The development of a low-cost three-dimensional printed shoulder, arm, and hand prostheses for children

2016 ◽  
Vol 41 (2) ◽  
pp. 205-209 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jorge M Zuniga ◽  
Adam M Carson ◽  
Jean M Peck ◽  
Thomas Kalina ◽  
Rakesh M Srivastava ◽  
...  

Background and aim: The prosthetic options for higher level amputees are limited and costly. Advancements in computer-aided design programs and three-dimensional printing offer the possibility of designing and manufacturing transitional prostheses at very low cost. The aim of this project was to describe an inexpensive three-dimensional printed mechanical shoulder prosthesis to assist a pre-selected subject in performing bi-manual activities. Technique: The main function of the body-powered, manually adjusted three-dimensional printed shoulder prosthesis is to provide a cost-effective, highly customized transitional device to individuals with congenital or acquired forequarter amputations. Discussion: After testing the prototype on a young research participant, a partial correction of the patient’s spinal deviation was noted due to the counterweight of the device. The patient’s family also reported improved balance and performance of some bimanual activities after 2 weeks of using the device. Limitations of the design include low grip strength and low durability. Clinical relevance The prosthetic options for higher level amputees are limited and costly. The low-cost three-dimensional printed shoulder prosthesis described in this study can be used as a transitional device in preparation for a more sophisticated shoulder prosthesis.

2020 ◽  
Vol 64 (5) ◽  
pp. 50405-1-50405-5
Author(s):  
Young-Woo Park ◽  
Myounggyu Noh

Abstract Recently, the three-dimensional (3D) printing technique has attracted much attention for creating objects of arbitrary shape and manufacturing. For the first time, in this work, we present the fabrication of an inkjet printed low-cost 3D temperature sensor on a 3D-shaped thermoplastic substrate suitable for packaging, flexible electronics, and other printed applications. The design, fabrication, and testing of a 3D printed temperature sensor are presented. The sensor pattern is designed using a computer-aided design program and fabricated by drop-on-demand inkjet printing using a magnetostrictive inkjet printhead at room temperature. The sensor pattern is printed using commercially available conductive silver nanoparticle ink. A moving speed of 90 mm/min is chosen to print the sensor pattern. The inkjet printed temperature sensor is demonstrated, and it is characterized by good electrical properties, exhibiting good sensitivity and linearity. The results indicate that 3D inkjet printing technology may have great potential for applications in sensor fabrication.


Author(s):  
AN Nithyaa ◽  
S Poonguzhali ◽  
N Vigneshwari

Hemiplegia is a type of paralysis that affects one side of the body due to stroke, characterizing severe weakness or rigid movement. Many people of different age groups are affected by this condition which cannot be completely cured but can be minimized through proper physiotherapy. A continuous and repeated exercise has to be given to the hemiplegic subjects to regain their motor function. To serve this purpose, a three-dimensional model of wheelchair contrived with lower limb exoskeleton is designed and motion analysis is done using SolidWorks. This virtual model of the object is created with the assistance of computer-aided design software. Professionals can be able to do the experiment on what-if scenarios with their three-dimensional designs, which helps to validate their devices and identify any snags with design quality. The pattern of behaviour of lower limb exoskeleton is predicted using SimMechanics in MATLAB.


Author(s):  
Александр Чабаненко ◽  
Alexander Chabanenko

In recent years, the methods of layer-by-layer synthesis of prototype products, which is included in additive technologies, have formed a fundamentally new direction in technology, where it is necessary to produce experimental, single, exclusive and unique product samples. The fundamental difference between these methods is that the finished part is obtained not by removing a layer of material from the workpiece, as is customary in traditional methods of processing, and due to the layer-by-layer build-up of the material while obtaining a given shape and size of the product. At the same time, the main feature of these methods is the mandatory use of three-dimensional computer-aided design of the product as the initial stage of layer-by-layer synthesis technology. The use of these technologies is particularly promising in the production of housing elements of electronic equipment due to the ability to consider the specifics of the equipment. The use of additive technologies provides an increase in performance and a decrease in the influence of the form factor of the body at the production stage. An additional advantage of the additive installation is that in the manufacture of preforms are not required to resort to third-party technological solutions in the form of cutting, grinding, welding, which requires additional equipment and the involvement of qualified specialists. With the help of modeling mechanisms of 3D printers, it is possible to provide fully automatic production of preforms, having an additive installation. A process control additive production will ensure the quality of the final product.


2015 ◽  
Vol 1 (9) ◽  
pp. e1500758 ◽  
Author(s):  
Thomas J. Hinton ◽  
Quentin Jallerat ◽  
Rachelle N. Palchesko ◽  
Joon Hyung Park ◽  
Martin S. Grodzicki ◽  
...  

We demonstrate the additive manufacturing of complex three-dimensional (3D) biological structures using soft protein and polysaccharide hydrogels that are challenging or impossible to create using traditional fabrication approaches. These structures are built by embedding the printed hydrogel within a secondary hydrogel that serves as a temporary, thermoreversible, and biocompatible support. This process, termed freeform reversible embedding of suspended hydrogels, enables 3D printing of hydrated materials with an elastic modulus <500 kPa including alginate, collagen, and fibrin. Computer-aided design models of 3D optical, computed tomography, and magnetic resonance imaging data were 3D printed at a resolution of ~200 μm and at low cost by leveraging open-source hardware and software tools. Proof-of-concept structures based on femurs, branched coronary arteries, trabeculated embryonic hearts, and human brains were mechanically robust and recreated complex 3D internal and external anatomical architectures.


Author(s):  
M Asuaje ◽  
F Bakir ◽  
S Kouidri ◽  
R Noguera ◽  
R Rey

Improvement in computer power and the development of numerical computational methods over the last few years have allowed the emergence of computational fluid dynamic (CFD) codes, making possible the numerical simulation of flow and energy transfer in turbomachines. To improve the efficiency of these tools, fast design software must be used. Within the framework of the optimization process of centrifugal pumps, HELIOX software was developed. It is a tool for design and performance analysis of centrifugal pumps. HELIOX allows quick design of new pumps and improvement of existing ones. HELIOX's performance analysis has been validated through many industrial cases: approximately 100 machines of different sizes and mechanical power. Heliox can be linked to quasi-and three-dimensional analysis tools; these tools enable a better understanding of physical phenomena so as to control the flow fields inside pumps.


2004 ◽  
Vol 126 (02) ◽  
pp. 26-29 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jean Thilmany

Iowa State researchers are working on technology to let engineers design and analyze in real time surrounded by three-dimensional virtual reality. The goal for virtual engineering is for the engineer to better focus on solving the problem at hand, without spending undue amounts of time gathering information, modelling the information, and then analyzing it. The virtual engineering system would integrate computational fluid dynamics and finite element analysis modelling and simulation technologies so engineers would feel as though they’re walking through a system, like a power plant, testing as they go. According to experts, the challenge of building a complete virtual engineering environment comes while coupling software packages as well as in the limitations of visualization and computing hardware prevalent currently. Howard Crabb, one of the founding fathers of computer-aided design technology, predicts that virtual engineering will become cost-effective within the decade. He’s the author of The Virtual Engineer, a book that defines how companies can use the powerful supercomputing capabilities available today to streamline business practices.


The choice of cost-effective method of anticorrosive protection of steel structures is an urgent and time consuming task, considering the significant number of protection ways, differing from each other in the complex of technological, physical, chemical and economic characteristics. To reduce the complexity of solving this problem, the author proposes a computational tool that can be considered as a subsystem of computer-aided design and used at the stage of variant and detailed design of steel structures. As a criterion of the effectiveness of the anti-corrosion protection method, the cost of the protective coating during the service life is accepted. The analysis of existing methods of steel protection against corrosion is performed, the possibility of their use for the protection of the most common steel structures is established, as well as the estimated period of effective operation of the coating. The developed computational tool makes it possible to choose the best method of protection of steel structures against corrosion, taking into account the operating conditions of the protected structure and the possibility of using a protective coating.


2021 ◽  
Vol 11 (4) ◽  
pp. 145
Author(s):  
Nenad Bojcetic ◽  
Filip Valjak ◽  
Dragan Zezelj ◽  
Tomislav Martinec

The article describes an attempt to address the automatized evaluation of student three-dimensional (3D) computer-aided design (CAD) models. The driving idea was conceptualized under the restraints of the COVID pandemic, driven by the problem of evaluating a large number of student 3D CAD models. The described computer solution can be implemented using any CAD computer application that supports customization. Test cases showed that the proposed solution was valid and could be used to evaluate many students’ 3D CAD models. The computer solution can also be used to help students to better understand how to create a 3D CAD model, thereby complying with the requirements of particular teachers.


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