Design and Additive Manufacturing of Lower Limb Prosthetic Socket

Author(s):  
Andrea Vitali ◽  
Daniele Regazzoni ◽  
Caterina Rizzi ◽  
Giorgio Colombo

Additive Manufacturing (AM) is not only an innovative approach of fabrication but it fosters a new paradigm to design products. The possibility to confer inhomogeneous properties to the product provides an important design key. This paper concerns the design and manufacture of medical devices that require a high level of customization. We focus the attention on lower limb prosthesis and in particular on the prosthetic socket. The proposed method is centered on the virtual modeling of patient’s residual limb and the virtual process is highly integrated and the data flow is as fluid as possible. Three main phases can be identified: design, validation and manufacture of the socket. Firstly, the technician uses the Socket Modeling Assistant (SMA) tool to design the socket shape. Then, a numerical simulation is run to check pressure distribution and validate the socket shape. Finally, a multi-material 3D printer is used to build the socket. Preliminary results are presented and conclusions are drawn concerning the challenge of multi-material 3D printing of the socket.


Author(s):  
Paul Ryan ◽  
Jan Schwerdtfeger ◽  
Markus Rodermann

Compared to conventional manufacturing processes, additive manufacturing offers a degree of freedom that has the potential to revolutionize the turbine components supply chain. Additive manufacturing facilitates the design and manufacture of highly complex components in high performance materials with features that cannot currently be realized with other processes. In addition, shorter development and manufacturing lead-times are possible due to the flexibility of 3D based processing and the absence of expensive, complicated molds or dies. Having been confined for many years to rapid prototyping or R&D applications, additive manufacturing is now making the move to the factory floor. However, a dearth of manufacturing experience makes the development effort and risk of costly mistakes a deterrent for many organizations that would otherwise be interested in exploring the benefits of additive manufacturing. A former manufacturer of industrial gas turbines recently established an additive manufacturing workshop designed to deliver highly complex engine-ready components that can contribute to increased performance of the gas turbine. A strong emphasis on process validation and implementation of the organization’s best practice Lean and Quality methodologies has laid solid foundations for a highly capable manufacturing environment. This paper describes the approach taken to ensure that the workshop achieves a high level of operational excellence. Process development topics explored in the paper include the following: • Planning of process flow and cell layout to permit the maximum lean performance • Strategy used to determine machine specification and selection method. • Assessment of process capability • Influence of design for manufacture on process efficiency and product quality • Experience gained during actual production of first commercial components



2012 ◽  
Vol 36 (1) ◽  
pp. 15-24 ◽  
Author(s):  
Arezoo Eshraghi ◽  
Noor Azuan Abu Osman ◽  
Hossein Gholizadeh ◽  
Mohammad Karimi ◽  
Sadeeq Ali

Background: One of the main indicators of the suspension system efficiency in lower limb prostheses is vertical displacement or pistoning within the socket. Decreasing pistoning and introducing an effective system for evaluating pistoning could contribute to the amputees’ rehabilitation process.Objectives: The main objective of this study was to review existing research studies that examine the occurrence of pistoning in lower limb prosthesis with different techniques in static (standing) and dynamic (walking and jumping) positions.Study Design: Literature review.Methods: Keywords related to slippage, suspension, pistoning and vertical movement in lower limb prosthetics were used to search the literature available in PubMed, ScienceDirect, Web of Science and Google Scholar databases. Sixteen articles were selected for further analysis according to the selection criteria.Results: The following methods have been used to measure the occurrence of pistoning in prosthetic limbs: radiological methods, photographic technique, motion analysis system, sensor and spiral computerized tomography (CT). Pistoning was measured both in standing and walking.Conclusions: The results of this review reveal that further research is needed to develop and evaluate easy, accurate and safe methods of measuring pistoning. Future studies should provide a gold standard for the acceptable range of pistoning in a prosthetic socket.Clinical relevanceThis literature review contributes to a further understanding of lower limb prosthetic biomechanics by highlighting the strengths and weaknesses of the techniques that are currently available for evaluating the occurrence of pistoning in a prosthetic socket. It provides a useful overview of the current methods of measuring residual limb movements relative to the socket and liner, and will be of use for both practitioners and researchers in prosthetics and orthotics fields.



2021 ◽  
pp. 026921552110693
Author(s):  
Robert S. Gailey ◽  
Ignacio Gaunaurd ◽  
Sara J. Morgan ◽  
Anat Kristal ◽  
Geoffrey S. Balkman ◽  
...  

Objective To determine if the two-minute walk test (2MWT) could serve as an alternative measure of high-level mobility in lower limb prosthesis users when circumstances preclude administration of the Comprehensive High-level Activity Mobility Predictor (CHAMP). Design Cross-sectional study. Setting Indoor recreational athletic field and gymnasium Subjects Fifty-eight adult lower limb prosthesis users with unilateral or bilateral lower limb amputation who participate in recreational athletic activities. Intervention N/A Main Measures The 2MWT and CHAMP while using their preferred prosthesis(es) on an indoor artificial athletic field or hardwood gymnasium floor. Results Thirty-nine men and nineteen women with a median age of 38.3 years participated in the study. Most participants experienced amputation(s) due to trauma (62%) or tumor (10%) and were generally higher functioning (K4 (91.4%) and K3 (8.6%)). The median (range) score for the CHAMP was 23.0 points (1.5–33.5) and the mean ± standard deviation (range) 2MWT distance walked was 188.6 ± 33.9 m (100.2–254.3 m). The CHAMP demonstrated a strong positive relationship with 2MWT (r = 0.83, p < 0.001). The 2MWT distance predicted 70% of the variance in CHAMP score. Conclusions Although the 2MWT does not test multi-directional agility like the CHAMP, they were found to be highly correlated. If space is limited, the two-minute walk test can serve as an alternative measure for assessing high-level mobility capabilities in lower limb prosthesis users.



Smart Cities ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 4 (2) ◽  
pp. 894-918
Author(s):  
Luís Rosa ◽  
Fábio Silva ◽  
Cesar Analide

The evolution of Mobile Networks and Internet of Things (IoT) architectures allows one to rethink the way smart cities infrastructures are designed and managed, and solve a number of problems in terms of human mobility. The territories that adopt the sensoring era can take advantage of this disruptive technology to improve the quality of mobility of their citizens and the rationalization of their resources. However, with this rapid development of smart terminals and infrastructures, as well as the proliferation of diversified applications, even current networks may not be able to completely meet quickly rising human mobility demands. Thus, they are facing many challenges and to cope with these challenges, different standards and projects have been proposed so far. Accordingly, Artificial Intelligence (AI) has been utilized as a new paradigm for the design and optimization of mobile networks with a high level of intelligence. The objective of this work is to identify and discuss the challenges of mobile networks, alongside IoT and AI, to characterize smart human mobility and to discuss some workable solutions to these challenges. Finally, based on this discussion, we propose paths for future smart human mobility researches.



2013 ◽  
Vol 42 (3) ◽  
pp. 631-641 ◽  
Author(s):  
Aaron J. Young ◽  
Ann M. Simon ◽  
Nicholas P. Fey ◽  
Levi J. Hargrove


2015 ◽  
Vol 9 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Jonathan Realmuto ◽  
Glenn Klute ◽  
Santosh Devasia

This article studies the design of passive elastic elements to reduce the actuator requirements for powered ankle prostheses. The challenge is to achieve most of the typically nonlinear ankle response with the passive element so that the active ankle-torque from the actuator can be small. The main contribution of this article is the design of a cam-based lower-limb prosthesis to achieve such a nonlinear ankle response. Results are presented to show that the addition of the cam-based passive element can reduce the peak actuator torque requirement substantially, by ∼74%. Moreover, experimental results are presented to demonstrate that the cam-based design can achieve a desired nonlinear response to within 10%.



Procedia CIRP ◽  
2017 ◽  
Vol 60 ◽  
pp. 476-481 ◽  
Author(s):  
Vimal Dhokia ◽  
James Bilzon ◽  
Elena Seminati ◽  
David Canepa Talamas ◽  
Matthew Young ◽  
...  


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