Design of test bench apparatus and preliminary weight reduction strategy for an active knee prosthesis

This thesis presents the design and structural analyses of an experimental test bench for the characterization of an active biomimetic knee prosthesis currently being developed by the Biomechatronics research group at MIT Media Laboratory. Finite element analysis (FEA) is conducted to determine the maximum stress and material deflections of three principle components of the test bench and to verify their structural integrity. In addition, FEA is performed on the chassis of the active knee prosthesis when subjected to the expected loads associated with walking. The simulation results verify that the active prosthetic do not expect structural failure during level ground walking trials with above knee amputee participants. Finally, an empirical weight reduction strategy for the active knee is proposed and analyzed. This strategy aims to reduce distal leg mass which contributes to the overall energetic demands of amputee walking. FEA on the modified active knee prosthesis chassis validate the strategy modifications while maintaining the original design feature constraints.

Department dc:contributor.department

Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Dept. of Mechanical Engineering.

Grantor dc:publisher

Massachusetts Institute of Technology

Year dc:date.issued

2011

Author dc:creator

• Lau, Jacky H. (Jacky Homing)

Advisor dc:contributor.advisor

• Hugh M. Herr.

• Mechanical Engineering.

Statement dc:rights

• M.I.T. theses are protected by copyright. They may be viewed from this source for any purpose, but reproduction or distribution in any format is prohibited without written permission. See provided URL for inquiries about permission.

Licence dc:rights.uri

• http://dspace.mit.edu/handle/1721.1/7582

Language dc:language.iso

eng

Handle dc:identifier.uri

http://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/68848

OAI identifier oai:identifier

oai:dspace.mit.edu:1721.1/68848