Variable Spring Mechanism for Assistive Walker Seat
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Solution Overview
Problem
Conventional assistive walker devices lack integrated seating accommodations, making it tiresome for users to transition from sitting to standing, especially for individuals with weak limbs or geriatric users, as they require frequent assistance and disrupt therapy sessions.
Innovation Solution
A seat device integrated with an assistive walker, featuring a folding seat platform hinged to a frame with a spring mechanism that biases the seat towards its folded position, reducing the effort required for users to stand up, by varying the overall spring constant based on the seat's position, providing support during transitions.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Productivity
If a conventional assistive walker device is used without integrated seating, then the device structure remains simple, but the user has to leave the walker to rest which disrupts therapy and requires frequent transitions
Solution Approach 1:
The patent combines the seating function with the walker device by integrating a seat platform that can be folded into the walker's frame structure. This merging allows users to rest without leaving the device, eliminating therapy disruptions while maintaining a relatively compact overall structure when the seat is folded.
Solution Approach 2:
The seat platform is designed to be dynamically foldable between a deployed seating position and a retracted storage position. This dynamic capability allows the device to adapt between providing seating support and maintaining a simple walker structure, resolving the contradiction between functionality and structural simplicity.
2Ease of operation
If a seat is integrated into the assistive walker device, then the user can rest without leaving the device, but the device complexity increases
Solution Approach 1:
The spring mechanism is designed to automatically provide upward biasing force to assist the user's transition from sitting to standing without requiring external assistance. The system serves itself by using the user's downward sitting action to compress the spring, which then automatically releases energy to help lift the user back up, reducing the need for complex mechanical assistance systems.
Solution Approach 2:
The spring mechanism acts as a counterweight system by providing an upward biasing force that opposes the user's body weight during the transition from sitting to standing. This reduces the net force the user must generate, making the transition easier while avoiding the need for complex motorized or hydraulic lift systems.
3Force
If a spring mechanism with constant spring constant is used, then the mechanism is simple, but the effort required for standing up remains high throughout the entire motion
Solution Approach 1:
The spring mechanism is segmented into multiple individual springs connected in series, each with different spring constants. This segmentation allows each spring to contribute differently to the overall force profile, creating a variable effective spring constant that provides higher force when needed (during standing transition) and lower force during other phases, optimizing assistance throughout the motion range.
Solution Approach 2:
Different springs within the mechanism have different local qualities (spring constants) tailored to specific phases of the sitting-standing transition. The arrangement ensures that stiffer springs engage when maximum force is needed for lifting, while more compliant springs handle the initial contact and later phases, creating a non-uniform force distribution optimized for the transition dynamics.
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
Enhances therapy efficiency by allowing users to rest without leaving the device and reduces the effort needed to stand, making therapy less tiresome and more intense by utilizing a stronger spring force in the seated position and a reduced force in the standing position.
Implementation Method 1
a spring mechanism with a variable overall spring constant, via which the seat platform is connected to the frame in a manner so as to be biased towards its folded position
Implementation Method 2
The (respective) spring mechanism has, e.g., a variable overall spring constant (i.e. different spring constants at different positions of the seat platform during folding/unfolding of the seat platform)
Data Source
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AI summary
A seat device is provided, comprising: a frame, a seat platform which is hinged to the frame so as to be pivotable between a completely folded position and a completely unfolded position, in which a user is allowed to seat thereon, and a spring mechanism with a variable overall spring constant, via which the seat platform is connected to the frame in a manner so as to be biased towards its folded position, thereby reducing an effort required by the user, who seats on the seat platform, for standing up therefrom, wherein the spring mechanism comprises a plurality of spring devices, each of which has an at least substantially constant spring characteristic which is at least substantially defined by a corresponding spring constant, and which are connected to each other in series, wherein the spring mechanism is provided such that, when the seat platform is at least substantially in its completely folded position, the variable overall spring constant is lower than in the case when the seat platform is at least substantially in its completely unfolded position, and wherein, when the seat platform is in its completely unfolded position, the overall spring constant is defined by the spring constants of only a fraction of the plurality of spring devices.