Development of a Novel Pneumatic Power Assisted Lower Limb for Outdoor Walking by the Use of a Portable Pneumatic Power Source

In our previous research, a novel portable pneumatic power source, called a dry ice power cell, was proposed. In this paper, a novel pneumatic power assisted lower limb is developed by the use of the power of dry ice power cell. For those people whose muscle and balance remains in good condition but who have joint pain (hip or knee joint) in their leg and are unable to walk outdoors for long, the developed device can partially lift the patient in a comfortable way by pneumatic cylinder when the affected leg touches the floor, reducing the loads to which it is subject as well as the pain joint forces, thus relieving pain during walking. The developed device has the characteristics of a simple structure, low weight, easy to put on and take off and with sufficient capability to bear about 40% of the body weight during about 1000 steps of outdoor walking, using the power of dry ice power cell. The developed device can assist with outdoor walking not only over flat ground but also sloped and stair areas. In this paper, the structure and function and experiments involving the developed pneumatic power assisted lower limb are described in detail.