Structural analysis of lower limb exoskeleton with evaluation of human stability and development of joint angle measurement system

Abstract

The term paraplegia refers to the inability of a patient to move their newlinelower parts of body. Foot, toes or leg can be the parts affected by this newlinecondition. Reasons for paraplegia can be brain disorders, nervous newlinedysfunctions or trauma due to accident. A larger portion of the paraplegic newlinepatients arise due to the injuries in the accidents. The accidents pose a serious newlinethreat to the modern community as machines and vehicles became inevitable newlinecontrivance and their interaction is unavoidable in the day to day activities of newlinehuman being.Chance of spinal cord injury is highly likely to occur with trauma. newlineInjury to spinal cord can induce minor defects in physiological function or newlineeven complete loss of control of limbs. Patients with spinal cord injury who newlinehave lost their limb function, the rehabilitation is essential to bring back their newlinenormal life. Several types of rehabilitation devices exist for the patients who newlinehave lost their locomotion. The selections of these devices are based on the newlinenature of disability of the patient and their affordability. In this research work a robotic mobility support system has been developed with analysis pertaining to the structure, balance and angle measurement system. Five different studies have been conducted in this study which are classified into three divisions; (i) Finite element analysis of three different structures of exoskeleton with comparison of selected materials and gait sequence, (ii) Balance evaluation of patients, (iii) Real time angle newlinemeasurement system with gait-pattern generator. Iv In the first work, a model of exoskeleton has been constructed with seven segment assembled structure and is analyzed with three different materials; (i) alloy steel (ii) 1060 aluminium and (iii) titanium. The analysis primarily focused on the sit-to-stand transition movement and the mechanical evaluation of stress has been carried out. The studies provided insight to the performance of the assembly for the above-mentioned motion and proven that the structure withstands the stress for the ap