Electroviscous Fall Harness With Segmented Gas Conduits
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing fall prevention devices for individuals at risk do not effectively deploy support structures quickly enough to prevent a fall and ensure safe landing, particularly when activated by electro-viscous fluids, which may not provide uniform inflation and adequate support.
Innovation Solution
A wearable harness with rolled-up legs that deploy rapidly using electro-viscous fluids activated by a small DC power source, incorporating gas canisters and sensors to ensure uniform inflation and prevent further injury, featuring a central gas conduit branching into small conduits with gas pockets for support.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Speed
If electro-viscous fluids are used to deploy support legs, then rapid deployment is achieved, but uniform inflation is not ensured
Solution Approach 1:
The patent divides the gas distribution system into multiple segments: a central gas conduit is branching into multiple smaller gas conduits, which further branch into gas pockets distributed throughout the leg structure. This segmentation ensures uniform gas distribution and uniform inflation across all sections of the support leg, resolving the issue of non-uniform inflation while maintaining rapid deployment through the electro-viscous fluid mechanism.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent implements local quality by creating distributed gas pockets throughout the leg structure rather than a single centralized inflation point. Each gas pocket receives gas through its own conduit pathway, ensuring that different regions of the leg inflate uniformly. This local distribution approach maintains the rapid response of electro-viscous fluids while achieving uniform inflation across the entire structure.
2Volume of moving object
If rolled-up legs are used for compact storage, then device portability is improved, but deployment time increases
Solution Approach 1:
The support legs are pre-positioned in a rolled-up state within the harness, ready for immediate deployment. The electro-viscous fluid actuators are pre-loaded and connected to the gas canisters and conduit system. When activation is required, the system is already prepared with all components in place, eliminating setup time and enabling rapid transformation from compact storage to deployed support structure.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent uses a pneumatic system where gas canisters rapidly inflate the rolled-up legs through a network of gas conduits and pockets. This pneumatic mechanism provides rapid expansion force that overcomes the time penalty associated with deploying from a compact rolled state. The high-speed gas pressure delivery system ensures that the legs unfold and extend almost immediately upon activation, resolving the contradiction between compact storage and rapid deployment.
3Reliability
If sensors are added to detect ground contact, then safety is improved, but device complexity increases
Solution Approach 1:
The sensor system is integrated directly into the leg structure itself, with sensors positioned at strategic locations along each leg. The legs essentially monitor their own deployment status and ground contact conditions through these embedded sensors. This self-monitoring capability provides safety feedback without requiring a separate complex control system, as the structural elements of the legs themselves perform the sensing function.
Solution Approach 2:
The leg structure serves multiple functions: it provides mechanical support, enables rapid deployment through electro-viscous actuators, and simultaneously incorporates sensors for ground contact detection. By integrating these diverse functions into a single multi-functional component, the patent avoids the complexity that would arise from adding separate dedicated systems for each function. The leg is both the actuated support structure and the sensing element.
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
The device rapidly deploys support legs to prevent falls, ensuring a safe landing by using electro-viscous fluids and gas canisters to inflate legs uniformly, with sensors ensuring the legs stop deploying upon ground contact to prevent further injury.
Implementation Method 1
Electro-viscous fluids are used after a small jolt of power ignites and deploys the leg
Implementation Method 2
A plurality of gas canisters which are approximate to the rolled-up legs are also provided
Data Source
AI summary
A belt will be worn by the individual. Attached to this belt will be a plurality of rolled up legs and gas canisters. Electro-viscous fluid is contained in the harness that will activate the gas canisters; the advantage of using electro-viscous fluid is that it will cause a rapid inflation of the legs with minimal power. On the front of the belt will be an activation device that will send a small electrical charge to engage the gas-powered canisters to quickly inflate the plurality of legs and prevent the person from falling.