Juvenile arthritis is a disabling autoimmune disease in children aged 16 or less, where there is inflammation in synovium, a tissue that lines the inside of joints. This is also known as Pediatric Rheumatoid Arthritis, usually affects the hands and feet first, but it can occur in any joints progressively. It is a painful condition, can cause severe disability and ultimately impair a person’s ability to carry out everyday tasks. Symptoms include joint swelling and stiffness that often leave the sufferer feeling generally unwell. To overcome this major everyday suffering, Centre for Incubation, Innovation, Research and Consultancy (CIIRC®), a joint initiative between Sri Sringeri Sharada Peetham, Sringeri and Jyothy Institute of Technology (JIT), Bengaluru, initiated a project to design a new type of customized splint that will be able to provide far greater support for patients of this debilitating disease. Focus was also to empower clinicians with no experience in computer-aided design, should be able to provide custom-made wrist splints to the patients. The device can save physicians time and increase clinic efficiencies by reducing skin irritation complaints including moisture, material waste, removal process, recasting and adjustments. After detailed study on latest technologies of digitization and additive manufacturing, a quick survey was conducted qualifying vendors capable of delivering the desired output.
Altem Technologies was aptly positioned to work on this design assignment owing to its vast range of products for end-to-end designing, reverse-engineering, and 3D-Printing capabilities. The fully equipped Computer Aided Design (CAD) team and Computer Aided Engineering (CAE) team at Altem ascertained the requirement of the medical condition, discussed the various approaches with the project team from CIIRC and went about to provide the best possible solution.
The hand of a patient was scanned, using Artec Space Spider 3D Scanner and the geometry was evaluated for surface quality. Once the design approach was finalized, design surface was extracted using Geomagic Reverse Engineering Software for further building the model. The surfaces were offset as per the thickness required in the model. The necessary shape of the ortho-brace was designed from these surfaces using CATIA Software after maintaining required offset from hand surface to accommodate the fabric liner.
Three different locking concepts were developed apart from the scope to generate perforations of numerous shapes. The overall benefits of each of these concepts was conveyed by a presentation report of the design. The proposed design and development of the 3D printed splints and arm support was ensured to empower patients with the freedom to be able to maintain their active lifestyles.
Concept 01: Cable tie clamping arrangement. Simple design with durable print and easy alignment.
Concept 02: Hinged tie clamping arrangement. Cohesive design and easy alignment.
Concept 03: Velcro lock position. Can be pulled and tightened as per need. Cohesive design, with durable 3D-Print and easy alignment.
Concept 03 was selected for further development. A Finite Element Analysis (FEA) model was developed and analysed for various loading scenarios using MSC Nastran and Apex Software. This concept was found to pass the expectations of strength requirements. The Concept 03 was 3D-Printed by Fused Deposition Method (FDM) process to obtain the prototype model. After 3D-Printing using Stratasys F170 3D Printer, the fit-and-function was found to be exceptionally good and this design was submitted for use by the patient.
Altem Technologies Pvt. Ltd, is an engineering firm with core strengths in Product Life Cycle Management, Advanced Additive Manufacturing (AM) Solutions and 3D Digitization Technologies. Altem represents Artec3D who have a range of hand-held industrial 3D Scanners. ALTEM is head-quartered in Bangalore, India and operates through the sales offices across India. The Altem team consists of consultants, application engineers, designers, domain experts, software specialists and scientific specialists. We are happy to have associated with Altem Technologies for this project and look forward for many more similar projects where we can work collaboratively.
Publication Date : June, 2020
