Design of a Semi-Active Prosthetic Knee for Transfemoral Amputees: Gait Symmetry Research by Simulation

Zhang, Zhewen; Yu, Hongliu; Cao, Wujing; Wang, Xiaoming; Meng, Qiaoling; Chen, Chunjie

doi:10.3390/app11125328

Open AccessArticle

Design of a Semi-Active Prosthetic Knee for Transfemoral Amputees: Gait Symmetry Research by Simulation

by

Zhewen Zhang

^1,2,3

,

Hongliu Yu

^1,2,*,

Wujing Cao

^3,*

,

Xiaoming Wang

^1,2,

Qiaoling Meng

^1,2 and

Chunjie Chen

³

¹

Rehabilitation Engineering and Technology Institute, University of Shanghai for Science and Technology, Shanghai 200093, China

²

Shanghai Engineering Research Center of Assistive Devices, Shanghai 200093, China

³

Guangdong Provincial Key Lab of Robotics and Intelligent System, Shenzhen Institute of Advanced Technology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Shenzhen 518055, China

^*

Authors to whom correspondence should be addressed.

Appl. Sci. 2021, 11(12), 5328; https://doi.org/10.3390/app11125328

Submission received: 30 March 2021 / Revised: 7 May 2021 / Accepted: 11 May 2021 / Published: 8 June 2021

(This article belongs to the Special Issue New Trends in Smart Wearable and Interactive Mechatronic Systems)

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Abstract

The key technology of the prosthetic knee is to simulate the torque and angle of the biological knee. In this work, we proposed a novel prosthetic knee operated in semi-active mode. The structure with ball-screw driven by the motor and the passive hydraulic damping cylinder was presented. A four-bar linkage was adapted to track the instantaneous center motion of human knee. The mathematical models of hydraulic cylinder damping and active torque were established to simulate the knee torque and angle. The results show that the knee torque symmetry index is smaller than 10% in the whole gait. The knee angle symmetry index value is 34.7% in stance phase and 11.5% in swing phase. The angle in swing phase is closer to the intact knee. The semi-active prosthetic knee could provide similar torque and angle of the biological knee in the simulation. It has shown good potential in improving the gait symmetry of the transfemoral amputee.

Keywords: prosthetic knee; gait symmetry; transfemoral amputee; design; simulation

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MDPI and ACS Style

Zhang, Z.; Yu, H.; Cao, W.; Wang, X.; Meng, Q.; Chen, C. Design of a Semi-Active Prosthetic Knee for Transfemoral Amputees: Gait Symmetry Research by Simulation. Appl. Sci. 2021, 11, 5328. https://doi.org/10.3390/app11125328

AMA Style

Zhang Z, Yu H, Cao W, Wang X, Meng Q, Chen C. Design of a Semi-Active Prosthetic Knee for Transfemoral Amputees: Gait Symmetry Research by Simulation. Applied Sciences. 2021; 11(12):5328. https://doi.org/10.3390/app11125328

Chicago/Turabian Style

Zhang, Zhewen, Hongliu Yu, Wujing Cao, Xiaoming Wang, Qiaoling Meng, and Chunjie Chen. 2021. "Design of a Semi-Active Prosthetic Knee for Transfemoral Amputees: Gait Symmetry Research by Simulation" Applied Sciences 11, no. 12: 5328. https://doi.org/10.3390/app11125328

APA Style

Zhang, Z., Yu, H., Cao, W., Wang, X., Meng, Q., & Chen, C. (2021). Design of a Semi-Active Prosthetic Knee for Transfemoral Amputees: Gait Symmetry Research by Simulation. Applied Sciences, 11(12), 5328. https://doi.org/10.3390/app11125328

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Design of a Semi-Active Prosthetic Knee for Transfemoral Amputees: Gait Symmetry Research by Simulation

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