title: Characterisation of a pneumatic muscle test station with two dynamic plants in cascade.
abstract: Pneumatic muscle actuators (PMAs) offer significant advantages over more traditional actuators, which make them prime candidates in rehabilitation devices. A dynamic test station (DTS) is modified to demonstrate the use of a PMA for this application. The DTS includes two dynamic systems: a PMA and a DC servomotor. An overall transfer function was developed utilising characterisation data for the PMA and DC servomotor. A Tustin (bilinear) transform was performed on the overall transfer function to obtain a discrete time system. Model parameters were optimised and used to generate input voltage profiles that achieve isokinetic (constant velocity) task specifications. Percent root mean square error values (PRMSE) between the actual and ideal profiles were used to evaluate the accuracy of this method in achieving isokinetic displacement. For PMA pressures (in kPa) of 150, 350 and 550 PRMSE were 7.80, 5.40 and 2.76, respectively.
authors.affiliation: Department of Biomedical, Industrial and Human Factors Engineering, Wright State University, Dayton, OH, USA. serres.3@wright.edu
authors.forename: J L
authors.initials: JL
authors.lastname: Serres
authors.forename: D B
authors.initials: DB
authors.lastname: Reynolds
authors.forename: C A
authors.initials: CA
authors.lastname: Phillips
authors.forename: D B
authors.initials: DB
authors.lastname: Rogers
authors.forename: D W
authors.initials: DW
authors.lastname: Repperger
mesh_terms: D001696:Biomechanical Phenomena; D001698:Biomedical Engineering; D040761:Biomimetic Materials; D006801:Humans; D048228:Intermittent Pneumatic Compression Devices / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D008954:Models, Biological; D008962:Models, Theoretical; D009119:Muscle Contraction; D018482:Muscle, Skeletal / Q000502:physiology*; D011312:Pressure; D019415:Torque