Prosthesis Electrode Mounting Assembly with Interlocking Retention
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Solution Overview
Problem
Conventional methods for mounting myoelectric electrodes in prosthetic sockets are complex, costly, and often result in a non-sealed interface, making them inefficient and difficult to manufacture, with existing solutions either requiring permanent fixation or complex recesses in the socket.
Innovation Solution
An electrode mounting assembly featuring a flange with interlocking teeth that engages with a corresponding retaining element, allowing for secure, sealed, or suspended mounting with minimal manufacturing complexity and low tolerance requirements for the socket aperture.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If conventional grommet mounting is used, then the electrode is permanently fixed and sealed, but the manufacturing process becomes complex, time-consuming, and costly
Solution Approach 1:
The mounting system is divided into separate components: the electrode body with mounting protrusions and the socket with corresponding recesses. This segmentation allows independent manufacturing of each component with standard tolerances, eliminating the need for complex integrated grommet-electrode assemblies while maintaining secure retention through the interlocking protrusion-recess geometry.
Solution Approach 2:
The mounting protrusions and recesses act as intermediary mechanical features that facilitate secure connection between the electrode and socket. These simple geometric intermediaries replace the complex grommet structure, providing both retention and sealing functions through basic interlocking shapes that are easy to manufacture.
2Ease of operation
If suspension mounting with flexible pins is used, then the electrode can be suspended in the aperture, but the socket requires complex recesses and the interface is not sealed
Solution Approach 1:
Instead of extending mounting features outward from the electrode (suspension pins), the design inverts the approach by providing recesses in the socket that receive protrusions on the electrode. This inversion simplifies the socket structure to basic recesses rather than complex suspension mechanisms, while the protrusions provide the necessary mounting function.
Solution Approach 2:
The mounting function and sealing function are merged into a single integrated structure. The protrusions and recesses simultaneously provide mechanical retention and create a sealed interface, eliminating the need for separate suspension pins and separate sealing mechanisms that would increase device complexity.
3Reliability
If conventional mounting methods are used, then the electrode is securely retained, but the socket aperture requires high tolerances and complex geometry
Solution Approach 1:
The mounting interface is segmented into discrete protrusions and recesses rather than requiring a precisely fitted continuous aperture. This segmentation allows each feature to be manufactured independently with relaxed tolerances, as the cumulative effect of multiple discrete features provides secure retention without requiring high overall aperture precision.
Solution Approach 2:
The design changes the geometric parameters of the mounting interface from requiring tight-fitting continuous surfaces to using discrete interlocking features with larger clearance tolerances. The protrusion-recess geometry allows for parameter variations in size and position while maintaining functional retention, thereby reducing manufacturing precision requirements.
Data Source
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AI summary
The present application describes apparatus (100) for locating an electrode unit on a prosthesis socket, comprising an electrode unit (102) locatable in a socket aperture (106) and having a first abutment surface (118) for engagement with an inner surface (120) of the socket; and a retaining element (104) locatable on the electrode unit and having a further abutment surface (126) for engagement with an outer surface (128) of the socket or the first abutment surface of the electrode unit.