Tremor suppressing hand controls
First Claim
1. A hand control device capable of suppressing vibrations during operation by a user, the device comprising:
- a handle adapted to be held by the user;
a chamber filled with a viscous fluid;
a shaft connected to said handle at one end and disposed within the fluid of the chamber at the other end, the shaft further including a drag element which cooperates with the fluid to damp spurious motion; and
position-sensing means disposed about the shaft for sensing the position of shaft relative to a reference point and for generating electrical signals indicative of said position;
said position-sensing means including at least a first sensing element and a second sensing element which are activated by said shaft during operation to generate electrical signals when said shaft is displaced from said reference point.
1 Assignment
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Accused Products
Abstract
A hand control capable of suppressing tremors and other unwanted vibrations is disclosed which incorporates viscous damping in two degrees of freedom to mechanically filter the forces applied by the user'"'"'s hand. To suppress pathological intention tremors, the damping characteristics are chosen so as to selectively reduce the amplitude of movements at or above about 3 Hertz. The hand control includes a chamber filled with a viscous fluid, a position-sensing actuator assembly and a damping element connected to the actuator and disposed within the chamber to suppress involuntary movements of the actuator. The volume of the chamber, size of the damping element and viscosity of the fluid are chosen to achieve a damping constant of about 2 to 20 lbf-sec/ft., preferably from about 5 to about 15 lbf-sec/ft. The viscous fluid is preferably a silicone oil having a viscosity of about 300,000 to about 900,000 cstokes.
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Citations
11 Claims
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1. A hand control device capable of suppressing vibrations during operation by a user, the device comprising:
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a handle adapted to be held by the user; a chamber filled with a viscous fluid; a shaft connected to said handle at one end and disposed within the fluid of the chamber at the other end, the shaft further including a drag element which cooperates with the fluid to damp spurious motion; and position-sensing means disposed about the shaft for sensing the position of shaft relative to a reference point and for generating electrical signals indicative of said position;
said position-sensing means including at least a first sensing element and a second sensing element which are activated by said shaft during operation to generate electrical signals when said shaft is displaced from said reference point. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11)
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Specification