Rehabilitation Treadmill with Pace Sensors for Safety
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Solution Overview
Problem
Conventional treadmills pose safety concerns during rehabilitation as the running belt continues to operate at adjusted speeds, potentially causing users to lose balance and fall, especially for individuals with mobility issues.
Innovation Solution
A rehabilitation treadmill equipped with a framework, running platform, pace sensors, and a control panel that detects pace stop points to automatically stop the running belt, ensuring safe operation by allowing users to configure different operation modes via the control panel.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If the running belt operates continuously at adjusted speeds, then the treadmill provides rehabilitation training functionality, but the user may lose balance and fall causing safety hazards
Solution Approach 1:
The pace sensors are pre-positioned at specific locations on the running belt to detect the user's pace and trigger automatic stopping before the user completes a full cycle. This preliminary detection and stopping mechanism prevents the user from losing balance and falling, while still allowing convenient operation through automatic pace-based control
Solution Approach 2:
The treadmill incorporates pace sensors that continuously monitor the user's stepping pace and provide feedback to the control system. When the sensor detects that the user has reached a predetermined pace stop point, it automatically stops the running belt. This closed-loop feedback system ensures safety by preventing balance loss while maintaining ease of operation through automatic control
2Reliability
If the running belt stops automatically at pace stop points, then user safety is improved, but the device complexity increases due to additional sensors and control mechanisms
Solution Approach 1:
The treadmill system serves itself by using pace sensors to automatically detect the user's stepping rhythm and trigger belt stopping without requiring external intervention or complex control algorithms. The system self-regulates based on the detected pace, simplifying the control architecture while maintaining safety
Solution Approach 2:
The patent replaces complex mechanical stopping mechanisms with electronic pace detection and control. Instead of using mechanical switches or complex linkages, the system uses electronic sensors to detect pace and electronically control the motor, reducing mechanical complexity while achieving the same safety function
Data Source
AI summary
A rehabilitation treadmill includes a running belt, a plurality of pace sensors mounted to two opposite sides of the running belt, and a control panel. When a user intends to do rehabilitation exercise via the rehabilitation treadmill, the pace sensors can detect the user's footstep to generate and transmitting an activation signal and a stop signal to the control panel and then the control panel can activate or stop the running belt subject to the activation or stop signal. In this way, the user can repeatedly put his or her feet on running belt alternately to effectively have the rehabilitational effect.