融合高效驱动模块的柔性助行外骨骼设计及控制技术研究

驱动效率是柔性外骨骼设计的重要考虑因素。高效的驱动系统有助于提高外骨骼设备的可穿戴性并减少设备自身重量给穿戴者带来的额外代谢消耗。然而现有的助行外骨骼设备对电机功率利用率有限，主要由于其采用的单电机驱动单负载路径模式，即一对一驱动，会导致系统冗余。此外，大多数外骨骼设备为了给穿戴者提供足够的助力，往往只是简单地增加电机的峰值功率，而峰值输出时间只占据实际使用时间的少部分，导致驱动系统功率的冗余。这种简单的设计模式进一步阻碍了系统质量的减少，增加外骨骼穿戴者的额外能量消耗。

因此，本研究从两方面提升柔性助行外骨骼设备的驱动效率：首先依据人体步态的对称性，开发一套离合器模块构建一对多驱动系统来对双侧关节进行交替助力，能够在不增加输出功率峰值的情况下实现单一电机多路径助力；其次根据部分关节的运动学特性，引入具有功率放大功能的功率调制模块，其能够收集一段时间内电机的能量，并在较短时间内输出一个爆发性的高功率输出，该设计旨在降低外骨骼设备对输入功率的需求。

本研究设计实验评估了高效率驱动模块在驱动系统中实现单独控制的可行性以及在步行辅助外骨骼中的整体应用。在实验中采集了交互力，人体运动学参数，肌肉激活度以及新陈代谢消耗等数值。实验结果表明，这种外骨骼可以与关节运动协同发挥作用，以减少行走时的肌肉力量需求。同时与传统的直接驱动方法相比，引入功率调制模块的驱动方法显示出功耗需求的降低。直驱模式下和功率调制模式下的新陈代谢消耗相比于外骨骼关闭模式分别降低了10.2%和8.9%，验证了本研究中所提出的高效率驱动模式助力的有效性。

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