Figure 33: Deformation of Test Joint Swatches after 450 of Deflection 1: Abstract Modern day prosthetics are notorious for the heavy and loud pneumatic actuators which lead to an uncomfortable fit for upper limb amputees. The goal of the 2014-2015 Solid State Prosthetic Arm Team was to design a solid-state joint capable of being actuated by a Shape Memory Alloy (SMA) muscle bundle. The SMA bundles are comprised of 16, 76-micron parallel wires; these wires contract when they are introduced to a voltage. This type of actuation may serve as a solution to the loud and heavy modern pneumatic prosthetics because the bundles are tiny, lightweight, silent and strong. This project aims to demonstrate the feasibility of SMAs in actuating movement in upper prosthetic applications by creating a functioning prototype and evaluating the forces the artificial muscle exerts on the prosthetic structure. This paper will illustrate how the team was able to: optimize the mechanical advantage of a rapid prototyped arm joint so that it will create large amounts of displacement despite the small deflection of the wire, decrease the time required to actuate an artificial muscle bundle, and create a computer operated simple circuit control system in order to control the device. In the end, the team was able to create a complete arm structure capable of actuating in response to simple user inputs from a computer.
Figure 33: Deformation of Test Joint Swatches after 450 of Deflection 1: Abstract Modern day prosthetics are notorious for the heavy and loud pneumatic actuators which lead to an uncomfortable fit for upper limb amputees. The goal of the 2014-2015 Solid State Prosthetic Arm Team was to design a solid-state joint capable of being actuated by a Shape Memory Alloy (SMA) muscle bundle. The SMA bundles are comprised of 16, 76-micron parallel wires; these wires contract when they are introduced to a voltage. This type of actuation may serve as a solution to the loud and heavy modern pneumatic prosthetics because the bundles are tiny, lightweight, silent and strong. This project aims to demonstrate the feasibility of SMAs in actuating movement in upper prosthetic applications by creating a functioning prototype and evaluating the forces the artificial muscle exerts on the prosthetic structure. This paper will illustrate how the team was able to: optimize the mechanical advantage of a rapid prototyped arm joint so that it will create large amounts of displacement despite the small deflection of the wire, decrease the time required to actuate an artificial muscle bundle, and create a computer operated simple circuit control system in order to control the device. In the end, the team was able to create a complete arm structure capable of actuating in response to simple user inputs from a computer.
Final%20Paper%20SSPA.docx