Iranian Journal of Biomedical Engineering (IJBME)
نشریه علمی مهندسی پزشکی زیستی

Designing a Novel Personalized Bio-Inspired Knee Joint for Misalignment Reduction between Knee Braces and Exoskeletons with Knee Joint

Document Type : Full Research Paper

Authors

Parsa Farrokhi 1
Mostafa Nazari 2
Mahdi Bamdad 2

1 M.Sc., Faculty of Mechanical Engineering, Shahrood University of Technology, Shahrood, Iran

2 Associate Professor, Faculty of Mechanical Engineering, Shahrood University of Technology, Shahrood, Iran

https://doi.org/10.22041/ijbme.2024.2025800.1893
Abstract
The lack of alignment between the performance of a knee brace and the kinematics of the knee joint can lead to damage and pain in the knee of individuals suffering from arthritis. More compatibility between the knee joint and the brace leads to more effectiveness of these devices. Human knee movement is a combination of rolling and sliding, while most commercial braces use rotational or hinge mechanisms that cannot fully mimic the movement of the human knee. To address this limitation and reduce the incongruence in commercial braces, this paper aims to design a novel supplementary knee brace mechanism based on the biomechanical features of the knee for replacement in commercial braces. Initially, the knee joint’s kinematics is thoroughly studied, and the femur bone’s performance from full extension to full flexion is simulated. Then, using this simulation, the intersection points of the anterior and posterior femoral bone axes during the knee flexion were identified on the sagittal plane where the knee brace joint is positioned. Therefore, the two new curves of the femur bone path are much more related to the kinematics of the knee than the other obtained paths. Based on these two path curves, the supplementary knee joint was designed as a type-3 six-link Stephenson mechanism to achieve a sufficient and necessary alignment with knee joint kinematics. For optimization of the geometry of the mechanism, the PSO algorithm has been used. The designed brace kinematics demonstrates the ability to mimic human knee movement and exhibit much less incongruence compared to other commercial brace joints.

Keywords

Bio-Inspired Brace Joint
Biomechanics
Knee Kinematics
Knee Osteoarthritis
Stephenson Mechanism
Subjects
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Iranian Journal of Biomedical Engineering (IJBME)
Volume 17, Issue 4
Winter 2024
Pages 301-313

  • Receive Date 04 April 2024
  • Revise Date 23 June 2024
  • Accept Date 10 September 2024

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