Adjustable Orthopaedic Brace With Reconfigurable Rigid Support
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Solution Overview
Problem
Current orthopaedic braces are custom-made and lack adjustability, requiring specialized personnel and time for adjustments, leading to reduced effectiveness and increased environmental impact due to non-industrialized production and material use.
Innovation Solution
An adjustable orthopaedic brace with adjustable front and back closing devices, a thermoformable back plate, and thermoformable pelvic portions, allowing rapid adaptation to patient changes and industrialized production.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Adaptability or versatility
If orthopaedic braces are custom made for each patient with fixed parts, then the brace can be tailored to individual patient needs, but the manufacturing cost increases and adjustability is limited
Solution Approach 1:
The orthopaedic brace is divided into modular components including adjustable closing devices, positioning elements, and segmented valve structures. These modules can be independently manufactured and assembled, enabling industrialized production while maintaining customization capability through combination of standard parts.
Solution Approach 2:
The brace incorporates universal adjusting mechanisms that can accommodate various patient anatomies through a single design platform. The adjustable closing devices and positioning elements serve multiple functions including size adjustment, positional adaptation, and configurability for different treatment requirements.
2Strength
If orthopaedic braces are made with greater rigidity for severe pathologies, then treatment effectiveness is improved, but the ability to adjust and adapt the brace shape deteriorates
Solution Approach 1:
The brace incorporates dynamic adjusting mechanisms that allow the rigid structure to be reconfigured over time. The adjustable closing devices and positioning elements enable modification of the brace shape and rigidity distribution as the patient's condition evolves, treating the rigid structure as dynamically adaptable rather than static.
3Manufacturing precision
If adjustments to orthopaedic braces are performed by specialised technical personnel, then adjustment accuracy is improved, but the time required and operational complexity increase
Solution Approach 1:
The brace incorporates self-adjusting mechanisms including adjustable closing devices with intuitive interfaces and positioning elements that can be easily modified by the patient or caregivers without specialized training. The design enables users to perform adjustments independently while maintaining treatment precision.
4Manufacturing precision
If orthopaedic braces are custom made with exact patient measures, then treatment effectiveness is optimized, but production time and industrialization potential are reduced
Solution Approach 1:
The brace utilizes adjustable parameters through modular components that can be configured to match patient-specific measurements. Instead of custom-manufacturing each brace to exact dimensions, the invention achieves custom fit through selection and adjustment of standardized components with variable parameters.
Data Source
AI summary
An orthopaedic brace has two rigid valves, each having a back portion; a rigid back plate extending in a longitudinal direction and partially overlapping the back portions of both valves; front closing devices, configured to tighten the valves at the front in an adjustable manner; back closing devices, configured to tighten the valves at the back in an adjustable manner.