A New Stance Control Knee Orthosis Using a Self-Locking Mechanism Based on a Planetary Gear Train

The objective of this work was to design and build a fully mechanical knee orthosis. A knee orthosis should both allow control of the angle of flexion of the knee during the stance phase of the gait cycle and leave the joint free during the swing phase. Knee orthoses are normally used to assist the walking of people suffering from muscle weaknesses or gait pathologies in order to avoid excessive knee flexion during the stance phase. The design of the orthosis proposed in the present work is characterized by allowing the knee to be locked at any angle of flexion during the stance phase, and because the orthosis can be unlocked to allow the joint to be released in the swing phase without the action of any external agent, i.e., without requiring external electrical or electronic systems for the control and performance of the orthosis. These characteristics mean that the design can be adapted to the gait of any user. The proposed design consists of a set of three rods, one attached to the user's thigh, another to the calf, and the other to the foot, connected to each other by a self-locking planetary gear train (PGT).