Date of Award

2012-01-01

Degree Name

Master of Science

Department

Mechanical Engineering

Advisor(s)

Thompson Sarkodie-Gyan

Second Advisor

Noe Vargas-Hernandez

Abstract

Balance is an ability that every person has and uses in normal daily life, to walk, run, stand, dance, etc. However, there are people who suffer a kind of balance impairment. The Computerized Dynamic Posturography (CDP) is technique in balance rehabilitation, where the patient is asked to stand on a moving platform that is equipped with sensors that measure how well you maintain your balance. In this thesis, a new CDP mechatronic system, the Multi-Axis Synergistic System (MASS), for balance assessment is being developed.

As a first stage and as the objective of this research work the transferable control algorithm for position of a prototype MASS was developed. With the intention of achieving the mentioned objective; the inverse kinematics of a parallel mechanism in vector technique was utilized. The complete inverse kinematics analysis of the MASS was revised in this work. Correspondingly, the transferable programming of the algorithm was explained. Then, a series of experiments were performed in order to identify the electromechanical actuator of the MASS that resulted in the first order dynamic system model, in both analytical and experimental methods. After, several movements in the six degrees of freedom of the platform, through the programmed control algorithm were simulated in this work. The results are presented and found that the obtained first order model was the correct one for the actuator, however, some considerations relating to the error in transient state are discussed. Finally, the results of the simulations of the transferable algorithm and final conclusions are presented and the future work is defined.

Language

en

Provenance

Received from ProQuest

File Size

81 pages

File Format

application/pdf

Rights Holder

Julio A. Torres

Download

Share

COinS