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

Claim 12:
13. An appendage pressurization device comprising:
an appendage brace;
an appendage strap coupled to the appendage brace;
a plurality of artificial muscles disposed in the appendage strap and communicatively coupled to a controller, wherein each artificial muscle comprises:
a housing comprising an electrode region and an expandable fluid region;
a dielectric fluid housed within the housing; and
an electrode pair positioned in the electrode region of the housing, the electrode pair comprising a first electrode fixed to a first surface of the housing and a second electrode fixed to a second surface of the housing, wherein the electrode pair is actuatable between a non-actuated state and an actuated state such that actuation from the non-actuated state to the actuated state directs the dielectric fluid into the expandable fluid region, thereby expanding the expandable fluid region;

a pressure sensor communicatively coupled to the controller, wherein the pressure sensor is configured to output a current pressure value to the controller; and
the controller, wherein the controller is configured to:
receive the current pressure value from one the pressure sensor;
output an updated pressure value to artificial muscles, wherein a consistent amount of pressure at an inner layer of the appendage strap is maintained based upon a feedback loop maintained by the controller in coordination with the pressure sensor; and
modify actuation of the plurality of artificial muscles based upon the updated pressure value;

wherein each of the plurality of artificial muscles is independently actuatable between the non-actuated state and the actuated state.