A CT X-ray scan at the 3D Imaging Center [of Technical University of Denmark] formed the basis for a new mold so that para table tennis player Peter Rosenmeier’s prosthesis could be copied.
Peter Rosenmeier’s prosthesis has ensured him many victories on the way to today being reigning European champion, world champion and Paralympic champion in table tennis [editor: as at 02/07/2021]. The prosthesis ensures that he can hold the bat and is handmade by a bandage specialist. If something happened to it, it would have major consequences. If Peter Rosenmeier played with a different prosthesis that differed just a bit from the original, it would affect his shot too much. This has naturally given rise to quite a bit of concern about what would happen if the prosthesis one day broke.
In collaboration with i.a. Team Denmark, DTU Physics, IPU and Addifab, Denmark’s only 3D printer manufacturer, recently succeeded in producing a new prosthesis that is a complete copy of Peter Rosenmeier’s original.
Scanning made copying possible
Initially, data from a CT scan at the 3D Imaging Center made it possible to recreate the shape of the prosthesis, both inside and outside.
“The scanning was particularly important in relation to the shape of the inside, so that the prosthesis came to sit correctly on Peter Rosenmeier’s hand,” says senior research engineer Carsten Gundlach, who was responsible for scanning and the associated data processing.
Data from the scan was subsequently analyzed and used to 3D print a mold. A new prosthesis was cast, which took a turn in the scanner, and data from this was compared with data from the scan of the original prosthesis. There were very small deviations, but on testing it turned out that it could be used without problems.
“After this, not just one, but four new copies of the prosthesis were made, which Peter Rosenmeier can take with him in his suitcase for tournaments with the certainty that he does not have to give up if the prosthesis breaks along the way,” says Carsten Gundlach.
This article is an automatically translated version of a story published originally in Danish in 2021. See original. Article courtesy of DTU.
Peter Rosenmeier will compete in the Paralympics 2024 in Paris.
