nTopology
A non-profit provider of prosthetics is harnessing nTopology design software and HP’s Multi Jet Fusion 3D printing technology to support amputees in northern Guatemala.
LifeNabled is based in Raleigh, North Carolina and was founded by husband and wife duo Brent and Meredith Wright to support patients in Guatemala who don’t have the means to afford prosthetic care. Over the past 15 years, LifeNabled has treated hundreds of patients, but since the traditional fabrication techniques involved in manufacturing prosthetics was taking its toll on the team, they have now decided to embrace additive manufacturing.
Previously, LifeNabled had developed prosthetics through an entirely manual three-step process which would see a prosthetist making a cast of the amputee’s missing extremity, use it to create a custom mould to thermoform the socket, and then fit the prosthetic device to the patient before making any necessary adjustments to ensure a good and comfortable fit. Having digitised the workflow, the process now involves two LifeNabled team members scanning and evaluating 35 amputees in two days, with the design and customisation of each device taking place over the next two weeks before the prosthetics are manufactured with Multi Jet Fusion in a durable TPU material. LifeNabled then returns to Guatemala to deliver and fit the devices.
In adopting this new digital workflow, LifeNabled says it has been able to work more efficiently, while also providing improved prosthetic devices. One enhancement is the use of 3D printed foams to design flexible inner socket liners, which are breathable, easily customisable and washable. Previously, the sockets used traditional gel-like inner liners that cost more than $160 and have a limited lifespan of between 3-6 months in the tropical climates of Guatemala – not affordable for people living on $2-3 a day.
Designed with flexible lattice structures, the properties of the liners can be tuned to be softer or stiffer depending on the physiology or preferences of the patient by controlling the design input parameters of the lattice with nTopology software. Through a semi-automated workflow, shells with variable thickness are generated using the mesh of the 3D patient scan data as the input. nTopology’s latticing blocks are leaned on to create the flexible inner liners that provided the necessary level of cushioning, swapping out a new input mesh with 3D scan data from another patient to repeat the process and generate a new design. With this process, LifeNabled estimates that is saved more than a day of error-prone computational processing during the design phase and produced higher-quality results.
“Designing custom flexible inner liners was going to be a challenging task if we would do it in any software other than nTopology,” commented Brent Wright, LifeNabled Clinical Director. “Once the workflow was done, all I had to do was to swap out meshes. The process ran over and over again.”
1 of 2
nTopology
nTopology Additive America Prosthetics
nTopology Additive America Prosthetics 3D scan design process digital fabrication
2 of 2
nTopology
nTopology Additive America Prosthetics
nTopology Additive America Prosthetics 3D scan design process digital fabrication
By manufacturing the parts with Multi Jet Fusion, LifeNabled saved 2-3 days of fabrication, while the durable TPU material is considered very suitable for the jungle of Guatemala. With this new digital workflow in place – and having supported amputees in Guatemala for more than 15 years now – LifeNabled’s goal is to create a global network of prosthetic device providers for the developing world that leverages industrial-grade 3D printing systems. The idea is that the devices can be designed using the automated processes that LifeNabled has put in place, with local physicians being trained through video calls to evaluate patients and fit prosthetic devices.
“There are millions of people that need prostheses worldwide. It’s a team effort to reach all of them,” Brent added. “This is a human story. This is not a story of how we get a profit out of humans. It is a story of how we get people walking. I think it’s neat that someone who couldn’t possibly afford a prosthesis now has the best device in the world. Without nTopology, none of this would be possible.”
Want to discuss? Join the conversation on the Additive Manufacturing Global Community Discord.
Get your FREE print subscription to TCT Magazine.
