Compliant mechanisms offer several design advantages which may be exploited in prosthetic joint research and development: they are light-weight, have low cost, are easy to manufacture, have high-reliability, and have the ability to be designed for displacement loads. Designing a mechanism to perform optimally under displacement rather than force loading allows underlying characteristics of the swing phase of gait, such as the maximum heel rise and terminal swing to be developed into a prosthetic knee joint. The objective of this thesis was to develop a mechanical add-on compliant link to an existing prosthetic knee which would perform to optimal standards of prosthetic gait, specifically during the swing phase, and to introduce a feasible method for increasing proprioceptive feedback to the amputee via transferred moments and varying surface tractions on the inner part of a prosthetic socket. A finite elements model was created with ANSYS to design the prosthetic knee compliant add-on and used to select the geometry to meet prosthetic-swing criteria. Data collected from the knee FEA model was used to apply correct loading at the knee in a SolidWorks model of an above-knee prosthesis and residual limb. Another finite element model was creating using COSMOSWorks to determine the induced stresses within a prosthetic socket brought on by the compliant link, and then used to determine stress patterns over 60 degrees of knee flexion (standard swing). The compliant knee add-on performed to the optimal resistance during swing allowing for a moment maxima of 20.2 Newton-meters (N-m) at a knee flexion of 62 degrees. The moments applied to the prosthetic socket via the compliant link during knee flexion and extension ranged from 5.2 N-m (0 degrees) in flexion, to 20.2 N-m (62 degrees) in extension and induced a varying surface tractions on the inner surface of the socket over the duration, thus posing a possible method of providing proprioceptive feedback via surface tractions. Developing a method for determining the level of proprioceptive feedback would allow for less expensive and more efficient methods of bringing greater control of a prosthesis to its user.

Mit Hilfe der Matlab/ADAMS-Co-Simulation wird ein ebenes Koppelgetriebe (5- Gelenk) untersucht und anschließend die Wirkpaarung mit einem Stückgut betrachtet. Dabei werden verschiedene Modellierungsstufen angewendet und die Simulationsergebnisse Messergebnissen vom Versuchsstand gegenübergestellt. Daneben wird die grundlegende Herangehensweise beim Einsatz dieser Simulationswerkzeuge erläutert.

We have designed and examined a compliant knee mechanism that may offer solutions to problems that exist for infants and toddlers who are just learning to walk. Pediatric prosthetic knees on the market today are not well designed for infants and toddlers for various reasons. Children at this age need a prosthetic that is light in weight, durable, and stable during stance. Of the eleven knees on the market for children, all but three are polycentric or four-bar knees, meaning they have multiple points of movement. Polycentric knees are popular designs because they offer the added benefit of stable stance control and increased toe clearance, unfortunately this type of knee is often too heavy for young children to wear comfortably and is not well suited for harsh environments such as sand or water, common places children like to play. The remaining three knees do not offer a stance control feature and are equally vulnerable to harsh environments due to ball bearing hinges. Compliant mechanisms offer several design advantages that may make them suitable in pediatric prosthetic knees -- light weight, less susceptible to harsh environments, polycentric capable, low part count, etc. Unfortunately, they present new challenges that must be dealt with individually. For example compliant mechanisms are typically not well suited in applications that need adjustability. This problem was solved by mixing compliant mechanism design with traditional mechanism design methods. This paper presents a preliminary design concept for a compliant pediatric prosthetic knee. The carbon fiber composite spring steel design was first built and then evaluated using Finite Element Analysis. The prototype's instant center was plotted using the graphical method. From our analysis position, force and stress information was gathered for a deflection up to 120 degrees. The instant centers that were plotted indicate that the knee has good potential in offering adequate stability during stance.

Mit Hilfe der Matlab/ADAMS-Co-Simulation wird ein ebenes Koppelgetriebe (5- Gelenk) untersucht und anschließend die Wirkpaarung mit einem Stückgut betrachtet. Dabei werden verschiedene Modellierungsstufen angewendet und die Simulationsergebnisse Messergebnissen vom Versuchsstand gegenübergestellt. Daneben wird die grundlegende Herangehensweise beim Einsatz dieser Simulationswerkzeuge erläutert.

Unmanned Air Vehicles (UAVs) have recently gained attention due to their increased ability to perform sophisticated missions with less cost and/or risk than their manned counterparts. This thesis develops approaches to the use of compliant mechanisms in the design of deployable wings for small UAVs. Although deployable wings with rigid-link mechanisms have been used in the past to maintain flight endurance while minimizing required storage volume, compliant mechanisms offer many advantages in manufacturability and potential space savings due to function sharing of components. A number of compliant, deployable wing concepts are generated and a classification system for them is formed. The pool of generated concepts serves as a basis for stimulating future concept ideas. A methodology is also proposed for evaluating concepts for a given application. The approach to developing compliant designs for certain applications is illustrated through two example designs, which demonstrate key portions of the proposed design process. Each is modeled and analyzed to demonstrate viability.