Department - Author 1

Mechanical Engineering Department

Degree Name - Author 1

BS in Mechanical Engineering

Date

2011

Primary Advisor

Brian Self

Abstract/Summary

The Piernas de Vida team partnered with the Vida Nueva Clinic of Prostheses and Orthoses in Choluteca, Honduras to design, plan, and implement a prosthetic foot that could be manufactured entirely by the technicians at the clinic in order to reduce their costs and ultimately allow them to serve more patients each year. Currently, the clinic uses a prefabricated prosthetic lower limb provided by the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) which can be adapted to both transDfemoral and transDtibial patients. The team has successfully developed a foot, currently called the Layer Foot, which can be used by the clinic and reduces the expense to purchase a prosthetic foot by more than half. The foot has a simple geometry, which allows for ease of manufacturing, and is made of Delrin, a self-lubricating thermoplastic which is very easy to machine. Multiple iterations have been carried out based on results from both static testing and patient gait analysis, however further testing including cyclic fatigue testing will be necessary for the Layer Foot to compete as a viable product. Future Cal Poly design teams will be assigned the task of carrying out further iterations and developing more advanced testing methods in order to validate the durability and overall design of the product.

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