Distributed Sensing for Prosthetic Sockets

描述(申请人提供)：截肢者残肢的形状和表面状况全天变化。因此，传统的静止式假体在使用时间较短后会造成不适。这一研究方向的长期目标是创造一类新的假体和矫形器界面。这些设备将动态符合人体，同时管理界面上的环境变量，包括压力分布、剪切力、湿度、温度、污染程度和皮肤状况。这些设备将允许更长的舒适穿着时间，而不会形成摩擦、水泡和其他形式的皮肤和组织损伤。拟议项目的目标是开发基于柔性阵列的使能传感技术，并建立具有分布式传感能力的假肢衬垫的原型。柔性阵列背后的中心思想是使用单峰场传感，在这种情况下是电场，通过选择性表面功能化来测量感兴趣的特性。这种方法比多原理传感器融合方法具有优势，因为它允许降低传感器阵列的电子接口的复杂性。降低传感器单元水平的电子学复杂性对于实现薄、紧凑、高分辨率和灵活的传感器阵列的目标至关重要，该阵列可以在假肢衬里/残肢界面测量多个变量。具体目标包括a)设计用于测量水分、温度、压力和剪切应力的柔性传感阵列；b)将该阵列集成到假体衬套/插座中；以及c)测试设备性能。这些目标将利用材料科学和微处理器控制的尖端发展来实现。薄膜有机电子将与弹性导体、金属电极阵列相结合，并与中央微控制器多路传输，以实现对温度、水分浓度、压力和剪应力的实时测量。传感器原型的最终目标是以足够的精度、分辨率和重复性测量所有感兴趣的变量。该项目将为未来的两个研究方向奠定基础：a)设计更好的假肢装置，b)对衬垫-肢体界面上发生的过程进行基础研究。

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): The shape and surface conditions of the residual limbs of amputees change throughout the day. Therefore, traditional static prosthetic devices cause discomfort after relatively short use. The long-term objective of this research direction is to create a new class of prosthetic and orthotic interfaces. These devices will dynamically conform to the human body while managing the environment variables at the interface, including pressure distribution, shear stress, moisture, temperature, degree of contamination, and skin condition. These devices will allow much longer periods of comfortable wear without formation of friction blisters and other forms of skin and tissue damage. The goal of the proposed project is to develop enabling sensing technology based on a flexible array and to build a prototype of a prosthetic liner with distributed sensing capability. The central idea behind the flexible array is to use unimodal field sensing, in this case, electric field, for measurement of properties of interest through selective surface functionalization. This approach offers advantages over multi-principle sensor fusion approaches because it allows reduction of complexity of electronic interface of the sensor array. Reduced complexity of electronics at the sensor cell level is critical for achieving the goal of thin, compact, high- resolution, and flexible sensor arrays that can measure multiple variables at the prosthetic liner/residual limb interface. The specific aims include a) the design of the flexible sensing array for measurement of moisture, temperature, pressure, and shear stress; b) integration of this array into a prosthetic liner/socket; and c) testing of device performance. These aims will be realized using cutting- edge developments in materials science and microprocessor control. Thin-film organic electronics will be combined with elastomeric conductors, metal electrode arrays, and multiplexed with a central microcontroller in order to achieve real-time measurement of temperature, moisture concentration, pressure, and shear stress. The final objective for the sensor prototype is to achieve measurement of all variables of interest with a sufficient accuracy, resolution, and repeatability. The project will set the stage for two future research directions: a) design of better prosthetic devices, and b) fundamental study of processes that take place at the liner-limb interface.