Materials

Conductive material
http://www.amazon.com/ArgenMesh-Conductive-Shielding-Silver-Fabric/dp/B008DXBFYQ/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1400803176&sr=8-1&keywords=conductive+fabric
Electrodes
http://www.amazon.com/FDA-Cleared-Prescription-Required-Management/dp/B00JK0AQLE/ref=sr_1_12?ie=UTF8&qid=1400803334&sr=8-12&keywords=tens+unit
Spandex
http://www.amazon.com/Black-Pants-Seamless-Inches-Short/dp/B003DC8UBI/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1400804033&sr=8-2&keywords=spandex
Memory foam
http://www.amazon.com/TravelMate-Memory-Pillow-manufacturer-available/dp/B00A80N626/ref=lh_ni_t?ie=UTF8&psc=1&smid=A30HCXNHG4VV1T

Creo Modeling of Brace

DL link: CLICK HERE

Obtaining Conductive Fabric

5/11/14
Talked to a fashion major who mentioned some conductive fabrics and said she would ask her sewing professor
5/12/14
Above mentioned fashion major recommended we talk to Genevieve Dion who is someone who works in the fashion labs and deals with conductive fabrics
If they do not provide or sell samples, we will ask about particular purchases that can be made online

Block Diagrams

To Get During WK6

What:

• Memory foam for brace comfort improvement
• spandex fabric to cover foam
• hot glue (Charlie)
• conductive material (amazon or Drexel?)
• extra electrodes

Where:

• Fabric Row 
• Amazon

Goals

Comfortability

To make our design more comfortable, we will be adding more material to the already present knee brace. We are deciding on either buying memory foam, spandex, silk, polyester or acrylic.  We may use a combination of materials to add comfort to specific areas of the knee. Comfort is a goal because our design's main function to provide relief and healing to knee pain, so being uncomfortable while wearing our product will ultimately slow down the healing process. 

Adaptability 

The variations of knee injuries go from recurrent patellar sub-laxation to an ALC tear. We want our design to be very customizable, by making it so, it can affect an array of different knee problems a person may experience. We will get this done by giving instructions with the product to instruct the user on where to place the electrodes on the product for their specific reason for the design. By having adaptability, we open a larger range of people to use our product. In doing so we are helping people recover from their problem in an accessible way.    

Progress from Week 5

Electrodes

Electrodes on test subject

Sketch of sleeve for under brace with electrodes connected

Sample of various positions of electrodes on sleeve

TENS Node Placement

Source: http://www.energywellnessproducts.com/InformationFiles/EMS_TensPainReliefGuide.pdf

Patent Search

During this past week we did some research on patents in order to discover if there were any that were too similar to our group's.  While there were many interesting patents on different type of nerve therapy and mechanical braces, there seemed to be none that involved a combination of the two in order to relieve pain through stimulation.