Monolithic Design Of A Compliant Knee Joint
Disciplines
Applied Mechanics | Computer-Aided Engineering and Design | Electro-Mechanical Systems | Manufacturing
Abstract (300 words maximum)
Prosthetics remain a gigantic need in developing regions due to the increased volume of recently amputated people. The vast majority of these inflicted individuals are above the knee amputees meaning they have lost both knee and ankle in this scenario. Currently, these designs remain exceedingly expensive and unavailable in developing regions because of the vast amount of machinery used as well as being exported from first-world countries. Children remain the most in need by having to adopt the use of heavy metallic prosthetics when their bodies are not fully matured in addition to the repeated expenses of multiple prosthetics due to their growing limbs. The most vital criteria being observed in this development are the need for lightweight prosthetics for children, improved measurements to prevent buckling, and the use of a human-like gait.
This study offers a passive self-actuating 3D printed compliant knee joint for children in developing regions to decrease the overall expense of above-knee prosthetics as well as increase the ease to print multiple prosthetics during their growing cycle. Compliant mechanisms are flexible links that use the material properties of the object to maximize a singular deflection into a convenient desired movement. In this compliant knee, a five-bar system is showcased to provide an adequate human-like gait. This is achieved through the use of both compliant links and a novel 3D printed approach which is more accustomed to children because of the material’s lightweight. The approach of using a fully passive knee joint comes back to the decision to limit the weight of the prosthetics by removing the additional actuators. In this paper, the knee design was not only fully developed, a test bench was fabricated using similar materials that can be adopted throughout medical offices to test new limbs for these new amputated victims.
Academic department under which the project should be listed
SPCEET - Mechanical Engineering
Primary Investigator (PI) Name
Ayse Tekes
Additional Faculty
N/A
Monolithic Design Of A Compliant Knee Joint
Prosthetics remain a gigantic need in developing regions due to the increased volume of recently amputated people. The vast majority of these inflicted individuals are above the knee amputees meaning they have lost both knee and ankle in this scenario. Currently, these designs remain exceedingly expensive and unavailable in developing regions because of the vast amount of machinery used as well as being exported from first-world countries. Children remain the most in need by having to adopt the use of heavy metallic prosthetics when their bodies are not fully matured in addition to the repeated expenses of multiple prosthetics due to their growing limbs. The most vital criteria being observed in this development are the need for lightweight prosthetics for children, improved measurements to prevent buckling, and the use of a human-like gait.
This study offers a passive self-actuating 3D printed compliant knee joint for children in developing regions to decrease the overall expense of above-knee prosthetics as well as increase the ease to print multiple prosthetics during their growing cycle. Compliant mechanisms are flexible links that use the material properties of the object to maximize a singular deflection into a convenient desired movement. In this compliant knee, a five-bar system is showcased to provide an adequate human-like gait. This is achieved through the use of both compliant links and a novel 3D printed approach which is more accustomed to children because of the material’s lightweight. The approach of using a fully passive knee joint comes back to the decision to limit the weight of the prosthetics by removing the additional actuators. In this paper, the knee design was not only fully developed, a test bench was fabricated using similar materials that can be adopted throughout medical offices to test new limbs for these new amputated victims.