APPARATUS FOR ASSISTANCE WHEN WALKING FOR USERS WITH MUSCULOSKELETAL FUNCTIONS VIOLATION Russian patent published in 2017 - IPC A61H3/00 A61H3/02 

FIELD: medicine.

SUBSTANCE: invention relates to walking assistance apparatus for a user with locomotion disabilities, having no possibility of independent movement, with limited mobility or complete immobility of lower limbs at normal operation of upper limbs and upper part of the body. The apparatus provides a possibility of independent movement on a flat horizontal and sloping and uneven supporting surface, as well as on a ladder marches, and obstacles overcoming. The walking assistance apparatus consists of left and right hand supports and a lower limbs exoskeleton. The exoskeleton contains a pelvic link, left and right leg supports, each containing a femoral link, a shin-link and a lower leg-shaped link, and hip, knee and ankle joints designed to interconnect the respective adjacent links of the apparatus. At that, the hip and knee joints allow rotation of the respective links in the sagittal plane, and each of the ankle joints is configured to rotate the foot around three axes of coordinates. The device also contains: elements for fastening to the user's body parts mounted on each link; sensors for the angle of rotation of each of the hinged joints, providing information about the relative rotation of the apparatus links; torso angle sensors; foot reaction force sensors of each leg support in vertical and longitudinal directions; an apparatus control unit with a remote control for operating modes setting; and a power supply system. The torso angle sensor provides information about user's torso bending relative to the vertical axis, by measuring the inclination angle in sagittal and frontal planes. The apparatus control unit with the operating mode control panel is designed to collect the measured signals from all the above mentioned sensors and generate control signals to perform movement selected by the user from a set of predefined actions from the remote control panel. At that, the apparatus control unit is configured to collect the measured signals and generate control signals to perform motion based on the data received from the sensors of the torso angle in the front plane and the foot reaction force for each leg in the longitudinal direction, as well as generation of control signals to perform the movement, taking into account the mass-inertial characteristics of hips and legs of the lower limbs and the user's body torso and all links of the exoskeleton.

EFFECT: increased user's safety, expanded functionality of the apparatus and improved ergonomic characteristics of the apparatus.

42 cl, 49 dwg