EXLAR keeps high forces for medical treadmill

Date: 2 April 2013

Technology in the service of medical science

What to do if you cannot handle high peak powers with trapezoidal spindles and ball screws? Peter Martens from Force Link ran against this issue during the development of their special treadmill for biomechanical analysis, research and rehabilitation. At the fair "Aandrijftechniek" he found the solution to high holding forces at the 'pitch' and 'sway' movement of the R-Mill with Exlar electrical actuators.

Accelerated rehabilitation

The R-Mill treadmill measures the ground reaction forces which the patient exerts on the belt. Combined with the information given by the cameras - in a virtual reality environment - walking analyzes are made and research and accelerated rehabilitation is supported for patients with for instance cerebral infarction.

Balance disruption patient

The response of the patient to disturbances is of interest to the analysis. The Exlar GSM40 creates a 'pitch' movement, the front and back tilting of the treadmill. The Exlar GSM20 controls the 'sway' movement, a linear movement with a maximum stroke of 50 mm to the left or right.

Sagging of the motor

Peter Martens is excited about this solution: "For these applications, we needed a high-quality linear actuator. A trapezoidal spindle is not sufficient in this case. We tried ballscrews, but when overloaded with peak forces, the motor sagged. "

Benefits Exlar servoactuators in medical treadmill:

• When overloaded, the Exlar actuator runs off more slowly compared to similar spindles with servomotor.
• More quiet to use than the previously used ballscrews with servomotor.
• Compactere solution than ball screw with servo motor.

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