Semi-annotated transfemoral prosthetic knee

摘要

A semi-actuated prosthetic knee device (100), configured to engage a lower limb above the knee of an amputee, and capable of operating in both actuated and non-actuated modes, comprising: an artificial foot (108) that it has a toe and a heel; a reed link (105) coupled to the artificial foot; a thigh link (103) configured to join the lower extremity above the knee of an amputee; a knee mechanism (107) interconnecting said thigh link and said shank link, said knee mechanism allowing flexion and extension movements of said thigh binding and said shank link to each other; a hydraulic torque generator (104) interposed between said shank link and said thigh link; a hydraulic power unit (200) including a hydraulic valve circuit hydraulically coupled to said torque generator, a hydraulic pump (201) and an electric motor (202) mechanically coupled to said hydraulic pump; an energy source (129) to provide electrical energy to said electric motor (202); and a signal processor (130) connected to the power source (129); characterized by a posture sensor (124) that can identify the part of the artificial foot that is in contact with the ground; a knee angle sensor (120) arranged to create a knee angle signal (155) representing the angle between said shank link and said thigh link; and said signal processor (130) being further connected to said knee angle and posture sensors (120, 124) and the hydraulic power unit (200) to control the operation of the hydraulic power unit based on signals (155 , 234) received from the knee angle and posture sensors (120, 234) in which, when said semi-actuated prosthetic knee (100) operates in its actuated mode, electrical energy is transferred from said energy source (129) to said electric motor (202) to drive the hydraulic pump (201) to supply working fluid to said torque generator (104) under the control of the signal processor (130) to create a torque between said shank link (105) and said thigh link (103) and, when said semi-actuated prosthetic knee (100) operates in its non-actuated mode, said hydraulic valve circuit modulates a fluid flow resistance in said torque generator (104) such that said semi-actuated prosthetic knee (100) operates without any transfer of electrical energy from said electrical energy source (129) to said electric motor.