Case Study
Optimising reciprocating gait
orthoses
RSL
Steeper - formerly Hugh Steeper Ltd, design and
manufacture a wide range of artificial limbs and walking aids for the physically disabled.
They manufacture reciprocating gait orthoses and used LUSAS Analyst to improve upon an existing men's orthosis design, creating a new
range of orthoses for use by women, teenagers and children.
Body orthoses allow people disabled from the waist down to walk again.
When strapped to the body walking is achieved by a person shifting their body weight from
side to side causing a cable arrangement at the rear to swing each leg brace forward in
turn. A sitting-down posture can also be obtained by dis-engaging specially designed
joints at the hip and knee.
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LUSAS was used to optimise the
design of individual stainless steel components that are used to form the orthosis.
Because it is intended to be worn under clothing the weight and overall size of each
component has to be trimmed-down to the minimum required to carry the applied loadings.
A
number of linear static 2D and 3D analyses of tube pinch clamps, hip and knee drive plates
and casting designs have all been completed. Automatic and manual meshing techniques were
used to optimise the design of each component by removing redundant material and
smoothing-out any peak stresses.
The use of orthoses by women and teenagers is
considered to be the toughest test of any new orthosis design with these people being the
most concerned about their appearance. As Martin Kemp, Senior Design Engineer at Hugh
Steeper explains: "As a company we always use the best available technology to give
an improved performance to our products. By using LUSAS Analyst to achieve this,
we hope to make everyday living easier for all our disabled clients."
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"As a company we always use the best available technology to give
an improved performance to our products. By using LUSAS Analyst to achieve this,
we hope to make everyday living easier for all our disabled clients".
Martin Kemp, Senior Design Engineer,
Hugh
Steeper
Other LUSAS Analyst case
studies:
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