Post on 13-Jan-2020
MINISTRY OF RESEARCH ANDINNOVATION
Mechatronic System for Vertical Alternative Swinging of the Pelvic GirdlePatent A00852/2015 - BOPI no. 7/2016
Petre Lucian SEICIU1, Ioan Dan FILIPOIU1, Mihai BERTEANU2, Ileana CIOBANU2, Horia ȘERBU3, Ion MANOLE3, Florian BADEA3, Valentin BARBU3, Mihai IONEL4, Șerban-Marius MANOLACHE4
1UNIVERSITATEA POLITEHNICA DIN BUCUREȘTI; 2SPITALUL UNIVERSITAR DE URGENȚĂ ELIAS; 3S.C. TEHNOMET S.A.; 4S.C. CORNERPROD S.R.L.
Figure 1. VAS design1 – rotating carriage; 2 – cog belt transmission; 3 – rotating geared
motor; 4 – hip displacement geared motor; 5 – vertical displacement
geared motor; 6 – drum; 7 – holed disc; 8 – roller; 9 – left suspension
cable; 10 – right suspension cable.
Figure 2. VAS during the implementation1 – carriage rotating system; 2 – vertical movement system; 3 – hip
vertical movement system; 4 – body weight suspending system
(upper).
Description
The vertical movement is achieved through alternative lift and descent
of the hip sides, similar to physiological gate.
The hip vertical trip will be personalized according to one’s
anthropometric parameters, the pathologic condition, the functional
rest and the objectives of each rehabilitation program stage.
VAS is endowed with a rotation mechanism around the vertical axis.
The holed disc rotates with an angular speed of 1 rotation/double step,
in order to obtain the vertical hip movement.
Considering that the patient is positioned with the back, the roller
pushes against the left cable (as shown in figure 1) so that the left hip
is lifted during the upper-left quarter of the disc and according with
the rotation direction. While the roller rotates counterclockwise for
the next quadrants:
• 0-90 – left hip lifts up;
• 90-180 – left hip descends;
• 180-270 – right hip lifts up;
• 270-360 – right hip descends.
Results
Figure 3 presents the vertical left hip displacement while the holed
disc rotates with 180. During this period, the right hip is not actuated.
Through the other half of the rotation (180 ÷360), the left hip is
paused while the right hip moves up and down on a similar path.
Table 1 shows a comparison for the maximum displacement of the
Center of Mass (COM) data between VAS and the experimental
international published data.
Table 1. Comparative COM displacement
Table 2 presents another set of data for the COM displacement,
obtained using a second roller with a 5 mm eccentricity.
Table 2. COM displacement
The system has a set of 5 rollers, so as to cover the whole domain.
Contact person: Petre Lucian SEICIU
lucian.seiciu@as.info.ro
Innovative Characteristics
The Mechatronic System for Vertical Alternative Swinging
of the Pelvic Girdle (VAS):
• Simulates the natural alternate hip vertical movement;
• Highly versatile; it adapts both to the physical and
physiological patients characteristics and to any recovery session
request (gait speed, vertical displacement, foot load etc.);
• Controlled rotation of the patient’s body along the vertical
axis, with feed-back;
• Easily adapted to any recovery system (mechatronic or
robotic) with or without TM;
• Simple and robust construction.
Introduction
There are many neurological and traumatic conditions generating gait
related disabilities. The rehabilitation intervention aimed to prevent
or/and reduce the involved deficits must encompass a large area of
static and dynamic functional aspects.
Lately, the work of the physical therapists is enhanced by new
technology.
The new devices and systems for gait rehabilitation ensure an intense,
reproducible, assisted-as-needed training in safe environment, but
different approaches concerning the walking environment, the focus
of the support elements, the structural configuration of the system and
the supported degrees of freedom produce different results in terms of
functional gains.
Goals
1. VAS is a complex system for environmental over ground
rehabilitation.
2. VAS is aimed to provide a complete whole person training for
rehabilitation in central neurological conditions.
3. VAS ensures the correct posture of the patient while walking
and is able to direct and control the hip alternating side vertical
movement during walking.
4. VAS solves the problems of achievement, impulsion and
assisting the vertical up and down hip movements during the gate
cycle in order to obtain a physiological gate with the COM trajectory
within normal gate.
Acknowledgements
This work is supported by a grant of the Romanian National Authority
for Scientific Research, CNDI – UEFISCDI, project number
190/2012.
This work is sustained by the Sectorial Operational Program - Human
Resources Development (POS DRU), project co-financed by the
European Social Fund and by the Government of Romania under the
agreement no. POSDRU/159/1.5/S/137390
Roller Position1st
Position
4th
Position
VAS COM displacement, mm 11.5 72.5
COM displacement reported in
literature, mm20÷70
Eccentric Roller
Position1 2 3 4
VAS COM
displacement, mm9÷14 30÷35 55÷60 70÷75
Figure 3. Experimental data
0
30
60
90
120
150
180
0 20 40 60 80 100 120 140 160 180
Ve
rtic
al H
ip D
isp
lace
me
nt
[mm
]
Roller Angular Position α [º]
4th Position
3rd Position
2nd Position
1st Position