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”. We were sent to continue working on the device that supports the arm to help stroke patient rehabilitate. 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 Constraints

 * Device must
 * Safe to the user
 * Low friction to allow for close mapping of desired forces
 * Wearable/Mobie
 * 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
 * Improve elbow stability when the arm is extended

=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.

Design Modification
As the device was in motion we found a location where the cams within the elbow bracket were contacting the bracket itself. This material was removed in order to reduce friction and address hysteresis in the elbow torque plots. 
 * Bracket Material Removal
 * Shaft Redesign

After the modifications were made the torque being supplied by the shoulder continued to decline. This raised concern so we looked into the desired values and our new torques were well below these values. . To address these concerns we decided to test the surgical tubing for fatigue.
 * Modification Problems

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]]