Controllable Passive Transtibial Prosthesis - Design

In medicine, a prosthesis or prosthetic implant is an artificial device that replaces a missing part of the body, which can be lost through trauma, disease, or illness present at birth. To help these amputated people, transtibial prostheses have been developed that have the role of increasing the motor abilities of the person in question. Among the different models of prostheses, the most frequently used are non-articulated prostheses, articulated prostheses, prostheses with energy re-turn/dynamic response, and microprocessor-controlled prostheses. The foot can vary the flexibility and elasticity of the complex structure to perform various challenging tasks, such as running, climbing, balancing, jumping, and lifting on the toes. To replace these functions, prostheses with different design and operating modes are used, depending on the activity performed. Thus, a person with social activity, or sports activity, requires the use of several prostheses with different modes of operation. The present paper proposes a transtibial prosthesis self-adaptable to the type of activity/movement. This is a passive prosthesis, controllable, with a universal joint (Hooke’s joint) embedded in the ankle, based on rheological fluids. The orientation and positioning of the mobile elements of the prosthesis are achieved by means of a system of elastic springs correlated with a rheological controllable universal joint. This paper presents the construction and operation of the prosthesis. At the end of the paper are presented the results of the simulation for loading the prosthesis foot and prosthesis joint element with load.