Wearable Mobile Arm Support

Our client, The University of Idaho, (U of I), proposed the capstone project “Wearable Mobile Arm Support for Shoulder/Elbow Assistance”. The goal of this project is to improve the existing system by reducing friction, making it wearable, and enhancing comfort/aesthetics. These will be accomplished by analyzing the current system, developing a pulley/friction test, and developing new components.

Background
Stroke patients often lose their arms range of motion on the affected side, but it has been proven that by eliminating gravity they can regain this motion. The University of Idaho has designed an arm support that supports the arm and could allow these stroke patients to regain their lost motion. Our objective is to understand its shortcoming, identify sources of error, and improve the system.

Design Goals

 * Reduce friction that is present in the current design
 * Design a wearable model
 * Improve elbow stability when the arm is extended
 * Implement safety features
 * Devise a method to make the system support different weights easily
 * Create a more aesthetically pleasing system

Design Constraints

 * Device should
 * Be comfortable for extended use
 * Sleek enough to avoid collisions with environment
 * Wearable
 * Able to put on and taken off in under 2 minutes
 * Be aesthetically pleasing
 * Device must
 * Have lower friction than the current model
 * Remain as lightweight as possible
 * Be safe to the user
 * Improve strength in failing components

=Project Learning=

Pulley Board Design
The board is designed to use 3-D printed pulleys of varying diameters. The bolt goes through the board and then a spacer gives the bearing-mounted pulley room to spin freely. The assembly is held together with a set screw shaft collar. This design allows us to quickly change variables and successfully learn which factors effect friction the most.

Optical Profilometers


none|500px|Novacam profilometry setup.

Meeting Minutes

 * [[Media:2014_FuelRodDefectDetection_Sep16_2014_Minutes.pdf|September 16, 2014]]


 * [[Media:2014_FuelRodDefectDetection_Sep30_2014_Minutes.pdf|September 30, 2014]]


 * [[Media:2014_FuelRodDefectDetection_Oct7_2014_Minutes.pdf|October 7, 2014]]


 * [[Media:2014_FuelRodDefectDetection_Oct28_2014_Minutes.pdf|October 28, 2014]]


 * [[Media:2014_FuelRodDefectDetection_Nov6_2014_Minutes.pdf|November 6, 2014]]


 * [[Media:2014_FuelRodDefectDetection_Nov13_2014_Minutes.pdf|November 13, 2014]]


 * [[Media:2014_FuelRodDefectDetection_Jan20_2015_Minutes.pdf|January 20, 2015]]


 * [[Media:2014_FuelRodDefectDetection_Feb10_2015_Minutes.pdf|February 10, 2015]]


 * [[Media:2014_FuelRodDefectDetection_Feb17_2015_Minutes.pdf|February 17, 2015]]


 * [[Media:2014_FuelRodDefectDetection_Mar3_2015_Minutes.pdf|March 3, 2015]]


 * [[Media:2014_FuelRodDefectDetection_Mar24_2015_Minutes.pdf|March 24, 2015]]


 * [[Media:2014_FuelRodDefectDetection_Apr21_2015_Minutes.pdf|April 21, 2015]]

Other
Project Timeline

[[Media:2014_FuelRodDefectDetection_SPERT_Tests_Summary.pdf|INL SPERT Tests Summary]]

[[Media:2014_FuelRodDefectDetection_Profilometer_Research_Summary.pdf|Profilometer Research Summary]]

[[Media:2014_FuelRodDefectDetection_Team_Contract.pdf|Team Contract]]

[[Media:2014_FuelRodDefectDetection_Design_Review.pdf|Design Review (November 21, 2014)]]

[[Media:2014_FuelRodDefectDetection_Expo_Presentation.pdf|2015 Expo Technical Presentation]]