Project Details

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“Made in State College": Developing Manufacturing Processes for Lower Limb Prostheses

Company: Impulse Technology LLC

Major(s):
Primary: ME
Secondary: IE
Optional: BME, MATSE

Non-Disclosure Agreement: NO

Intellectual Property: NO

Overview: The objective of this project is to develop manufacturing processes for Impulse Technology’s product, a prosthetic ankle-foot. The company has developed a novel bio-mimetic ankle mechanism that is currently being prototyped by commercial service providers. In-house prototyping and small-volume manufacturing are of strategic importance. The problem description is thus two-fold: a. Develop a manufacturing process for the current design using Impulse Technology’s benchtop CNC with aluminum alloys as the material. The feasibility of the machining process is the desired objective, not necessarily the speed or product volume. The deliverables will be fixturing and tooling for the designs provided and a demonstration of the manufacturing process with a prototype. Minor changes in the product geometry may be allowed to facilitate the objective. b.Develop a thermo-forming process to induce foot-shaped curvature in rigid plates of carbon fiber composites. Conventional machining degrades the fatigue behavior of these composites. Therefore, the proposed path is a combination of heat and mechanical force after choosing the appropriate polymer matrix in the composite. The deliverable will be a foot-shaped carbon fiber composite plate and recommendations on the optimal values of plate thickness, mechanical force, and temperature. Approach: It is expected that the team will comprise of students with prior experience or high motivation in CNC manufacturing. Impulse Technology will provide all engineering designs so that the team can stay focused on machining. The team may use the machine tools located at the Learning Factory to develop the tooling or machining process, but the ultimate goal is to have the components manufactured with Impulse Technology’s benchtop CNC. The ME 440 team will collaborate very closely with Professor Aman Haque, who is the CTO and a Co-Founder of Impulse Technology. This project will provide useful experience for future engineers on how to strategize manufacturing for small companies without outsourcing. It will also illustrate how the choices in materials and manufacturing techniques govern the design to product transformation. Requirement: The team skillset should be strongly focused on manufacturing (machine shop techniques). Exposure to designing for manufacturability is a plus. Prior knowledge of machine design or biomechanics of gait may be helpful but not required. Impulse Technology is a startup company located at the Penn State Innovation Center. It performs research and development of prosthetic components.