3D-printed X-Brace gives relief to knees

Using 3D printing techniques the team has reduced the weight of a traditional exoskeleton knee brace, typically built with metal, by 30 per cent, thanks to a new design that uses lightweight plastic and assistive springs.

Braces are usually prescribed to the elderly patients to help alleviate the burden on their knee joints, as well as to assist patients who have undergone knee surgery.

X-Brace is based on the prototype assistive orthopaedic brace 3D-printed by NTU researchers and developed by Singapore-headquartered Delsson and the Centre for Orthopaedics in Singapore. The result is a knee brace that weighs about 720g and is 30 per cent lighter than metal orthopaedic braces.

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The prototyping process and product design iterations using additive manufacturing were conducted at NTU’s Singapore Centre for 3D Printing.

NTU assistant professor Chan Wai Lee, the principal investigator of this project from the School of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering, said 3D-modelling was heavily used to validate the various design ideas that led to the weight reduction.