Modular Limb Rehabilitation Support With Adjustable Joint Angles
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing rehabilitation exercise devices for upper and lower limbs are complex, costly, and difficult to move, making them inaccessible to many users, especially the elderly and rehabilitation patients with weak muscles, who need to exercise their joints to prevent stiffness and deformity.
Innovation Solution
A simplified rehabilitation exercise device with adjustable mounting angles and a compact design, allowing users to easily position it on surfaces like desks or chairs, featuring a base plate, mounting plate, link member, and fixing unit for adjusting limb angles and maintaining positions, with elastic units for stability.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If a robotic shoulder apparatus with complex structure is used for passive rehabilitation, then rehabilitation function is provided, but purchase and installation cost increases and device mobility decreases
Solution Approach 1:
The rehabilitation device is divided into separate functional modules: a base plate for stability, a mounting plate for exercise unit attachment, and a link member for angle adjustment. This segmentation allows each component to perform its specific function independently, simplifying the overall structure while maintaining rehabilitation effectiveness.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent extracts and eliminates unnecessary complex mechanical structures from traditional robotic rehabilitation apparatuses. By removing redundant components and keeping only the essential elements (base plate, mounting plate, link member, fixing unit), the device achieves simplicity without sacrificing core rehabilitation functionality.
2Reliability
If a complex rehabilitation device is installed in a fixed location, then rehabilitation function is provided, but user accessibility decreases due to inability to move the device
Solution Approach 1:
By dividing the device into a lightweight base plate and a separate mounting plate with exercise units, the overall structure becomes more mobile. The base plate provides necessary stability while the modular mounting plate can be easily repositioned or removed, enabling users to move the device to different locations for exercise.
3Device complexity
If mounting angle is fixed, then device structure is simple, but adaptability to different rehabilitation conditions decreases
Solution Approach 1:
The link member connects the base plate and mounting plate through a rotatable joint, enabling dynamic adjustment of the mounting angle. This dynamic connection allows the device to adapt to different rehabilitation conditions and user needs while maintaining a relatively simple structural design through the use of a single rotational degree of freedom.
Solution Approach 2:
The device allows change in the mounting angle parameter to adapt to different rehabilitation conditions. By adjusting the angle between the base plate and mounting plate through the link member mechanism, the same device can serve multiple rehabilitation purposes without requiring complex reconfiguration.
4Adaptability or versatility
If multiple angle adjustment mechanisms are added, then adaptability increases, but device complexity and cost increase
Solution Approach 1:
The link member with its rotatable joint serves multiple functions: it provides angle adjustment, maintains structural connection between base plate and mounting plate, and enables positional adaptation. This multi-functional design achieves angle adjustment capability without adding separate dedicated adjustment mechanisms, thereby controlling device complexity.
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
Enables users to perform rehabilitation exercises conveniently and effectively, resembling normal motion, reducing purchase and installation costs, and facilitating mobility for users with weak muscles.
Implementation Method 1
a link member having opposite sides that are rotatably coupled to the base plate and the mounting plate, respectively, and configured to adjust an angle between the base plate and the mounting plate by being rotated when the first side of the mounting plate is moved horizontally along the plate surface of the base plate
Implementation Method 2
a plurality of catching protrusions formed on the base plate with a predetermined interval along the longitudinal direction of the pair of extension brackets and configured to selectively catch the connection rod in correspondence with an inclination angle between the base plate and the mounting plate
Implementation Method 3
an elastic unit providing an elastic force acting in a direction in which the connection rod is maintained caught by the catching protrusion
Data Source
AI summary
Proposed is a rehabilitation exercise device for upper and lower limbs. The rehabilitation exercise device is characterized by including: a first support supporting a user's hand or foot; a second support supporting a user's forearm or calf; a pair of first hinges rotatably connecting the first support and the second support to each other; a third support supporting a user's upper arm or thigh; a pair of second hinges rotatably connecting the second support and the third support to each other; and a drive module selectively mounted on any one of the pair of first hinges and the pair of second hinges, and configured to pivot the first support or the second support.