JOINT FOR AN ORTHOPAEDIC DEVICE

Abstract

A joint for an orthopaedic device, in particular an orthosis or prosthesis, wherein the joint has a first element, at least one spring element and a second element, which is mounted so as to pivot on the first element against a force applied by the at least one spring element in at least one direction. The at least one spring element has at least two helical springs which in each case are wound from a spring strip having a longer cross-sectional side upright with respect to the spring axis and are screwed into one another in such a way that the longer cross-sectional side of at least one of the helical springs has an angle different from 90 relative to the spring and that the spring strips butt against one another.

Claims

1. An orthosis or prosthesis joint for an orthopedic device, comprising: a first element; at least one spring element; a second element which is mounted pivotably on the first element counter to a force applied by the at least one spring element in at least one direction; wherein the at least one spring element has at least two helical springs, the at least two helical springs: are each wound from a spring strip having a longer cross-sectional side edgeways with respect to the spring axis, and are screwed into each other in such a way that the longer cross-sectional side of at least one of the helical springs has an angle to the spring axis deviating from 90, and the spring strips bear on each other.

2. The joint according to claim 1, wherein the joint has at least two spring elements, and the second element is pivotable in opposite directions counter to a force applied by at least one of the at least two spring elements.

3. The joint according to claim 2, wherein the at least two spring elements each have at least two helical springs which are each wound from a spring strip having a longer cross-sectional side edgeways with respect to the spring axis and which are screwed into each other in such a way that the longer cross-sectional side has an angle deviating from 90 relative to the spring axis in different directions, and such that the spring strips bear on each other.

4. The joint according to claim 1, wherein the spring strips are made at least partially from a flat wire or a steel strip.

5. The joint according to claim 1, wherein a buffer element is located in the at least one spring element, the buffer element comprising a polyurethane elastomer.

6. The joint according to claim 5, wherein the buffer element is shorter than the at least one spring element in which the buffer element is arranged.

7. The joint according to claim 1, further comprising at least one tensioning device, with which the at least one spring element is pretensioned.

8. The joint according to claim 7, wherein the pretensioning is adjustable.

9. The joint according to claim 2, wherein the at least two spring elements are configured differently.

10. The joint according to claim 1, wherein the joint is an ankle joint for a leg orthosis or an ankle orthosis.

11. The joint according to claim 1, wherein the at least one spring element is encapsulated by a damping material, the damping material comprising an elastomer.

12. The joint according to claim 11, further comprising a buffer element and at least one channel, the at least one channel is located in the at least one spring element, and the buffer element is located in the at least one channel.

13. The joint according to claim 12, wherein the damping material and the material of the buffer element have different Shore hardnesses.

14. An orthosis or prosthesis joint, comprising: a first element; at least one spring element; a second element pivotally mounted on the first element counter to a force applied by the at least one spring element; wherein the at least one spring element comprises at least two helical springs, the at least two helical springs each being formed from a spring strip having a longer cross-sectional side edgeways with respect to a spring axis extending along a longitudinal axis of the at least one spring element, the at least two helical springs being screwed into each other in such a way that the longer cross-sectional side of at least one of the helical springs is arranged at an angle relative to the spring axis which deviates from 90, and the at least two helical springs bear on each other.

15. The joint according to claim 14, wherein the joint comprises at least two spring elements, and the second element is pivotable in opposite directions counter to a force applied by at least one of the at least two spring elements.

16. The joint according to claim 15, wherein the at least two spring elements each comprise at least two helical springs that are each formed from a spring strip having a longer cross-sectional side edgeways with respect to a spring axis extending along a longitudinal axis of the at least one spring element, the at least two helical springs being screwed into each other in such a way that the longer cross-sectional side of at least one of the helical springs is arranged at an angle relative to the spring axis which deviates from 90, and the at least two helical springs bear on each other.

17. The joint according to claim 14, wherein the spring strips are made at least partially from a flat wire or a steel strip.

18. The joint according to claim 14, wherein a buffer element is located in the at least one spring element, the buffer element comprising an elastomer.

19. The joint according to claim 18, wherein the buffer element is shorter than the at least one spring element in which the buffer element is arranged.

20. The joint according to claim 14, further comprising at least one tensioning device configured to pretension the at least one spring element.

Description

[0026] An illustrative embodiment of the present invention is explained in more detail below with the aid of the accompanying figures, in which:

[0027] FIG. 1 shows a joint according to a first illustrative embodiment of the present invention,

[0028] FIG. 2 shows the joint from FIG. 1 in an exploded view,

[0029] FIG. 3 shows a joint according to a second illustrative embodiment of the present invention,

[0030] FIG. 4 shows a joint according to the illustrative embodiment from FIG. 3 in an exploded view,

[0031] FIGS. 5-7 show cross-sectional views of two helical springs in different stages during the production of a spring element,

[0032] FIGS. 8a-8d show cross sections through different spring elements,

[0033] FIGS. 9-12 show differently configured spring elements, in each case in a cross-sectional view (left), a view perpendicular to the spring axis (bottom right), and a view along the spring axis (top right).

[0034] FIG. 1 shows a joint 1 according to a first illustrative embodiment of the present invention. It has a first element 2 and a second element 4. The second element 4 is mounted pivotably on the first element 2 about a pivot axis 6. The joint 1 can be an ankle joint, for example. In this case, the second element 4 forms a foot part, while the first element 2 forms a below-knee part. On the first element 2, a receptacle 8 can be seen on which, for example, a rail element of an orthosis can be secured.

[0035] The second element 4 has two stop elements 10 which, in the illustrative embodiment shown, are designed as shoulders of the second element 4. The joint 1 has two spring elements 12, of which only the right-hand spring element 12 is shown. It is located in a sleeve 14, by which it is protected from dirt and is at the same time guided. The spring element 12 comprises two helical springs 16 which are screwed into each other. By virtue of the positioning in the sleeve 14 and on account of the inherent stability of the helical springs 16, a further guide, for example through an inner mandrel, is not necessary, although it may be advantageous in some designs.

[0036] A counter-stop element 18 is located at what is the lower end of the spring element 12 in FIG. 1. This counter-stop element 18 bears on the stop element 10 of the second element 4. In the upper region of the spring element, a screw element 20 is present which is screwed into an inner thread of the sleeve 14. By way of a depression 22 which is present in the screw element 20 and into which a form-fit element can be introduced, the screw element 20 can be rotated relative to the sleeve 14 and thus screwed farther into or out of the sleeve. In this way, the screw element 20 together with the inner thread of the sleeve 14 becomes a tensioning device 24. If the screw element 20 is screwed farther into the sleeve, the two helical springs 16 and thus the spring element 12 are pressed together. The pretensioning of the helical springs 16 and of the spring element 12 is thereby increased. A pivoting of the second element 4 counterclockwise about the pivot axis 6 is made difficult in this way.

[0037] The spring element 12 shown on the left in FIG. 1 is advantageously of identical configuration, although it may be quite advantageous to use different helical springs 16 than in the case of the spring element 12 shown on the right in FIG. 1. These can differ in terms of material, material strength, number of windings and/or length.

[0038] FIG. 2 shows the joint 1 in an exploded view. The latter depicts the two helical springs 16, the screw element 20 with the depression 22, and the sleeve 14 into which these components are inserted. Below the helical springs 16, the counter-stop element 18 is shown which serves as contact to the stop element 10 on the second element 4.

[0039] FIG. 3 shows a joint 1 according to a second illustrative embodiment of the present invention in a view according to FIG. 1. Here too, the first element 2 with the receptacle 8 is arranged on the second element 4 so as to be pivotable about the pivot axis 6. The spring element 12 with the two helical springs 16 is arranged in the interior of the sleeve 14 and can be pretensioned by the tensioning device 24. In contrast to the illustrative embodiment shown in FIG. 1, a buffer element 26 is now located in the interior of the spring element, which buffer element 26 acts as a guide, additional stop and additional damping element. The length of the buffer element 26 determines when a further compression of the spring element 12 is no longer possible and, consequently, a further pivoting of the second element 4 about the pivot axis 6 relative to the first element 2 is excluded. Here too, the second spring element 12 (not shown) in the left-hand part of FIG. 3 can be designed identically to or differently from the spring element 12. In particular, it is possible to provide such a buffer element 26 only in one of the two spring elements 12.

[0040] FIG. 4 shows the joint 1 from FIG. 3 in an exploded view.

[0041] FIGS. 5 to 7 each show a cross-sectional view of two helical springs 16. These are screwed into each other in order to produce a spring element 12. In FIG. 5, the two helical springs 16 are shown spaced apart from each other. It will be seen that both have an almost rectangular cross section and are wound obliquely with respect to a center axis which runs from the bottom upward in FIGS. 5 to 7. The long sides of the almost rectangular cross section thus form an angle different than 90, wherein this angle for the two helical springs 16 deviates in different directions from the 90 angle with respect to the center axis. This results in a positioning of the two helical springs 16 relative to each other which is similar to the arrangement of separate disk springs. This is shown in the central area of FIG. 6 and in FIG. 7, where the two helical springs 16 are already screwed into each other.

[0042] FIGS. 8a to 8d show cross sections through different spring elements.

[0043] FIG. 8a shows a spring element 12 which is composed of two helical springs 16 screwed into each other. Each of these helical springs has a cross section 28 which is of rectangular configuration and which thus has two longer cross-sectional sides 30 and two shorter cross-sectional sides 32. FIG. 8a also shows a spring axis 34. It also shows a line 36 running at a right angle to the spring axis 34.

[0044] It will be seen that one of the two helical springs 16 has a cross section 28 whose longer cross-sectional sides 30 run exactly parallel to the line 36 and thus enclose an angle of 90 to the spring axis 34. By contrast, the longer cross-sectional sides 30 of the second helical spring 16 run at an angle deviating from 90 with respect to the spring axis 34. The cross sections 28 of the two helical springs 16 bear on each other alternately radially inward and radially outward in a linear contour.

[0045] FIG. 8b shows a spring element 12 that has been produced from three helical springs 16. Here too, the cross sections 28 are of rectangular configuration. The cross section 28 of the central helical spring 16 has longer cross-sectional sides 30 which run exactly perpendicular to the spring axis 34 and thus parallel to the line 36. The two other helical springs have cross sections 28 whose longer cross-sectional sides 30 enclose an angle deviating from 90 with the spring axis 34. The angles deviate in different directions from 90. Therefore, three groups of cross sections 28 of the respective helical springs 16 form in the edge region, i.e. radially outward, and bear radially outwardly on each other.

[0046] FIG. 8c shows a spring element that has been produced from two helical springs 16, each of them having cross sections 28 which are of rectangular configuration. The longer cross-sectional sides 30 do not run parallel to the line 36 and therefore do not form a right angle to the spring axis 34. However, the deviations from this 90 angle are different for different helical springs 16. The same applies to the arrangement of two helical springs 16 shown in FIG. 8d, with the difference that the longer cross-sectional sides 30 of the two helical springs used are not configured as straight lines and instead have a curved or arched configuration.

[0047] FIG. 9 shows a schematic representation of a spring element 12 in different views. The cross section on the left shows the two helical springs 16, which are completely surrounded by a damping material 38. The side view perpendicular to the spring axis also shows the helical springs 16 and the damping material 38 lying between them. At the top right, there is a schematic representation along the spring axis, showing only the damping material 38.

[0048] FIG. 10 shows the same views as FIG. 9, but with a modified spring element 12. Here too, the two helical springs 16 are surrounded by the damping material 38. However, a channel 40, which is not filled with damping material 38, is located in the interior of the helical springs 16. The view perpendicular to the spring axis, at the bottom right in FIG. 10, corresponds to the view shown in FIG. 9, since the embodiment of the respective spring element 12 shown in FIG. 9 and in FIG. 10 looks identical in this view. However, at the top right, in the view parallel to the spring axis, the damping material 38 and the channel 40 located centrally therein can be seen. Irrespective of the design, it is not necessary that the channel 40 extends through the entire spring element 12. It is also possible that the channel 40 has an opening only on one side, for example.

[0049] FIG. 11 shows the same views as in FIGS. 9 and 10 with a further spring element 12. The two helical springs 16 can be seen and are not surrounded by a damping material 38. Located in the interior of the helical springs 16 is the buffer element 26, which in particular can also be seen in the view parallel to the spring axis. FIG. 12 shows the view of the spring element 12 shown in FIG. 10, with the buffer element 26 now located in the interior of the channel 40.

LIST OF REFERENCE SIGNS

[0050] 1 joint [0051] 2 first element [0052] 4 second element [0053] 6 pivot axis [0054] 8 receptacle [0055] 10 stop element [0056] 12 spring element [0057] 14 sleeve [0058] 16 helical spring [0059] 18 counter-stop element [0060] 20 screw element [0061] 22 depression [0062] 24 tensioning device [0063] 26 buffer element [0064] 28 cross section [0065] 30 longer cross-sectional side [0066] 32 shorter cross-sectional side [0067] 34 spring axis [0068] 36 line [0069] 38 damping material [0070] 40 channel