Training equipment and method

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-11266867-B2
Application number	US-201716090338-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Mar 31, 2017
Priority date	Mar 31, 2016
Publication date	Mar 8, 2022
Grant date	Mar 8, 2022

Abstract

Training equipment is configured for targeted muscle actuation. The training equipment contains a muscle-powered actuating element and a damping system having two components that can move in relation to one another. One of the components is operatively connected to the actuating element, such that a movement of the actuating element can be damped. A field-sensitive rheological medium and a field generation system are associated with the damping system, in order to generate and control the field strength. A damping characteristic can be influenced by the field generation system. A control system is suited and configured to control the field generation system in a targeted manner in accordance with a training parameter, such that the movement of the actuating element can be damped taking into account the training parameter.

First claim

The invention claimed is:

1. Training equipment for targeted muscle actuation, the training equipment comprising:
at least one at least partially muscle-powered actuating element to be moved by a user of the training equipment during a training exercise;
a damping system having at least two components that are movable relative to one another, one of said components being operatively connected with said actuating element and configured to damp a movement of said actuating element, said damping system having a field-sensitive rheological medium and a field generation system for generating and controlling a field strength, and for influencing a damping of said actuating element; and
a control system configured to targetedly control said field generation system based on at least one training parameter, and configured to damp a movement of said actuating element based on the training parameter;
said control system having a near field detection system with a near field sensor to detect a body posture and a movement of the user during the training exercise for targetedly controlling the movement of said actuating element and said field generation system based on the body posture and the movement of the user;
said control system being configured to adapt the training parameter in dependence on the body posture and the movement of the user detected by said near field detection system, and said damping system being configured for variably adjusting the damping of said actuating element in real time, and for providing feedback to the user by selectively damping the movement of the actuating element in real time based on the current body posture and the movement of the user detected by said near field detection system.

2. The training equipment according to claim 1 , wherein said control system is configured to adjust a damping force to be applied in order to move one of said two components based on the training parameter.

3. The training equipment according to claim 1 , wherein said control system is configured to set, based on the training parameter and in real time during an exercise by the user, a path and/or angle of rotation over which at least one of said two components is movable.

4. The training equipment according to claim 1 , wherein said control system is configured to vary the damping during at least a single actuation of said actuating element.

5. The training equipment according to claim 1 , wherein the training parameter is selected from the group consisting of force, speed, acceleration, distance, direction of movement, a movement path and an angle that are furnished for actuating said actuating element.

6. The training equipment according to claim 1 , wherein said control system is configured to control said field generation system based on the at least one training parameter in dependence on at least one other training parameter.

7. The training equipment according to claim 1 , wherein said control system is configured to vary the damping during a single actuation of said actuating element adaptively based on the body posture and the movement of the user.

8. The training equipment according to claim 1 , wherein said damping system is configured to change the damping by at least 30% in less than 100 milliseconds.

9. The training equipment according to claim 1 , wherein said damping system is configured to block an at least partially muscle-powered movement of said actuating element, by means of said field generation system and said field-sensitive rheological medium.

10. The training equipment according to claim 1 , wherein said actuating element is selected from the group consisting of a pedal drive, a leg lever, a knee lever, an arm lever, a back lever, a belly lever, a trunk lever, a cable, and an oar lever.

11. The training equipment according to claim 1 , wherein:
said damping system includes at least one rotational damper; and
one of said components is an inner component and another of said components is an outer component, said outer component at least partially surrounds said inner component radially, wherein a ring-shaped damping gap is disposed between said components, bounded radially inwardly by said inner component and radially outwardly by said outer component and at least partially filled with said field-sensitive rheological medium, and wherein said field generating system is configured to expose said damping gap to a magnetic field, in order to damp a pivoting movement between said components being two mutually pivotable components about an axis.

12. The training equipment according to claim 11 , further comprising at least one transmission device configured to at least partially convert a linear movement of said actuating element into a pivoting movement of one of said two components, to thereby damp the linear movement by way of a rotational damper.

13. The training equipment according to claim 1 , further comprising a plurality of at least partially radially extending arms being furnished on at least one of said components and at least a part of said partially radially extending arms is equipped with an electrical coil with at least one winding, wherein said winding respectively extends adjacent to an axis of said components and spaced away from the axis.

14. The training equipment according to claim 1 , wherein said damping system has at least one rotational damper with at least one displacement device, said displacement device has a damper shaft and intermeshing displacement components, and said damping system is configured to damp a rotational movement of said damper shaft.

15. The training equipment according to claim 14 ,
wherein said field-sensitive rheological medium is a field-sensitive magnetorheological fluid being a working fluid for an operation of said displacement device; and
wherein said field generation system has at least one electrical coil being a magnetic field source generating a magnetic field and and being controlled by means of said associated control system, and said field-sensitive magnetorheological fluid is influenced by means of the magnetic field, in order to adjust a damping of a rotational movement of said damper shaft.

16. The training equipment according to claim 1 , wherein:
said damping system has at least one controllable damping valve and at least one linear damper with at least one first damper chamber and at least one second damper chamber, which are coupled together via said at least one controllable damping valve, said controllable damping valve having at least one damping channel formed therein; and
said field generation system is associated with said damping valve and serves to generate and control a field strength in said at least one damping channel of said damping valve, wherein said field-sensitive rheological medium is furnished in said damping channel.

17. The training equipment according to claim 16 , wherein said linear damper has a damper chamber filled with said field-sensitive rheological medium and a piston disposed to move relative to said damper chamber.

18. The training equipment according to claim 1 , wherein said damping system is configured to enable a damping characteristic for a left half of the training equipment to be set, at least partially, to a different damping characteristic than for a right half of the training equipment.

19. The training equipment according to claim 1 , wherein the damping furnished for a particular half of the training equipment is at least partially variable during a single actuation of said actuating element.

Assignees

• Inventus Eng Gmbh

Inventors

• Battlogg Stefan

Classifications

• H04M1/72409

  by interfacing with external accessories (hands-free H04M1/60) · CPC title

• A63B21/00845 Primary

  using electrorheological or magnetorheological fluids · CPC title

• B82Y30/00

  Nanotechnology for materials or surface science, e.g. nanocomposites · CPC title

• A63B24/0087

  Electric or electronic controls for exercising apparatus of groups A63B21/00 - A63B23/00, e.g. controlling load · CPC title

• F16F9/535

  Magnetorheological [MR] fluid dampers (springs comprising magnetorheological [MR] elastomers F16F1/361) · CPC title