THREE LEVEL INNOVATION OF THE POWERED ABOVE ELBOW PROSTHETIC ARM USING ...

173 Pages·2011·5.08 MB·English

by  Daniel Christ

THREE LEVEL INNOVATION OF THE POWERED

ABOVE ELBOW PROSTHETIC ARM USING

PNEUMATIC ARTIFICIAL MUSCLES

by

DANIEL AUSTIN CHRIST

A THESIS

Submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements
for the degree of Master of Science
in the Department of Mechanical Engineering
in the Graduate School of
The University of Alabama

TUSCALOOSA, ALABAMA

2011
Copyright Daniel Austin Christ 2011
ALL RIGHTS RESERVED
ABSTRACT

This thesis presents a novel above elbow prosthetic arm design, innovating on three
different levels: the actuation method, system integration, and the mechanism design. The
Chemo-Muscle actuation system expands pneumatic artificial muscles to mobile applications.
The integrated design makes use of the internal dead space of the muscle, incorporating external
components and reducing fuel consumption. A novel design is presented using smaller muscles
to control multiple degrees of freedom, providing 50% more strength than other prosthetic arms
and an excellent range of motion for each degree of freedom. A simple control method is proven
and the future development is discussed.

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DEDICATION

To my wife, Amy
Thank you for your generous kindness, love and support.
Now and always.
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LIST OF ACRONYMS AND ABBREVIATIONS

AE Above Elbow
APL John Hopkins Applied Physics Laboratory
CAD Computer Aided Design
CNC Computer Numerically Controlled Machining
DARPA Defense Advanced Research Project Agency
DOF Degree(s) of freedom
EMG Electromyographic Signal
OIF/OEF Operation Iraqi Freedom/Operation Enduring Freedom
PAM Pneumatic Artificial Muscle
RIC Research Institute of Chicago
TMR Targeted Muscle Reinnervation

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ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

I would like to thank the National Science Foundation GK-12 program for their financial
support as well as for the opportunity to be part of such a unique educational fellowship
experience. I would like to thank Dr. Xiangrong Shen for providing me with the opportunity to
work on this project and for his assistance and encouragement along the way. I would like to thank
Dr. Beth Todd for introducing me to many great programs The University of Alabama offers and
helping me to get involved and give back. I would also like to thank Dr. Rajnish Sharma for his
assistance and enthusiasm as a member of my thesis committee. Finally, I would like to thank my
fellow students, Garrett Waycaster, Marco Wu, Alston Pike and Miguel Sequera for their support,
encouragement and camaraderie.

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CONTENTS
ABSTRACT .............................................................................................................................. ii
DEDICATION .......................................................................................................................... iii
LIST OF ACRONYMS AND ABBREVIATIONS ................................................................... iv
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS ...........................................................................................................v
LIST OF TABLES .................................................................................................................... xi
LIST OF FIGURES ................................................................................................................. xii
CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION ...............................................................................................1
1.1 MOTIVATION & OBJECTIVE ........................................................................................2
1.1.1 MOTIVATION ...........................................................................................................2
1.1.2 OBJECTIVE ...............................................................................................................4
1.2 PROSTHETICS: BACKGROUND AND LITERATURE REVIEW ..................................5
1.2.1 TRADITIONAL UPPER LIMB PROSTHETICS ........................................................5
1.2.2 EARLY ELECTRONIC PROSTHETICS ....................................................................9
1.2.3 REVOLUTIONIZING PROSTHETICS .................................................................... 12
1.2.4 OTHER RELATED RESEARCH ............................................................................. 17
1.3 PNEUMATIC ARTIFICIAL MUSCLES ......................................................................... 21
1.3.1 BIOLOGICAL MUSCLES........................................................................................ 21
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1.3.2 PNEUMATIC ARTIFICIAL MUSCLE CHARACTERISTICS ................................ 24
1.3.3 APPLICATIONS OF PAMS ..................................................................................... 25
1.3.4 DRAWBACKS OF THE PAM.................................................................................. 25
REFERENCES ...................................................................................................................... 26
CHAPTER 2: THE CHEMO-MUSCLE ACTUATION SYSTEM ........................................... 29
2.1 CHAPTER ABSTRACT .................................................................................................. 30
2.2 INTRODUCTION ........................................................................................................... 30
2.3 SYSTEM DESIGN .......................................................................................................... 31
2.4 MODELING THE CHEMO-MUSCLE ACTUATION SYSTEM .................................... 34
2.4.1 LOAD DYNAMICS .................................................................................................. 35
2.4.2 PRESSURE-FORCE RELATIONS ........................................................................... 35
2.4.3 PRESSURE DYNAMICS ......................................................................................... 36
2.4.4 VALVE FLOW DYNAMICS ................................................................................... 38
2.5 CONTROLLER DESIGN ................................................................................................ 41
2.6 EXPERIMENTAL RESULTS ......................................................................................... 43
2.7 CONCLUSIONS ............................................................................................................. 48
REFERENCES ...................................................................................................................... 49
CHAPTER 3: REDUCING EFFECTIVE VOLUME OF PNEUMATIC ARTIFICIAL
MUSCLE WITH COMPONENT INTEGRATION ................................................................... 50
3.1 ABSTRACT .................................................................................................................... 51
3.2 INTRODUCTION ........................................................................................................... 52
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3.3 ENERGY-SAVING MECHANISM ................................................................................ 54
3.4 A PRACTICAL DESIGN WITH VALVE INTEGRATION ............................................ 57
3.5 SIMULATED EXPERIMENTS ...................................................................................... 61
3.6 CONCLUSIONS ............................................................................................................. 67
REFERENCES ...................................................................................................................... 68
CHAPTER 4: PROSTHETIC PROTOTYPE DESIGN............................................................. 70
4.1 INTRODUCTION ........................................................................................................... 71
4.2 ARM STRUCTURE ........................................................................................................ 71
4.2.1 BIOLOGICAL ARM STRUCTURE ......................................................................... 71
4.2.2 STRUCTURE OF PROSTHETIC PROTOTYPE ...................................................... 73
4.2.3 MOTIONS AND ACTUATIONS OF THE PROSTHETIC PROTOTYPE ................ 77
4.3 DESIGN DETAILS ......................................................................................................... 81
4.3.1 RADIULNA .............................................................................................................. 81
4.3.2 PRONATION COUPLING ....................................................................................... 83
4.3.3 PRONATION PIN .................................................................................................... 84
4.3.4 ELBOW BRACKET ................................................................................................. 85
4.3.5 ELBOW PULLEY ASSEMBLY ............................................................................... 86
4.3.5.A VARIABLE RADIUS PULLEYS ...................................................................... 88
4.3.5.B ANCHOR BLOCK ............................................................................................. 93
4.4.5.C ELECTROLINE CABLE END FITTINGS ......................................................... 93
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4.4 PROTOTYPE MANUFACTURING AND ASSEMBLY ................................................ 94
4.4.1 PROTOTYPE MANUFACTURING ......................................................................... 94
4.4.2 PROTOTYPE ASSEMBLY ...................................................................................... 99
4.4.3 ADJUSTMENTS MADE DURING ASSEMBLY ................................................... 105
4.5 CONCLUSION ............................................................................................................. 107
REFERENCES .................................................................................................................... 107
CHAPTER 5: PROTOTYPE TESTING AND CONTROL .................................................... 108
5.1 ABSTRACT .................................................................................................................. 109
5.2 EXPERIMENTAL SETUP ............................................................................................ 109
5.3 DESIGN MODIFICATIONS DURING TESTING ........................................................ 110
5.3.1 SIMPLE MODIFICATIONS ................................................................................... 111
5.3.2 COMPLEX MODIFICATIONS .............................................................................. 112
5.4 SIMPLE CONTROL ..................................................................................................... 117
5.5 DISCUSION OF RESULTS .......................................................................................... 118
CHAPTER 6: FUTURE WORK AND CONCLUSIONS ....................................................... 122
6.1 FUTURE WORK .......................................................................................................... 123
6.1.1 CONFORMAL MULTI-UNIT ACTUATION ......................................................... 123
6.1.2 INTEGRATED CHEMO-MUSCLE PROSTHETIC ARM ...................................... 125
6.2 CONCLUSION ............................................................................................................. 126
REFERENCES .................................................................................................................... 126
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