Wearable apparatus for assisting muscular strength

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-11413207-B2
Application number	US-201916688641-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Nov 19, 2019
Priority date	Feb 19, 2019
Publication date	Aug 16, 2022
Grant date	Aug 16, 2022

Abstract

A wearable apparatus for assisting muscular strength includes: a main body mechanism extending in a vertical direction of a wearer's torso, and being fixed to a side of a wearer's torso under a wearer's shoulder; a fastening mechanism extending along an extension direction of a wearer's upper arm, and being disposed at and being in contact with a lower surface of the wearer's upper arm; a connecting mechanism having a first end coupled to the fastening mechanism and a second end movably coupled to the main body mechanism so as to be movable with respect to the main body mechanism; and a support mechanism movably coupled between the first end and the second end of the connecting mechanism to apply a support force to the connecting mechanism, and coupled to the main body mechanism and movable with respect thereto.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A wearable apparatus for assisting muscular strength, the apparatus comprising:
a main body mechanism extending in a vertical direction of a wearer's torso, and being fixed to a side of the wearer's torso under a wearer's shoulder;
a fastening mechanism extending along an extension direction of a wearer's upper arm, the fastening mechanism being in contact with a lower surface of the wearer's upper arm;
a connecting mechanism having a first end coupled to the fastening mechanism and a second end movably coupled to the main body mechanism, the connecting mechanism being movable with respect to the main body mechanism; and
a support mechanism movably coupled between the first end and the second end of the connecting mechanism to apply a support force to the connecting mechanism, the support mechanism being coupled to the main body mechanism and movable with respect to the main body mechanism, wherein the support force is varied depending on a position of the support mechanism with respect to the main body mechanism,
wherein the support mechanism includes: an elastic body generating an elastic force; and a first roller coupled to the main body mechanism and movable with respect to the main body mechanism by being connected to a first end of the elastic body through a wire,
the elastic force of the elastic body is varied depending on relative positions of the first roller and the main body mechanism, whereby the support force applied to the connecting mechanism is varied,
the connecting mechanism includes: a first sliding groove extending in a longitudinal direction of the connecting mechanism; and a coupling body movable along the first sliding groove, and
the coupling body is integrally coupled with the first roller.

2. The apparatus of claim 1 , further comprising a torso harness being coupled to the main body mechanism and surrounding the wearer's torso such that the main body mechanism is fixed to the side of the wearer's torso.

3. The apparatus of claim 2 , further comprising a shoulder harness being configured such that a first end thereof is coupled to the torso harness disposed at a front of the wearer, and a second end thereof is coupled to the torso harness disposed at a back of the wearer via an upper portion of the wearer's shoulder.

4. The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the main body mechanism includes:
a fixed part fixed to the wearer's torso by being brought in contact with the side of the wearer's torso; and
a rotatable part coupled to the fixed part and rotatable about a rotation axis parallel to a direction in which the main body mechanism extends, and
the connecting mechanism and the support mechanism are coupled to the rotatable part.

5. The apparatus of claim 4 , wherein the fixed part and the rotatable part are rotatably coupled to each other at a plurality of positions spaced apart from each other along the rotation axis.

6. The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the fastening mechanism is coupled to the first end of the connecting mechanism and rotatable about a rotation axis parallel to a rotation axis of a shoulder joint of the wearer's upper arm rotating upward or downward.

7. The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the main body mechanism includes a second sliding groove extending in the vertical direction of the wearer's torso, and
as the second end of the connecting mechanism slides along the second sliding groove, the connecting mechanism moves with respect to the main body mechanism.

8. The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the main body mechanism includes a profile groove extending to allow the first roller to be movable therealong such that support torque is generated by the support force applied to the connecting mechanism.

9. The apparatus of claim 8 , wherein the profile groove has a cam surface having a predetermined cam profile and a moving trajectory of the first roller corresponds to the cam surface,
a magnitude and a direction of the support force applied to the connecting mechanism vary and a point to which the support force is applied varies, and
the support torque varies depending on a position of the first roller in the profile groove.

10. The apparatus of claim 8 , wherein the support torque generated by the support force is 0, when an angle between the main body mechanism and the connecting mechanism is less than or equal to a first predetermined angle.

11. The apparatus of claim 8 , wherein the support torque generated by the support force decreases as an angle between the main body mechanism and the connecting mechanism increases, when the angle is greater than or equal to a second predetermined angle.

12. The apparatus of claim 8 , wherein the support torque generated by the support force applied to the connecting mechanism has a maximum value, when an angle between the main body mechanism and the connecting mechanism is in a range between a first predetermined angle and a second predetermined angle.

13. The apparatus of claim 1 , further comprising an adjusting mechanism connected to a second end of the elastic body to move the second end of the elastic body, thereby varying the elastic force of the elastic body.

14. The apparatus of claim 13 , wherein the adjusting mechanism includes: a threaded plate integrally coupled to the main body mechanism; and a rotating screw threaded with the threaded plate while being connected to the second end of the elastic body, and
as the rotating screw rotates, the second end of the elastic body moves with respect to the threaded plate.

Assignees

• Hyundai Motor Co Ltd
• Kia Motors Corp

Inventors

• Kim Kyu Jung
• Lim Hyun Seop
• Kim Beom Su
• Yoon Ju Young
• Hyun Dong Jin
• Bae Ki Hyeon

Classifications

• A61H2201/1652

  Harness · CPC title

• A61H2001/0203

  Rotation of a body part around its longitudinal axis · CPC title

• B25J9/1005

  comprising adjusting means · CPC title

• A61H2201/149

  rotation-linear or vice versa · CPC title

• A61H2205/06

  Arms · CPC title