Patent ID: 11872152
Assignee: TOYOTA MOTOR ENGINEERING & MANUFACTURING NORTH AMERICA, INC.
Field: Medical technology (Instruments)
Classification: CPC A | IPC A

Claim 15:
16. A method for actuating an appendage pressurization device, the method comprising:
generating a voltage using a power supply electrically coupled to an electrode pair of each of a plurality of artificial muscles, the plurality of artificial muscles being disposed in an appendage strap, wherein:
each of the plurality of artificial muscles comprises a housing having an electrode region and an expandable fluid region;
the electrode pair is positioned in the electrode region of the housing;
the electrode pair comprises a first electrode fixed to a first surface of the housing and a second electrode fixed to a second surface of the housing, and
a dielectric fluid is housed within the housing; and
a pressure sensor is affixed to the housing and communicatively coupled to a controller;

applying the voltage to the electrode pair of each of the plurality of artificial muscles, thereby actuating the electrode pair from a non-actuated state to an actuated state such that the dielectric fluid is directed into the expandable fluid region of the housing and expands the expandable fluid region, thereby applying pressure to an inner layer of the appendage strap;
outputting, via the pressure sensor, a pressure value to the controller;
receiving, from the controller, an updated pressure value at the plurality of artificial muscles to maintain a consistent amount of pressure at the inner layer of the appendage strap based upon the pressure value; and
adjusting the actuation of the plurality of artificial muscles to maintain the consistent amount of pressure at the inner layer of the appendage strap;
wherein each of the plurality of artificial muscles is independently actuatable between the non-actuated state and the actuated state.