Manufacturing of solid core optical waveguide based pressure sensor for 3D-printed below-knee orthosis

The ability to manufacture complex 3D-objects directly from its CAD model is the important reason why additive manufacturing is being widely used to fabricate cost-efficient prototypes and preferred over conventional manufacturing methods. Moreover, it portrays as a bridging technology to connect different scientific and industrial fields, e.g. Engineering, Medicine, etc. Consequently, additive manufacturing finds its applications in the production of patient-specific orthoses. This paper discusses the development of a pressure sensor based on an optical waveguide principle manufactured using stereolithography apparatus process to embed into a below-knee orthosis. For Orthopedic patients, the below-knee orthosis must be adjusted to the lower leg at regular intervals due to anthropometric changes in patient’s body to achieve proper mobility and correct load. Currently, this alteration relies on the patient’s estimation of support load which is only sub-optimal. Hence, the concept of developing an intelligent orthosis with a novel embedded optical system to monitor the exact support load at the neuralgic is proposed.