Prosthetic liner with selective pressure adjustment
AssigneeArizona Board of Regents on behalf of Arizona State University
InventorsSangram Redkar, Zachery Shropshire
Life of this patent
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Abstract
A prosthetic liner for insertion within a socket of a prosthetic limb is provided. The prosthetic liner comprises a body having inflatable bladders and pressure sensors disposed thereon, an electronic circuit, one or more actuators, and a processor. The body receives a residual limb on an interior surface and contacts the socket on an exterior surface. The processor receives a digital pressure signal indicative of a detected pressure from each pressure sensor via the electronic circuit and selectively activates the actuators to adjust a pressure in one or more of the inflatable bladders based on the digital pressure signals and the region of the body corresponding to each digital pressure signal.
Claims19
A prosthetic liner for insertion within a socket of a prosthetic limb, the prosthetic liner comprising:
- a body having a radially inward surface configured to receive a residual limb, a radially outward surface configured to contact the socket, and a plurality of inflatable air bladders disposed about the body;
- a plurality of pressure sensors disposed on the radially inward surface of the body in a spaced arrangement, each pressure sensor configured to directly detect a pressure against the residual limb at a region of the body;
- an electronic circuit configured to generate, for each pressure sensor, a digital pressure signal indicative of the detected pressure;
- one or more air pumps configured to selectively inflate each of the plurality of inflatable air bladders with air;
- a processor;
- and
- a non-transitory, computer-readable medium storing instructions that, when executed, cause the processor to:
- receive the digital pressure signal for each pressure sensor via the electronic circuit, and
- selectively activate the one or more air pumps to adjust a pressure in one or more of the plurality of inflatable air bladders based on the digital pressure signal for each pressure sensor and the region corresponding to each digital pressure signal.
A prosthetic liner for insertion within a socket of a prosthetic limb, the prosthetic liner comprising:
- a body having:
- a radially inward surface configured to receive a residual limb,
- a radially outward surface configured to contact the socket, and
- a plurality of compressible tubes disposed about the body on the radially outward surface, wherein each compressible tube is configured to selectively shift between a deflated, substantially planar configuration and an inflated, non-planar configuration;
- a plurality of pressure sensors disposed on the radially inward surface of the body in a spaced arrangement, each pressure sensor configured to directly detect a pressure against the residual limb at a region of the body;
- an electronic circuit configured to generate, for each pressure sensor, a digital pressure signal indicative of the detected pressure;
- one or more air pumps configured to selectively inflate each of the plurality of compressible tubes with air;
- a processor;
- and
- a non-transitory, computer-readable medium storing instructions that, when executed, cause the processor to:
- receive the digital pressure signal for each pressure sensor via the electronic circuit, and
- selectively activate the one or more air pumps to adjust a pressure in one or more of the plurality of compressible tubes based on the digital pressure signal for each pressure sensor and the region corresponding to each digital pressure signal.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.