Structural Design and Analysis of Unpowered Exoskeleton for Lower Limb

Nowadays, many exoskeletons are applied in many circumstances. However, some problems are still needed to improve for them, including heavy weight, bad adjustability. Besides, most of existing unpowered exoskeleton can only use to transfer the load, aiming to lessen that in the user; or only save power using elastic elements. Therefore, this paper focuses on the design method considering the load transfer and the energy collection for unpowered exoskeleton of lower limbs at the same time. Firstly, the physiological parameters of human lower limbs were introduced, and the human moving characteristic was analyzed in detail. Secondly, a new unpowered exoskeleton of lower limb was designed according to the physiological parameters. Finally, the feasibility of the designed exoskeleton was verified by simulation analysis. Compared with the existing unpowered exoskeletons of lower limbs, the unpowered exoskeleton we designed could simultaneously reduce the load from the user and recycle the energy during human walking. Moreover, this exoskeleton has the performance of lighter weight, simpler structure, and better adjustability to adapt wider range of users. Therefore, the presented design method could be used to guide the design and enhance the performance of the exoskeleton.