Design of lower limb prosthesis with contact pressure adjustment by MR fluid

This paper reports on the development of a new lower limb prosthesis that can change its volume and hardness based on the users requirements. The size and viscosity of several Magneto-Rheological fluid filled bags, fixed on the inner side of the socket is changed, in order to vary the socket properties. TSB (total surface bearing) sockets have been most selling ones during these two decades. From the user´s point of view, it is excellent in this type of sockets that the weight of user is supported with the entire socket surface. However, it is impossible to cope with the volume change of the user´s stump. Experimental results show that the performance of the developed MR socket is better than the conventional TSB sockets because the MR socket is controllable in the size and viscosity.