High Performance Electro-Hydraulic Active Prosthetic Limb Design

Summary:
Fundamental breakthroughs in exoskeleton technology, which lower the weight and power consumption of bionic legs to levels never thought possible, are the subject of four licensed patent applications. One of the four patents extends the exoskeleton power regeneration technology to prosthetic knees as illustrated above. The company has developed an active prosthetic knee design which is the subject of two more patent applications. The company has functioning prototypes with complete design documentation ready for technology transfer to a prosthetics manufacturer.

Full Description:
Competitive Edge
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Using unique electro-hydraulics, the company has been able to develop a knee which not only can regenerate power in many situations, but it has the following characteristics as well:

* It will be safer due to a unique proprietary anti-stumbling control algorithm.
* It will decrease co-morbidity issues by reducing the amount of hip motion required by the user to walk with the knee when compared to a non-active prosthetic.
* It will be more compact and therefore will fit a much larger range of patients than the PowerKnee.
* It will be quieter than ball-screw technology.
* It can provide huge damping torques with a far smaller and lighter package.

Accessible Markets
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The power regeneration technology used in the knee design is very general and may be applicable to human power harvesting in military applications as well as in the field of active orthotics.

Preferred Business Arrangement
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Licensing

Technology Readiness
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A preliminary prototype has been built and was tested extensively on non-amputee researchers using a special brace. With input from this testing, a new design has been completed, and this design is currently in the fabrication stage.

Problem this idea/invention addresses:
"Active" knee prosthetics are those that can actually provide energy to a user’s walking gait by containing an actuator rather than just operating as a damper. For example, they can apply torque to lift a user as they climb a stair. Currently, there is only one such prosthetic knee on the commercial market and for that reason, amputees avoid obstacles such as stairs or even gradual slopes. The currently available product is the Ossur PowerKnee which uses a simple ball screw and electric motor to provide all knee torques. The PowerKnee allows users to climb stairs but it is large, heavy, and noisy.

Attached files:





Asking price: [CONTACT SELLER]
Available for consultation? No

Invention #10694
Date posted: 2008-03-26


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