Abstract

A spring based ankle joint is designed to improve the performance of mechanical type prostheses. The torsional and compression springs with the help of some foot plate arrangement is used to enable the prosthesis in producing desired flexion and extension and also storing and returning energy by the ankle joint during the gait cycle. The motion analysis and Finite-Element Analysis (FEA) of ankle joint components are carried out to assess the feasibility of the design. The FEA results are then compared with the real data obtained from the literature for a similar subject. The pattern of motion analysis results has shown a great resemblance with the gait cycle of a healthy biological limb, and the design is identified to be safe with factory of safety of 1.9 from the FEA results.

Keywords: Prosthesis; Ankle joint; Biomechanics; Kinematics; Kinetics; Finite element analysis