Bennett Oberg Wins Award for Paper on Wheelchair Cushions
Bennett Oberg, an employee of EC Service, Inc. in Bountiful, Utah and student at Weber State University received the 2003 Outstanding Paper in the Division of Engineering award by the Utah Academy of Sciences, Arts, and Letters.
Classical Thermodynamics of Wheelchair Cushions and Otto Bock ComforT™ Temperature Intervention was co-authored by Oberg, Evan Call, Randy Jones and Barbara Levy.
Oberg’s paper is based on the hypothesis that heat trapped in a wheelchair cushion increases the risk of damage to human tissue, which can lead to pressure sores for wheelchair users. Observing paraplegic volunteers, Oberg compared the Otto Bock ComforT™ wheelchair cushion, which uses a unique Phase Change Material (PCM), to cushions without a PCM.
The PCM found in the ComforT™ cushion are made up of millions of heat absorbing microcapsules. Oberg’s study revealed the ComforT™ was 3 to 10 degrees Celsius cooler than cushions without the PCM.
Oberg believes wheelchair patients will benefit from this technology, “the reduction in skin temperature by use of the PCM containing ComforT™ cushion provides protection from metabolic stresses related to increased skin temperatures.”
Established in 1958, Minneapolis, Minnesota-based Otto Bock Health Care is the North and South American corporate headquarters of Otto Bock Healthcare, GmbH, based in Duderstadt, Germany. Otto Bock has more than 3,500 employees worldwide and produces over 20,000 types of rehabilitation, prosthetic, and orthotic products and technical plastics, and also provides information technology services.
