Improving the Pressure Bearing Capability of Soft Pneumatic Actuators for Hand Rehabilitation Based on a Novel Sealing Method

Enough air pressure bearing capability is extremely important for realizing the functions of soft pneumatic actuators. However, there is few theoretical analysis or experimental analysis in literature, to the best knowledge of the authors about the structure design of the sealing junction of which the pressure bearing capability of actuator mainly depends on. In this paper, affecting factors of the pressure bearing capability of the soft pneumatic actuators for hand rehabilitation were explored through the design of the structures and the conduction of the contrast experiments. According to the test results, a novel integrated structure of the sealing junction was presented and applied to the soft pneumatic actuators. Finally, the effectiveness and reliability of the soft pneumatic actuators based on the proposed sealing method were verified in a prototyped hand rehabilitation system.

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