Thermal-Comfort Design of Personalized Casts

Conference paper (2017)

Authors

Xiaoting Zhang Boston University
G. Fang Materials and Manufacturing - IDE
C. Dai Materials and Manufacturing - IDE
J.C. Verlinden Materials and Manufacturing - IDE
J. Wu Materials and Manufacturing - IDE
Emily Whiting Boston University
C.C. Wang Materials and Manufacturing - IDE
Research Group
Materials and Manufacturing (IDE) (TU Delft)
3D printing Structural analysis Personalized cast thermal-comfort Pattern optimization
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Published Date

2017

Language

English

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Faculty

Industrial Design Engineering

Department

Sustainable Design Engineering

Research Group

Materials and Manufacturing

Abstract

This paper introduces a novel method for designing personalized orthopedic casts which are aware of thermal-comfort while satisfying mechanical requirements. Our pipeline starts from thermal images taken by an infrared camera, by which the distribution of thermal-comfort sensitivity is generated on the surface of a 3D scanned model. We formulate a hollowed Voronoi tessellation pattern to represent the covered region for a web-like cast design. The pattern is further optimized according to the thermal-comfort sensitivity calculated from thermal images. Working together with a thickness variation method, we generate a solid model for a personalized cast maximizing both thermal comfort and mechanical stiffness. To demonstrate the effectiveness of our approach, 3D printed models of personalized casts are tested on body parts of different individuals.