This article and any supplementary material should be cited as follows: Komolafe O, Wood S, Caldwell R, Hansen A, Fatone S. Methods for characterization

This article and any supplementary material should be cited as follows: Komolafe O, Wood S, Caldwell R, Hansen A, Fatone S. Methods for characterization of mechanical and electrical prosthetic vacuum pumps. J Rehabil Res Dev. 2013;50(8):1069–78.http://dx.doi.org/10.1682/JRRD.2012.11.0204

Slideshow ProjectDOI:10.1682/JRRD.2012.11.0204JSP

Methods for characterization of mechanical and electrical prosthetic vacuum pumps

Oluseeni Komolafe, PhD; Sean Wood, MS; Ryan Caldwell, CP; Andrew Hansen, PhD; Stefania Fatone, PhD, BPO(Hons)



• Aim– Identify important pump-performance metrics and

develop techniques to characterize evacuation performance of prosthetic vacuum pumps.

• Relevance– Despite increasingly widespread adoption of vacuum-

assisted suspension systems in prosthetic clinical practices, gaps exist in the scientific knowledge guiding clinicians’ choices of existing products.



Method• Sensitivity of proposed techniques were assessed by

characterizing evacuation performance of prosthetic pumps in bench-top testing :– 2 electrical (Harmony e-Pulse and LimbLogic VS).– 3 mechanical (Harmony P2, Harmony HD, and Harmony P3).

• 5 fixed volume chambers (33 to 197 cm3) were used to represent different air volume spaces between prosthetic socket and liner-clad residual limb.

• All measurements were obtained at 57.6 kPa vacuum gauge pressure.



Results• Proposed techniques demonstrated sensitivity

to:– Different electrical and mechanical pumps.– To a lesser degree, different setting adjustments.

• Sensitivity was less pronounced for mechanical pumps.– Future improvements for testing of mechanical

vacuum pumps were proposed.



Conclusion

• Study demonstrates techniques feasible as standards for assessing evacuation performance of prosthetic vacuum pump devices.

Documents

This article and any supplementary material should be cited as follows: Komolafe O, Wood S, Caldwell R, Hansen A, Fatone S. Methods for characterization