Powered prosthetic knee with battery recharging during regeneration phase

A powered prosthetic knee comprising:

• a first limb member;
• a second limb member;
• a rechargeable battery;
• an electric actuator coupled to the first limb member and the second limb member to form a joint, and electrically coupled to the rechargeable battery,
• wherein the electric actuator is configured to use energy received from the rechargeable battery to manipulate the first limb member relative to the second limb member to facilitate movement of the powered prosthetic knee,
• wherein during at least a portion of swing phase of a gait cycle, the electric actuator converts kinetic energy into first electrical energy that is greater than second electrical energy supplied to the electric actuator from the rechargeable battery;
• an enable/disable circuit located between the electric actuator and a recharging circuit;
• the recharging circuit comprising a reverse current protection circuit, wherein the reverse current protection circuit comprises a diode that prevents electrical energy from being supplied from the rechargeable battery to the recharging circuit, and wherein the recharging circuit is configured to:
• receive at least a portion of the first electrical energy from the electric actuator, and
• supply at least some of the at least a portion of the first electrical energy to the rechargeable battery to recharge the rechargeable battery;
• a power dissipation circuit located between the rechargeable battery and the electric actuator, the power dissipation circuit configured to dissipate at least some of the first electrical energy, wherein the power dissipation circuit comprises a brake chopper, and a switch in series with a resistor, wherein the brake chopper is configured to control the switch to allow at least some of the first electrical energy to dissipate across the resistor;
• and
• a controller configured to:
• determine an anticipated gait phase of the powered prosthetic knee based on a determined current gait phase and a determined cadence of a wearer, and
• selectively adjust the enable/disable circuit between an open circuit configuration and a closed circuit configuration to enable or disable the recharging circuit based at least in part on the anticipated gait phase, wherein the controller is configured to adjust the enable/disable circuit to the closed circuit configuration in response to a predicted time at which the powered prosthetic knee is predicted to begin the anticipated gait phase, and wherein the controller is configured to adjust the enable/disable circuit to the open circuit configuration in response to a predicted time at which the powered prosthetic knee is predicted to end the anticipated gait phase.