The present invention relates to an automatic pressure regulating pneumatic cylinder, utilizing a plurality of passages for unidirectional suction of external air and one-way exhaust to allow the piston configured inside to automatically adjust the volumes of the upper, lower air chambers and the exhaust speed to a state most suitable for users through the speed of travel of the piston.
The use of pneumatic cylinders on prosthetic joints has become a quite often and common design with the development of medical practice and technology. However, it is necessary to make quite cumbersome and time-consuming adjustments for items such as body type, habits, comfort when they are installed on users, and in the end, the user can have a more comfortable wearing experience.
U.S. Pat. No. 9,180,026 discloses an adjustment-free cushioning air cylinder, using an air pressure chamber, inside which a piston is configured so as to allow the air pressure chamber to be divided into a upper air chamber and lower air chamber, where one end of the piston is configured inside the air pressure chamber, and another end thereof is extended to the outside of the air cylinder. Furthermore a first check valve is configured inside the piston and in connection with the upper air chamber and lower air chamber, allowing air flow to unidirectionally enter the lower air chamber from the upper air chamber, and a upper air way is formed on the air cylinder and in communication with the upper air chamber and lower air chamber; the second check valve is configured inside the upper air way and one end of the second check valve is in communication with the outside and another thereof the upper air chamber, allowing air flow to be unidirectionally flow into the upper air chamber from the outside. In addition, the lower air way is formed on the air cylinder and in communication with the lower air chamber and the outside. In addition, the diameter of the upper air way is larger than that of the lower air way, allowing the air entering rate of the air chamber to be greater than the air discharge rate thereof. Whereby, the complicated internal structures of the conventional air cylinders can be overcome, and the air flowing unidirectionality and the advantage of the air entering amount being greater than the air discharge amount allow the regular air filling to be omitted. With the user's walking habits, the air intake can be automatically adjusted, thereby having a high cushioning performance.
However, the exhaust and intake volume of the check valve of the above adjustment-free cushioning air cylinder must be adjusted manually if only depending the single structure of air entering amount being greater than air discharge amount, but relative to different users, the center of gravity of the walking force, the speed and the applicable regionality will take a longer time to adapt.
The present invention proposes an automatic pressure regulating pneumatic cylinder, including: a pneumatic cylinder, arranged with a connecting element for sealing the pneumatic cylinder on lower inside thereof, a piston slidably configured above the connecting element, a upper air chamber formed inside the pneumatic cylinder above the piston, and a lower air chamber formed inside the pneumatic cylinder between the piston and connecting element, an outside of the pneumatic cylinder further configured with a first air entering passage and second air entering passage allowing external air to one-way flow into the upper air chamber and a first guide passage allowing the external air to one-way flow into the lower air chamber and be converted into internal air; an air flow control unit, embedded inside the connecting element and composed of an exhaust floating piston, sealing element, elastic element and exhaust floating piston positioner from top to bottom, the exhaust floating piston allowed to correspondingly form an air passage for opening or closing through normal speed and rapid displacement of the piston and further cause the internal air of the lower air chamber to generate different air pressure resistance, allowing the pneumatic cylinder to achieve automatic internal pressure regulation.
The automatic pressure regulating pneumatic cylinder of the present invention mainly can conform to user's activity states, utilizing the first and second air entering passages one-way inhaling external air to uniformly push the piston downward, and utilizing the first guide passage to allow the external air inside the upper air chamber to flow into the lower air chamber and be converted to internal air. In addition, the air flow control unit is supplemented to automatically adjust the internal air pressure resistance of the pneumatic cylinder, thereby controlling the exhausting action of the lower air chamber. The present invention is easier to be applied than conventional manual precision adjustment.
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A first air entering passage 11 and second air entering passage 12 allowing external air A to unidirectionally flow into the upper air chamber 21 and a first guide passage 13 allowing the external air A to unidirectionally flow into the lower air chamber 22 and be converted into internal air B are further respectively configured on the outside of the pneumatic cylinder 10.
An air flow control unit 31 is embedded in the interior of the connecting element 30 and composed of an exhaust floating piston 311, sealing element 312, elastic member 313, and an exhaust floating piston stopper 314 from top to bottom, where the exhaust floating piston is allowed to correspondingly form an air passage 32 for opening or closing through the piston 20 at normal speed and rapid displacement to further cause the internal air B of the lower air chamber 22 to generate different air pressure resistance, allowing the pneumatic cylinder 10 to achieve the object of having automatic internal pressure adjustment.
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To sum up, the automatic pressure regulating pneumatic cylinder of the present invention one-way inhales the external air A into the upper air chamber 21 inside the pneumatic cylinder 10 through the first air entering passage 11 operated in coordination with the second air entering passage 12; the internal air B inside the lower air chamber 22 is discharged and maintained by completely sealing and opening the exhaust floating piston 311 and sealing element 312 inside the air flow control unit 31 after the piston 20 is stably pushed downward, and the external air A inside the upper air chamber 21 can be guided into the lower air chamber 22 for application through the first guide passage 13 operated in coordination with the moved-upward piston, allowing the present invention to achieve the automatic adjustment of pressure and strengthening use comfort and convenience in normal speed and rapid displacement states.