Design of a power-assistance system for body-powered hand-prostheses

Title

Design of a power-assistance system for body-powered hand-prostheses

 Author

Rombout, D.

Contributor

Smit, G. (mentor)

Faculty

Mechanical, Maritime and Materials Engineering

 Department

BioMechanical Engineering

 Date

2016-02-16

 Abstract

Body-powered hand prostheses are characterized by low weight and low cost compared to externally powered prostheses. They also provide force and position feedback, allowing for accurate and fast position and force control of the prosthesis. Body-powered hand prostheses are often rejected on the basis of low efficiency. The high forces needed to operate these prostheses lead to discomfort, fatigue and ultimately rejection. The main problem is that these prostheses require too much force to be operated comfortably. This thesis approaches that problem by introducing a power-assistance unit to a body-powered hand prosthesis. By providing additional power via an actuator, the physical load on the user is reduced and force and position feedback is maintained. A 3D model of the concept was designed to give an estimate of a hand prosthesis in terms of weight and size. A proof-of-concept prototype was built to verify the power-assistance functionality. The 3D model showed that it is possible to fit a sufficiently powerful actuator and power supply in a body-powered prosthesis, without exceeding the weight requirement. Testing of the prototype showed that an electric motor can supply sufficient torque to meet the pinch force requirements without hindering proprioceptive feedback. With power-assistance the load on the user can be almost halved, allowing the user to perform most activities of daily living without experiencing fatigue. The concept of implementing power-assistance in body-powered hand prostheses shows to be a feasible and promising approach to the problem of high load requirements of body-powered hand prostheses.

 Subject

design
Power-assistance
Proprioception
Prosthesis

 To reference this document use:

http://resolver.tudelft.nl/uuid:5c28d2cb-b19f-4590-9c76-446a6f241086

 Embargo date

2018-02-16

 Part of collection

Student theses

 Document type

master thesis

 Rights

(c) 2016 Rombet, D.
Files
PDF MSc_Thesis_Dennis_Rombout.pdf 20.94 MB
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