Design of Passive Gravity Balance Mechanism for Wearable Exoskeleton Suit

Abstract

The wearable exoskeleton suit is a man-machine system which can combine the human limbs with machinery and environment. The key point of wearable exoskeleton suit is the design of passive gravity balance mechanism to achieve passive gravity balance in the system. Based on the principle of passive gravity balance technology, this paper deduces the theoretical equation of passive gravity balance. Then, the equations were applied to the passive gravity balance for single parallelogram mechanism and double parallelogram mechanism. Simultaneously, the analysis was also conducted using MATLAB optimization tool. The results show that the parallelogram passive gravity balance mechanism can achieve any position to hover within a certain range of spring tension. It can make the operating force at low level when doing the up and down movement. Consequently, with the help of this system, the vibration damage in some work conditions to human musculoskeletal can be significantly reduced, it can be introduced to many work conditions, such as pneumatic impact drilling.