes a left lower thoracic shell 4, a right lower thoracic shell 5, and left and right soft covering materials 6 and 7 covering the lower thoracic shells. The two lower thoracic shells are connected by an artificial muscle component 8. The extension and contraction of the artificial muscle component 8 causes the variable stiffness left lower thoracic shell 4 and right lower thoracic shell 5 to tighten and relax, which, combined with the variable stiffness upper thoracic shell 1, assists thoracic breathing. The abdominal assistive component includes an abdominal soft covering shell 9 and a parallel drive platform 10. The parallel drive platform 10 uses a bilateral positive pressure drive to simulate human chest compression, thereby assisting breathing.

[0026] like Figure 3 and Figure 4The parallel drive platform 10 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 symmetrically arranged on both sides of the upper plate 108 of the moving platform. Both the upper drive airbag assembly 102 and the lower drive airbag assembly 101 consist of three drive 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 are fixedly connected to the abdominal soft wrap shell 9. The fixed platform upper plate 105, together with the upper driving airbag assembly 102 and the lower driving airbag assembly 101, is used 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 the moving platform upper plate 108, the moving platform connecting rod 109, and the moving platform lower plate 110. The moving platform lower plate 110 is made of a variable stiffness material to fit the human abdomen.

[0027] like Figure 1 The wearable upper chest support component shown includes an upper chest shell 1, a soft covering material 2 for the upper chest shell, and restraint straps 3. The upper chest shell 1 is made of a variable stiffness material to better conform to the human chest and increase patient comfort. The soft covering material 2 covers the upper chest shell 1 to prevent scratching the patient's chest. The upper chest shell 1 and the soft covering material 2 are woven together by the restraint straps 3 to form a wearable structure that conforms to the upper body, greatly increasing the patient's flexibility and mobility.

[0028] like Figure 1 and Figure 2 The lower thoracic cavity auxiliary component shown includes a left lower thoracic cavity shell 4, a right lower thoracic cavity shell 5, a left soft wrapping material 6, a right soft wrapping material 7, and an artificial muscle component 8. The left lower thoracic cavity shell 4 and the right lower thoracic cavity shell 5 are both made of variable stiffness material to better conform to the human body. The left soft wrapping material 6 and the right soft wrapping material 7 cover the lower thoracic cavity shell around to prevent scratching the patient. The lower thoracic cavity auxiliary component connects the left lower thoracic cavity shell 4 and the right lower thoracic cavity shell 5 through the artificial muscle component 8. The expansion and contraction of the artificial muscle component 8 drives the tightening and relaxation of the lower thoracic cavity shell.

[0029] like Figure 2 The thoracic breathing assistance mechanism shown uses the extension and contraction of the artificial muscle component 8 to tighten and relax the lower outer shell 4 of the left thoracic cavity and the lower outer shell 5 of the right thoracic cavity, combined with the variable stiffness upper outer shell 1 of the thoracic cavity, to assist thoracic breathing.

[0030] like Figure 2The abdominal support component shown includes an abdominal soft-coverage shell 9 and a parallel drive platform 10. The parallel drive platform 10 uses a bilateral positive pressure drive mode to simulate the action of human chest compression, thereby playing a role in assisting breathing.

[0031] 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 103's fixed platform plate 105 is fixedly connected to the abdominal soft wrap shell 9. The moving platform 104 works with the upper drive airbag assembly 102 and the lower drive airbag assembly 101 to simulate the effect of manual compression, thereby achieving an abdominal compression-style respiratory assistance effect.

[0032] 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 manufactured as a single unit using a molding process. The moving platform 104 includes a moving platform upper plate 108, a moving platform connecting rod 109, and a moving platform lower plate 110, which are also manufactured as a single unit using a molding process. The fixed platform connecting rod 106 passes through the center of the moving platform upper plate 108. Through the coordinated drive of the upper drive airbag assembly 102 and the lower drive airbag assembly 101, the moving platform 104 can slide up and down along the fixed platform connecting rod 106, thereby simulating the action of a human hand pressing.

[0033] like Figure 3 The parallel drive platform 10 shown adopts a dual-sided positive pressure drive method. When the upper drive airbag assembly 102 is inflated with positive pressure, the upper drive airbag assembly 102 extends and presses the upper plate of the moving platform 108 downward, thereby driving the variable stiffness lower plate of the moving platform 110 to press down on the abdomen, thus achieving the effect of assisting the patient's exhalation. Similarly, when the lower drive airbag assembly 101 is inflated with positive pressure, the lower drive airbag assembly 101 extends and presses the upper plate of the moving platform 108 upward, thereby driving the variable stiffness lower plate of the moving platform 110 to move upward, thus achieving the effect of assisting the patient's inhalation.

[0034] like Figure 6 and Figure 7The upper thoracic cavity shell 1, the lower left thoracic cavity shell 4, the lower right thoracic cavity shell 5, and the lower plate of the moving platform 110 shown are made of silicone casting. Variable stiffness materials are embedded inside to achieve a variable stiffness effect. In areas with large curvature changes, granular structures with high filling density, deformability, easy flow, and close packing ability (such as sand, glass beads, plastic granules, rubber granules, coffee beans, and rice grains) are embedded. In areas with smaller curvature changes, sheet-like materials with high surface area, good flexibility, and stackability (such as paper sheets, plastic sheets, metal foil sheets, rubber sheets, fiber-reinforced composite materials, and textile sheets) are embedded. Through this combined granular and sheet-like obstruction structure, a variable stiffness effect can be effectively achieved, greatly improving the patient's respiratory assistance.

[0035] Working principle: The chest breathing assistance mechanism of a variable stiffness thoracic-abdominal combined wearable respiratory assist robot mainly uses the extension and contraction of the artificial muscle component 8 below the chest to drive the tightening and relaxation of the lower shell 4 of the left thoracic cavity and the lower shell 5 of the right thoracic cavity, thereby assisting chest breathing; the abdominal breathing assistance mechanism mainly uses the parallel drive platform 10 of the abdomen to simulate the effect of human hand compression, thereby assisting breathing; the variable stiffness thoracic-abdominal combined wearable respiratory assist robot mainly uses the variable stiffness shell and the thoracic-abdominal combined respiratory assist mechanism to help patients breathe normally. This wearable thoracic-abdominal combined respiratory assist mechanism not only ensures respiratory assistance efficiency, but also improves the flexibility of use for patients to a certain extent and improves their quality of life.

[0036] The present invention has been described in the above-described embodiments; however, these embodiments are merely examples for implementing the present invention. It must be noted that the disclosed embodiments do not limit the scope of the present invention. Conversely, any modifications and refinements made without departing from the spirit and scope of the present invention are within the scope of patent protection of the present invention.

Claims

1. A variable-stiffness thoraco-abdominal wearable respiratory assist robot, characterized by: The application relates to a wearable chest upper auxiliary assembly, a chest lower auxiliary assembly and an abdominal auxiliary assembly, wherein the wearable chest upper auxiliary assembly comprises a chest upper shell (1), a soft wrapping material (2) wrapped on the chest upper shell (1) and a restraint belt (3) connected with the chest upper shell (1) to form a wearable structure; the chest lower auxiliary assembly comprises a left chest lower shell (4) and a right chest lower shell (5), the edges of the left chest lower shell (4) and the right chest lower shell (5) are wrapped with a left soft wrapping material (6) and a right soft wrapping material (7) respectively, and the left chest lower shell (4) and the right chest lower shell (5) are connected through an artificial muscle assembly (8); the abdominal auxiliary assembly comprises an abdominal soft wrapping shell (9) and a parallel driving platform (10), the parallel driving platform (10) is located inside the abdominal soft wrapping shell (9) and connected with the abdominal soft wrapping shell (9), and the parallel driving platform (10) comprises a fixed platform (103) and a movable platform (104), wherein an upper driving air bag assembly (102) and a lower driving air bag assembly (101) are arranged between the fixed platform (103) and the movable platform (104). The fixed platform (103) comprises a fixed platform upper plate (105), a fixed platform connecting rod (106) and a fixed platform lower plate (107), the two ends of the fixed platform connecting rod (106) are connected with the middle portions of the fixed platform upper plate (105) and the fixed platform lower plate (107) respectively, and the fixed platform upper plate (105) is fixedly connected with the abdominal soft wrapping shell (9). The movable platform (104) comprises a movable platform upper plate (108), a movable platform connecting rod (109) and a movable platform lower plate (110), the movable platform connecting rod (109) is provided with a plurality of movable platform connecting rods (109), and the two ends of each movable platform connecting rod (109) are connected with the movable platform upper plate (108) and the movable platform lower plate (110) respectively, and the movable platform lower plate (110) is made of a variable stiffness material. The upper driving air bag assembly (102) and the lower driving air bag assembly (101) are symmetrically arranged on the two sides of the movable platform upper plate (108).

2. The variable-stiffness thoraco-abdominal wearable respiratory assist robot according to claim 1, characterized in that: The artificial muscle assembly (8) is composed of three artificial muscles, the three artificial muscles are arranged in parallel and kept in up-down arrangement at a fixed distance.

3. The variable-stiffness thoraco-abdominal wearable respiratory assist robot according to claim 1, characterized in that: The upper driving air bag assembly (102) and the lower driving air bag assembly (101) are each composed of three driving air bags arranged at an interval of 120 degrees.

4. The variable-stiffness thoraco-abdominal wearable respiratory assist robot according to claim 1, characterized in that: The fixed platform upper plate (105), the fixed platform connecting rod (106) and the fixed platform lower plate (107) are integrally formed through a forming preparation process.

5. The variable-stiffness thoraco-abdominal wearable respiratory assist robot according to claim 1, wherein: The movable platform upper plate (108), the movable platform connecting rod (109) and the movable platform lower plate (110) are also integrally formed through a forming preparation process.

6. The variable-stiffness thoraco-abdominal wearable respiratory assist robot according to claim 1, wherein: The fixed platform connecting rod (106) penetrates through the center of the movable platform upper plate (108).

7. The variable-stiffness thoraco-abdominal wearable respiratory assist robot according to claim 1, wherein: The upper thoracic cavity shell (1), the left lower thoracic cavity shell (4), the right lower thoracic cavity shell (5) and the movable platform lower plate (110) are internally embedded with movable platform lower plate particle fillings (111) and movable platform lower plate sheet layer fillings (112), and the movable platform lower plate particle fillings (111) are located at two ends of the movable platform lower plate sheet layer fillings (112).

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