Measuring and testing – Fluid pressure gauge – Combined
Reexamination Certificate
2000-03-03
2001-11-06
Oen, William (Department: 2855)
Measuring and testing
Fluid pressure gauge
Combined
Reexamination Certificate
active
06311562
ABSTRACT:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
This invention relates to a human lumbar model structure for simulating a pressure applied to nucleus pulposus in a human lumbar and an application equipment utilizing the structure. More particularly, this invention relates to a human lumbar model structure capable of objectively and quantitatively estimating and evaluating a ride vibration comfort which would be felt by a human being (an occupant, a driver, a passenger, etc.) on a vehicle such as a motor vehicle, a train, a vessel, and a spacecraft travelling with vibration, variation in speed, and/or change of acceleration.
Motor vehicles are typical vehicles which have widely spread in recent years and are continuously and infinitely developing in the modern society. As a consequence, different types of motor vehicles have been used in various uses, respectively. There are various models or classes in motor vehicles of one type of use (for example, passenger cars). On the other hand, many people have came to pay attention to safety and the ride vibration comfort of vehicles upon purchasing their vehicles.
For safety, motor vehicles for each of types of uses have been ranked through various kinds of collision or crash tests, the analysis of damages in those motor vehicles involved in accidents, and so on. On the other hand, evaluation of motor vehicles in the above-mentioned ride vibration comfort relies upon sensory tests in which test results widely fluctuate among individuals. Thus, no basis for objective or quantitative evaluation has been established yet.
Long-distance or long-time drivers often suffer from herniation of a lumbar intervertebral disk. According to one of the most convincing theories accepted by many orthopedists, the occurrence and the aggravation of the above-mentioned hernia are correlated with ride vibration comfort when travelling in motor vehicles.
In view of the above, it is required to realize a human lumbar model structure and application equipment utilizing the structure in order to objectively and quantitatively evaluate ride vibration comfort.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
It is therefore the object of the present invention to provide a human lumbar model structure which enables objective and quantitative evaluation of ride vibration comfort of a vehicle, and application equipment utilizing the structure.
This invention provides a human lumbar model structure for simulating pressure applied to the nucleus pulposus in the lumbar spine of a human body, which comprises a cylindrical lumbar assembly and an abdominal/back muscle member.
The lumbar assembly comprises an upper body member, an upper lumbar member, an annulus fibrosus member, a lower lumbar member, and a lower body member which are coaxially arranged around a common center axis and which are vertically superposed from top to bottom in this order. The abdominal/back muscle member is made of an elastic material and has a hollow cylindrical shape. The abdominal/back muscle member surrounds and tightens the lumbar assembly over at least a center area thereof extending from the midlevel of the upper body member to the midlevel of the lower body member.
The upper and lower lumbar members are tightly fitted into the upper and lower body members, respectively. The annulus fibrosus member comprises a thick cylindrical ring made of a hard elastic material. The annulus fibrosus member has upper and lower portions fitted into the upper and the lower lumbar members, respectively, and an inner cavity filled with a fluid as a nucleus pulposus member.
The above-mentioned structure can provide a human lumbar model having the nucleus pulposus member as an artificial nucleus pulposus which satisfies mechanical and functional conditions substantially equivalent to those of the actual nucleus pulposus existing between lumbar vertebrae of a human being. The model has been confirmed to have the characteristic that the fluid as the nucleus pulposus member is moved, in response to vibration applied thereto, with pressure variation thereof, its peak value has a correlation with a vibration sensory feeling of an individual who suffers from herniation of an intervertebral disk.
In one specific embodiment of the human lumbar model structure, the annulus fibrosus member is made of graphite-containing natural rubber having a rubber hardness approximately equal to 60 degrees and is produced by a drawing process to have an outer diameter of about 24 mm, an inner diameter of about 9 mm and a length of about 20 mm. The nucleus pulposus member as the artificial nucleus pulposus may be silicone grease. The abdominal/back muscle member of the hollow cylindrical shape comprises a layered structure of two natural rubber sheets each of which is about 5 mm thick and has an outer diameter of about 120 mm, an inner diameter of about 100 mm, and a length of about 210 mm.
The human lumbar model structure can comprise a pressure sensor arranged along a center axis of the lower lumbar member in direct contact with the nucleus pulposus member for detecting pressure variation of the nucleus pulposus member as a voltage variation linearly proportional to the pressure variation to produce an electric signal representative of the voltage variation.
This invention also provides an application equipment utilizing the above-mentioned human lumbar model structure to simulate pressure applied to the nucleus pulposus in the lumbar spine of a human body. The application equipment comprises a human robot including the human lumbar model structure securely mounted on the upper surface of a base, and a loading member arranged on the human lumbar model structure so that the human robot has a weight equivalent to that of the human body, and a recording unit connected to the pressure sensor for time-sequentially recording pressure variations detected by the pressure sensor, so that the vibrations applied to the human robot are recorded as a waveform representing the pressure variations occurring in the nucleus pulposus member.
The human robot can be securely mounted on the upper surface of the base with its center axis coincident with the gravitational direction or the inclination of the back of a passenger's seat.
REFERENCES:
patent: 5771181 (1998-06-01), Moore
patent: 5827328 (1998-10-01), Butterman
patent: 6039763 (2000-03-01), Shelokov
Collard & Roe P.C.
Oen William
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