Artificial Muscle Cast for Dynamic Pressure Control
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Solution Overview
Problem
Temporary casts often apply undesirably high pressures to injured appendages, causing discomfort and hampering the healing process due to their inability to conform to swollen regions and lack of precise pressure adjustment.
Innovation Solution
Incorporating artificial muscles with dielectric fluid and electrode pairs into the cast's lining body, allowing for selective pressure application through actuation by a controller connected to pressure sensors, enabling dynamic pressure adjustment.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Adaptability or versatility
If traditional temporary casts are used, then the cast provides basic support and immobilization, but the cast applies undesirably high pressures to swollen regions and cannot adjust to changing conditions
Solution Approach 1:
The cast incorporates artificial muscles that can dynamically adjust the pressure applied to the appendage. These artificial muscles include electrode pairs and expandable fluid regions that can be actuated to change the pressure distribution in real-time, allowing the cast to adapt to swelling and changing conditions during the healing process.
Solution Approach 2:
The system changes the pressure parameter by actuating artificial muscles with electrode pairs. By applying voltage to the electrode pairs, the expandable fluid regions change volume, which directly modifies the pressure applied to different regions of the appendage, enabling precise control over pressure distribution.
2Measurement precision
If adjustable casts with hook and loop straps are used, then some pressure adjustment is possible, but the adjustment is imprecise and difficult for injured users to perform
Solution Approach 1:
The cast system performs self-adjustment through automated control. Pressure sensors monitor the pressure distribution, and a controller automatically actuates the appropriate artificial muscles to maintain optimal pressure levels, eliminating the need for the injured user to manually adjust the cast.
Solution Approach 2:
The system incorporates pressure sensors that provide feedback on the actual pressure being applied to the appendage. This feedback is processed by a controller that adjusts the actuation of artificial muscles in real-time to maintain the desired pressure profile, ensuring precise and accurate pressure control.
3Ease of operation
If artificial muscles with electrode pairs and dielectric fluid are incorporated, then precise and customizable pressure control is achieved, but the device complexity increases
Solution Approach 1:
The patent extracts the pressure adjustment function from traditional mechanical straps and implements it through separate, modular artificial muscles. Each artificial muscle is an independent unit with electrode pairs and expandable fluid regions, allowing the complex function to be divided into manageable, replaceable modules that can be independently controlled.
Applied Scientific Principles
This section explains which scientific principles are used to turn an abstract innovation direction into a practical engineering solution.
Function Achieved in This Case
This solution allows for customizable and comfortable pressure distribution, reducing discomfort and promoting healing by accurately applying pressure to specific areas, thus enhancing the user's experience and healing process.
Implementation Method 1
The electrode pair is actuatable between a non-actuated state and an actuated state such that actuation from the non-actuated state to the actuated state directs the dielectric fluid into the expandable fluid region, expanding the expandable fluid region
Data Source
AI summary
A temporary cast that includes an exterior shell, a lining body including an inner layer, one or more integrated pressure sensors communicatively coupled to a controller, and a plurality of artificial muscles disposed between the inner layer and the exterior shell. Each of the plurality of artificial muscles is communicatively coupled to the controller and includes a housing including an electrode region and an expandable fluid region, a dielectric fluid housed within the housing, and an electrode pair positioned in the electrode region of the housing. The electrode pair includes a first electrode fixed to a first surface of the housing and a second electrode fixed to a second surface of the housing, where the electrode pair is actuatable between a non-actuated and actuated states such that actuation from the non-actuated state to the actuated state directs the dielectric fluid into the expandable fluid region, expanding the expandable fluid region.