Development of compact centrifugal compressor for climbing power assist suit on wall

Abstract

In recent years, the power assist suits have been proposed in several fields such as supporting nursing care, agriculture, lifting heavy objects, etc. In this laboratory, we proposed the novel assist suit for climbing the wall. With this support, the works at high places and rescue activities can be performed efficiently. For adsorption to the wall surface, it corresponds to uneven surface including curved surface using Universal Vacuum Gripper, in short UVG. In addition, Mckibben type artificial muscle is used as assistance of muscular strength when moving. In order to use two functions, compressed air is required. Currently, in order to generate the compressed air, large and heavy compressor is required. Therefore in this research, we develop a compact compressor to achieve both high flow rate and pressure. As the final goal, we mount the developed compressor onto the assist suit to realize the independent drive.