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US 12,605,148 B2Granted
Calibration tool for tissue tension sensor
AssigneeWisconsin Alumni Research Foundation
InventorsDarryl Thelen, Alex Reiter, Peter Adamczyk
Life of this patent
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Abstract
A calibration system for a tensiometer provides a platform having a footplate with a fulcrum bar for providing a located force on an individual's leg to be used in conjunction with a tissue stress sensor attached near a tendon or ligament of the leg to establish a relationship between force on the tendon or ligament and the tissue stress sensor output for simplified calibration.
Claims13
A tissue tensiometer calibration system comprising:
- a base supportable against a horizontal surface;
- a footplate positioned above and connected to the base by one or more force sensors sensing a downward force on the footplate with respect to the base, the one or more force sensors providing an electrical force output signal indicating a force on the footplate;
- a fulcrum bar attached to an upper surface of the footplate to provide an upwardly and laterally extending ridge to isolate a downward force of a weight of an individual standing on the footplate to a downward force on the ridge;
- and
- a support bar attached to the base to provide a handle positionable above the base at a height to be held by the individual standing on the footplate;
- and
- further including a tissue stress sensor positionable on tissue of the individual to sense the effects of stress in the tissue on wave speed through the tissue to provide an output signal based on wave speed;
- and
- further including an electronic computer executing a stored program to match the output signal based on wave speed to the output signal indicating a force on the footplate to determine a calibration function for calibrating the tissue stress sensor.
6 more elements
A method of calibrating a tissue tensiometer having:
- a base supportable against a horizontal surface;
- a footplate positioned above and connected to the base by one or more force sensors sensing a downward force on the footplate with respect to the base, the one or more force sensors providing an electrical force output signal indicating a force on the footplate;
- a tissue stress sensor positionable on tissue of an individual to sense the effects of stress in the tissue on wave speed through the tissue to provide an output signal based on wave speed;
- a fulcrum bar attached to an upper surface of the footplate to provide an upwardly and laterally extending ridge to isolate a downward force of a weight of the individual standing on the footplate to a downward force on the ridge;
- and
- a support bar attached to the base to provide a handle positionable above the base at a height to be held by the individual standing on the footplate;
- the method comprising:
- (a) positioning the individual to stand on the footplate with varying downward force to provide an output force signal from the one or more force sensors;
- (b) receiving at an electronic computer a corresponding set of the output force signal and an output signal based on wave speed from the tissue stress sensor attached to the individual;
- and
- (c) matching the output signal based on wave speed to the output force signal to determine a calibration function for calibrating the tissue stress sensor.
8 more elements
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.