Video: Are pneumatic clothes a gamechanger for the mobility impaired?
Kevin J. Harrigan | September 02, 2022Mechanical engineers at Rice University's George R. Brown School of Engineering believe that small pneumatic actuators made from textiles could provide a major benefit to disabled or mobility impaired patients. To demonstrate, they have developed a jacket hood that slips over the wearers' head for thermoregulation; an estimated 10% of the population have limited overhead mobility.
The team notes that similar attempts to support these patients with motion control components requires bulky electronics and presents a power supply challenge. By replacing those systems with fluid power, many components can be miniaturized and sewn into apparel.
The researchers implemented digital fluid logic to control valves in the system to enable high or low pressure. Those valves are a better option than a controller, as they can be laundered, are highly resilient and are rated for up to 20,000 on-off cycles. Those 1 in2 valves are laminated into textiles and can be mass manufactured with existing equipment.
Power for the system is made possible by a compressed gas canister, although the Rice team has plans to develop a kinetic replenishment system.
I've been fascinated by fluidics since the early 1980s, but I see very few actual applications, though I can think of a few. Makes sense to make the more complex of this aide apparel fluidic, since a supply of low-pressure fluid is needed to actuate them.