Developments in circular external fixators: a review

Circular external fixators (CEFs) are successfully used in orthopedics owing to their highly favorable stiffness characteristics which promote distraction osteogenesis. Although there are different designs of external fixators, how these features produce optimal biomechanics through structural and component designs is not well known. Therefore, the aim of this study was to conduct a review on CEFs following the PRISMA statement. A search for relevant research articles was performed on Scopus and PubMed databases providing the related keywords. Furthermore, a patent search was conducted on the Google Patent database. 126 records were found to be eligible for the review. Different designs of CEFs were summarized and tabulated based on their specific features. A bibliometric analysis was also performed on the eligible research papers. Based on the findings, the developments of CEFs in terms of materials, automation, adjustment methods, component designs, wire-clamping, and performance evaluation have been extensively discussed. The trends of the CEF design and future directions are also discussed in this review. Significant research gaps include a lack of consideration towards ease of assembly, effective wire-clamping methods, and CEFs embedded with online patient-monitoring systems, among others. An apparent lack of research interest from low-middle and low-income countries was also identified

Upper limb rehabilitation using robotic exoskeleton systems: a systematic review

Exoskeleton assisted therapy has been reported as a significant reduction in impairment and gain in functional abilities of stroke patients. In this paper, we conduct a systematic review on the upper limb rehabilitation using robotic exoskeleton systems. This review is based on typical mechanical structures and control strategies for exoskeletons in clinical rehabilitation conditions. A variety of upper limb exoskeletons are classified and reviewed according to their rehabilitation joints. Special attentions are paid to the performance control strategies and mechanism designs in clinical trials and to promote the adaptability to different patients and conditions. Finally, we analyze and highlight the current research gaps and the future directions in this field. We intend to offer informative resources and reliable guidance for relevant researcher’s further studies, and exert a far-reaching influence on the development of advanced upper limb exoskeleton robotic systems

A review : a comprehensive review of soft and rigid wearable rehabilitation and assistive devices with a focus on the shoulder joint

The importance of the human upper limb role in performing daily life and personal activities is significant. Improper functioning of this organ due to neurological disorders or surgeries can greatly affect the daily activities performed by patients. This paper aims to comprehensively review soft and rigid wearable robotic devices provided for rehabilitation and assistance focusing on the shoulder joint. In the last two decades, many devices have been proposed in this regard, however, there have been a few groups whose devices have had effective therapeutic capability with acceptable clinical evidence. Also, there were not many portable, lightweight and user-friendly devices. Therefore, this comprehensive study could pave the way for achieving optimal future devices, given the growing need for these devices. According to the results, the most commonly used plan was Exoskeleton, the most commonly used actuators were electrical, and most devices were considered to be stationary and rigid. By doing these studies, the advantages and disadvantages of each method are also presented. The presented devices each have a new idea and attitude in a specific field to solve the problems of movement disorders and rehabilitation, which were in the form of prototypes, initial clinical studies and sometimes comprehensive clinical and commercial studies. These plans need more comprehensive clinical trials to become a complete and efficient plan. This article could be used by researchers to identify and evaluate the important features and strengths and weaknesses of the plans to lead to the presentation of more optimal plans in the future

Analaysis and simulation of a poly bag manufacturing systems

The film blowing plays a major role in manufacturing poly bag products that are indispensable in day-to-day life. Film blowing is largely deployed to manufacture poly bags in a continuous flow. As material prices skyrocket to new heights and forecasters see no end to this trend, any positive contribution in the poly bag manufacturing value chain has a great impact on reducing the manufacturing costs. High density polyethylene (HDPE), low density polyethylene (LDPE), linear low density polyethylene (LLDPE), and polypropylene (PP) are basically used as raw materials for the poly bag manufacturing and subsequently undergo some other processes such as cutting, sealing, printing, quality checking, and packing. Due to the variations of parameters in poly bag manufacturing process with different products, a considerable setting time as conceded and substantial amount of raw material is wasted. Material wastage is high as 10% to 12% in figures. Rather high lead-time, improper line balancing, and improper inventory control mimic serious bottlenecks in the system from performance point of view. With the purpose of identifying the productivity and the efficiency problems of the poly bag manufacturing system, as a preliminary study to simulation, risk analysis, bottle neck analysis, and SWOT analysis were carried out in poly bag manufacturing system. Then the possible risk of the selected system was prioritized. In addition, a computer based simulation has been carried out to simulate the system and thereby find the draw backs. The poly bag manufacturing system has been modelled to obtain the optimum production times and throughput time of a given type of bag. Production schedule has been developed for maximum productivity by using the simulated production and throughput times, and customer orders. The effect of changing the parameters of the control process was investigated through simulation trials. A Graphical User Interface (GUI) was developed to present the result of simulation easily and user friendly

Design of an ergonomically efficient chair

Ergonomically designed chairs are important for long time seated workers to increase their productivity and also to reduce low back injuries due to use of poorly designed chairs in ergonomic aspects. In addition, ergonomically designed chairs increase the seating comfortability of the chair users. Most of the chairs designed for the long time seated workers are not considered the full ergonomic aspects. In this paper, we discuss a design of an ergonomically efficient chair for the long time seated workers to increase their productivity and also to reduce low back injuries

Analysis of risks and bottlenecks of a poly bag manufacturing factory - a case study

The material prices of poly bags skyrocket to new heights and forecasters see no end to this trend. Also legal restrictions are imposed on some types of polythene products. In this situation, any entrepreneur engaging in the poly bag manufacturing process faces significant challenges. Therefore, a case study of an analysis of risks and bottlenecks of a poly bag manufacturing factory was carried out for the purpose of modeling and simulation of a poly bag manufacturing factory to improve the productivity to face the underlying challenges. This paper presents the analysis methods, and the results of the analysis are also discussed

Analysis, modeling and simulation of a poly-bag manufacturing system

The cost of raw material of poly-bags increases and fluctuates with an unpredictable trend. Further, legal restrictions imposed on some types of polythene products adversely affects for the demand. In this context, entrepreneurs engaging in poly-bag anufacturing face major challenges. With the purview of optimizing the poly-bag manufacturing process, authors attempted to analyze, model and simulate the poly-bag manufacturing process in the light of posed challenges. This paper presents preliminary analysis, modeling and simulation strategies of a poly-bag manufacturing system. In addition, a risk prioritization method is proposed in the preliminary analysis and also a simulation tool is developed

Design of a weft gripper system for required weft tension on rapier loom

In an existing rapier loom, when the rapier comes out from the shed, the tension of the weft yam changes before the reed reaches the fabric fell. Also in case of elastic yam, a certain length of the yam may retract due to the elastic nature of the yam. With the existing systems of rapier looms, weft yam tension cannot be controlled until the weft is interlaced into the fabric. Because of the above reasons the quality, selvage and appearance of the fabric could be impaired

Dual layered architecture for multi agent based Islanding and load management for microgrids

This paper proposes a novel dual layered multi agent system (MAS) based control system for the use in microgrid operations. In developing a smarter grid capable of withstanding disturbances and/or outages and providing quality service to the consumers, reliable microgrid control architecture is vital. The innovative microgrid control system proposed, makes the microgrid capable of isolating the local grid from effects of any upstream disturbances in the main utility grid by operating disconnected from the main utility via islanding, and it allows the most critical local loads to be supplied by any, available, local power source during such islanded operation. The proposed MAS control architecture is developed using the JADE platform and it is used to control a test network simulated in MATLAB. The results of these simulations show the capability of developing MAS based reliable control mechanism for islanding and load management of microgrids based on the proposed concept

Dual layered multi agent system for load management during islanded operation of a microgrid

This paper proposes a novel dual layered multi agent system (MAS) control architecture for distributed control of a microgrid. The proposed MAS controller provides islanding capabilities to a microgrid during disturbances in the main utility grid. During islanded operation, the MAS is able to maintain the supply to the most critical local loads. If the priority levels of the loads change after loads are shed, the MAS is able to reassign power to the revised most critical load/s. The MAS is developed using the JADE platform and is implemented on a microgrid test-bed simulated in MATLAB/SIMULINK. The obtained results validate the capability of the MAS control architecture in controlling and protecting the microgrid