BIOMECHANICS LAB:
Equipment and Capabilities
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BIOMECHANICS LAB: Equipment and Capabilities |
Our Biomechanics Lab has undergone a metamorphasis. In January 2001, we replaced our Instron 1321 servohydraulic testing frame with a state of the art Instron 8874 servohaudraulic testing frame.
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Instron 1321 (serial # 10) |
Instron 8874 with linear and rotational capabilities |
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Additionally, we have an Instron 4202 mechanical testing frame with 10 Newton and 10,000 Newton load cells. This smaller testing frame has been beneficial in several ways. First of all, it is a time saver. For example, when a project requires testing in different planes, we do not need to break down the fixtures set for one plane and re-tool for the other plane. Secondly, the Instron 4202 has a set of "air-clamps" or "air-jaws". These devices allow us to hold specimens such as human or bovine menisci securely and effectively test the tensile strengths of various repair techniques. We have also used these clamps in other tissue oriented projects as well as determining the knot strength of different sutures. |
| The pictures below are of our "Knee-Shoulder" testing device. Ray Mayeux built it in-house. The fixture utilizes a three-axis AMTI load cell an LVDT (Linear Variable Displacement Transducer). These devices are attached to signal conditioning equipment and the output signals are recorded through a National Instruments A/D board (AT-MIO16E) by tailor written LabView programs. | |
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LabView is truly a remarkable program and the staff at National Instruments in Austin, TX, has always been helpful. If you are a student in any discipline of engineering, do yourself a favor and look into the different applications National Instruments has to offer.
In the past year, Linvatec
donated an arthroscopic unit to our laboratory. Similar to the equipment
in the Arthroscopic Dry Lab,
the residents in our department can teach and learn different repair techniques.
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