Modular Prosthesis Locking Assembly for User Fit Adjustment
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing prosthetic devices are cumbersome and costly to adjust for users' changing bodily needs, requiring frequent visits to a prosthetist for fittings and adjustments, which can be inaccessible to those of lower incomes.
Innovation Solution
A modular prosthesis with adjustable components, including a socket assembly, pylon, and base, featuring locking mechanisms and telescoping members, allowing users to customize and adjust the prosthesis to accommodate growth, muscle changes, and other bodily fluctuations.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If a prosthesis is designed to be durable and functional, then it provides long-term support and mobility, but it becomes costly and cumbersome to adjust when user needs change
Solution Approach 1:
The prosthesis is divided into multiple modular components including a socket assembly, pylon, and base that can be independently adjusted or replaced. The socket assembly itself is segmented into an outer socket and an inner socket that can be selectively removed and replaced, allowing adjustments for growth or bodily changes without replacing the entire prosthesis.
Solution Approach 2:
The prosthesis incorporates adjustable and replaceable components rather than fixed structures. The locking mechanisms enable dynamic adjustment of the modular components, and the heat-moldable inner socket allows dynamic adaptation to the user's residual limb shape changes over time.
2Manufacturing precision
If a prosthesis requires professional fittings and adjustments, then it ensures proper fit and function, but it increases cost and reduces accessibility for lower incomes
Solution Approach 1:
The prosthesis is designed to enable users to perform their own adjustments and replacements without requiring professional prosthetist visits. Users can remove and replace the inner socket themselves, and the modular components can be adjusted by the user through simple locking mechanisms, making the system self-serviceable.
Solution Approach 2:
The inner socket is made from heat-moldable material that changes its physical properties when heated, allowing it to be molded to the user's residual limb. This parameter change enables users to adjust the fit themselves by heating and remolding the socket at home, eliminating the need for repeated professional fittings.
3Strength
If a prosthesis is designed as a single integrated unit, then it ensures structural integrity, but it becomes expensive to modify when user needs change
Solution Approach 1:
The prosthesis is divided into multiple modular components including a socket assembly, pylon, and base that are connected through locking mechanisms. This segmentation allows individual components to be replaced or adjusted without affecting the structural integrity of the entire system, reducing modification costs when user needs change.
Solution Approach 2:
The modular design allows worn or outgrown components to be discarded and replaced with new ones, while other components remain in use. For example, when a user grows or their body changes, only the socket assembly needs to be replaced rather than the entire prosthesis, providing economic benefits through selective component replacement.
Data Source
AI summary
A modular prosthesis including a socket assembly having an outer socket and an inner socket coupled to the outer socket. The modular prosthesis includes a base configured to contact a ground surface, and a pylon disposed between the socket assembly and the base. The pylon defines a longitudinal axis. The pylon has a first end and a second end opposite from the first end along the longitudinal axis. The first end is coupled to the socket assembly and the second end is coupled to the base. The modular prosthesis includes a first locking mechanism disposed between the socket assembly and the pylon. The modular prosthesis includes a second locking mechanism disposed between the pylon and the base.