Wearable soft tissue Young modulus monitoring device

Abstract

The utility model discloses a wearable soft tissue Young modulus monitoring device which comprises a pressure applying mechanism, a contact radius sensor, a contact force sensor and a wearable mechanism. The wearable mechanism comprises a shell and a bandage; the pressure applying mechanism comprises a pressure head arranged in the shell; the contact radius sensor comprises at least two groups of flexible pressure sensing arrays, and each flexible pressure sensing array is provided with a plurality of sensing units capable of reflecting pressure distribution in the height direction of the pressure head; the contact force sensor is arranged on the pressure applying mechanism and is in contact with the inner surface of the shell; the contact radius sensor responds to the contact pressure when the pressure head contact surface is in contact with the tested soft tissue and outputs a first electric signal; and the contact force sensor responds to the contact pressure provided by the pressure applying mechanism when the pressure head contact surface is in contact with the tested soft tissue, and outputs a second electric signal. According to the utility model, continuous and dynamic acquisition of soft tissue Young modulus monitoring related data can be realized.

Description

TECHNICAL FIELD

[0001] The utility model belongs to biomedical engineering technical field, concretely relates to a wearable soft tissue Young's modulus monitoring device. BACKGROUND

[0002] Palpation is a typical traditional soft tissue hardness detection method, such as a clinician subjectively judges the change of hardness of the lesion tissue by pressing the lesion tissue with fingers, so as to judge the disease progression, but the method is highly subjective, lacks quantitative indicators, and cannot realize continuous dynamic monitoring. Some traditional mechanical hardness detection systems, such as universal tensile testing machines, calculate the Young's modulus by recording the change curve of the deformation of the measured object with the external force, but these systems rely on large hardware equipment, and require the measured object to have a standard shape and size, and cannot realize the quantification and dynamic monitoring of the modulus of human soft tissue. Elastic ultrasonic imaging reflects the modulus of the measured object by analyzing the deformation of the measured object under pressure or the propagation speed of the wave in the measured object, although such technology can be made into a handheld or wearable device to support dynamic detection, but is limited by complex factors such as tissue heterogeneity and thickness and high operator dependency, and can only provide a relative modulus reference value, and there is still a great challenge in accurately providing the absolute value. The indentation method based on contact mechanics theory such as Hertz model can calculate the Young's modulus of the measured object by detecting the pressure and indentation depth / contact radius generated when a hemispherical probe is pressed into the soft measured object, and this calculation process does not require the measured object to have a standard shape and size, so that related technologies such as atomic force microscope and nanoindenter are rapidly developed and widely used. However, indentation testing requires accurate force and displacement control and feedback system, and is generally limited to large hardware facilities, and cannot realize dynamic and continuous monitoring of human soft tissue.

[0003] The Chinese patent application with publication number CN115500811A proposes a dual closed-loop controlled haptic sensor and a control method thereof, wherein the haptic sensor includes a dual closed-loop control system, a sensor measurement system, and a haptic sensor system model, the dual closed-loop control system further includes a sensor contact, an amplitude stabilization control system, and a frequency tracking system, the sensor measurement system further includes a pressing device and a resonance frequency acquisition system, and the haptic sensor system model is derived according to the control model of the haptic sensor and the equivalent acoustic impedance when the sensor contact touches the measured tissue, and is used to calculate the elasticity of the measured tissue according to the frequency offset of the tracked self-oscillation circuit frequency. The system can improve the measurement accuracy, reduce the system resonance frequency, and avoid invasive damage to the measured tissue. However, the system needs to control the contact force size and stable contact state well when in use, and needs to be used in cooperation with the dual closed-loop control system, which has a complex structure and does not support continuous monitoring.

[0004] Chinese patent application CN116685839A proposes a modulus sensor, the device includes a base, a sensor, a pressure head, and a locking device, the sensor is fixedly connected with the base; the pressure head is slidably connected to the base to move in an axial direction relative to the base in response to a first abutment of the pressure head with a material surface, so that the pressure head provides a pushing force in the axial direction to the sensor; the locking device is configured to releasably lock the pressure head in a locked state in response to a second abutment of the base with the material surface, wherein the pressure head in the locked state is prevented from moving in the axial direction relative to the base. Based on the device, when the pushing force is continuously applied, the pressure head is locked at a certain position by the locking device, the pushing force and the displacement of the pressure head at this time are measured by the sensor, and the Young's modulus is calculated according to the Hertz model. However, the device needs to construct a locking mechanism, the structure is complex, and continuous and dynamic monitoring cannot be achieved.

[0005] As can be seen from the above, the existing soft tissue Young's modulus monitoring technology still faces great challenges in simultaneously achieving continuous, dynamic monitoring and accurate monitoring. Utility model content

[0006] Therefore, the utility model provides a wearable soft tissue Young's modulus monitoring device, which utilizes flexible tactile sensing technology, integrates contact force sensors and contact radius sensors, is used for collecting soft tissue Young's modulus calculation related data, and provides a data basis for realizing accurate, continuous and dynamic monitoring of soft tissue Young's modulus.

[0007] The utility model discloses a wearable soft tissue Young's modulus monitoring device, its characterized in that, including pressure mechanism, contact radius sensor, contact force sensor and wearable mechanism, the wearable mechanism includes the casing and the bandage of casing connection, be equipped with through -hole on the casing, the pressure mechanism includes the pressure head of arrangement in the casing interior, the pressure head is structured as having semispherical pressure head contact surface, semispherical pressure head contact surface reaches the center point of the arc distribution of at least two groups of flexible pressure sensing array about semispherical pressure head contact surface through the through -hole and extends the casing outside, the contact radius sensor includes, the flexible pressure sensing array has a plurality of sensing unit that can reflect the pressure distribution of pressure head height direction, the contact force sensor is arranged on the pressure mechanism and is contacted with the inner surface of casing, the contact radius sensor is still structured as when the pressure head contact surface is contacted with the measured soft tissue, the first electric signal is exported in response to contact pressure, the contact force sensor is still structured as when the pressure head contact surface is contacted with the measured soft tissue, the second electric signal is exported in response to the contact pressure that the pressure mechanism provides.

[0008] As an optional solution, in the flexible pressure sensing array, the sensing units are arranged in a column along the height direction of the pressure head, and the arc lengths between adjacent sensing units are equal.

[0009] As an option, the pressure head also has a pressure head top surface beside the pressure head contact surface; the pressure applying mechanism further comprises an extension column fixedly connected with or integrally formed with the pressure head top surface; and the contact force sensor is arranged at an end of the extension column away from the pressure head.

[0010] As an option, the extension lines at one end of each flexible pressure sensing array intersect at the center point of the pressure head contact surface, and the extension lines at the other end extend towards the pressure head top surface and are electrically connected through wires.

[0011] As an option, the extension column is in a cylindrical structure, and the diameter of the cylinder is equal to the diameter of the hemispherical pressure head contact surface of the pressure head.

[0012] As an option, the wearable soft tissue Young's modulus monitoring device further comprises a limiting mechanism for blocking the pressure applying mechanism from being separated from the shell at the through hole; the limiting mechanism is a wing arranged transversely at the connection between the pressure head and the extension body, or a limiting piece arranged on the pressure applying mechanism.

[0013] As an option, the contact radius sensor is an electrostatic sensor.

[0014] As an option, the contact force sensor is a piezoresistive sensor.

[0015] As an option, a plurality of bandage grooves for threading a bandage are further formed on the shell.

[0016] As an option, the wearable soft tissue Young's modulus monitoring device further comprises a data acquisition module arranged inside the shell; and the contact radius sensor and the contact force sensor are electrically connected with the data acquisition module through wires, respectively.

[0017] The utility model has the following beneficial effects:

[0018] (1) The utility model discloses a wearable way, through respectively arranging the contact force sensor on the pressure applying mechanism and the contact radius sensor of the flexible pressure sensing array on the pressure head contact surface of the pressure applying mechanism, the contact force between the pressure head and the measured soft tissue and the synchronous, continuous acquisition of the contact radius calculation related data can be realized, and based on this wearable way, the measured object is no longer required to be in a stationary state, and the wearable continuous, dynamic monitoring of the soft tissue Young's modulus can be realized by cooperating with the host computer.

[0019] (2) The utility model discloses a flexible pressure array sensor with high spatial resolution and low detection limit characteristics can realize the high-precision detection of the contact radius, especially using the contact radius sensor based on the electrostatic principle, and the low threshold response and high spatial resolution arrangement of the sensing unit in the sensing array are more easily realized, and the accurate monitoring of the tissue Young's modulus can be realized by cooperating with the host computer. Attached Figure Description

[0020] Figure 1 A three-dimensional structural diagram of a wearable soft tissue Young's modulus monitoring device;

[0021] Figure 2 A bottom view of a wearable soft tissue Young's modulus monitoring device;

[0022] Figure 3 A front view of a wearable soft tissue Young's modulus monitoring device;

[0023] Figure 4 A cross-sectional view of a wearable soft tissue Young's modulus monitoring device (AA section).

[0024] Figure 5 A cross-sectional view of a wearable soft tissue Young's modulus monitoring device;

[0025] Figure 6 A cross-sectional view of a wearable soft tissue Young's modulus monitoring device;

[0026] Figure 7 A DD cross-sectional view of a wearable soft tissue Young's modulus monitoring device;

[0027] Figure 8 A schematic diagram of the internal structure of a wearable soft tissue Young's modulus monitoring device.

[0028] Figure 9 This is a schematic diagram of the unfolded contact radius sensor;

[0029] Figure 10 A schematic diagram illustrating the working principle of a wearable soft tissue Young's modulus monitoring system;

[0030] Figure 11 This is a schematic diagram illustrating the principle of contact radius calculation.

[0031] Figure 12 This is a schematic diagram of the test status;

[0032] Figure 13 (a), (b), and (c) are schematic diagrams showing the changes in contact force, contact radius, and Young's modulus of the soft tissue in the posterior lower leg over time during the process of climbing stairs.

[0033] Figure labels: 1-Indenter, 101-Indenter contact surface, 102-Indenter top surface, 2-Contact radius sensor, 201-Sensing unit, 3-Contact force sensor, 4-Housing 4, 401-Base, 402-Top cover, 403-Screw hole, 404-Cable outlet, 405-Strap groove (405a, 405b, 405c), 5-Extension column, 6-Wing, 7-Wire, 8-Strap. DETAILED DESCRIPTION

[0034] The technical solutions of the utility model will be described clearly and completely below in combination with specific embodiments and drawings. Obviously, the described embodiments are only part of the embodiments of the utility model, rather than all the embodiments. Based on the embodiments in the utility model, all other embodiments obtained by those skilled in the art without creative labor fall within the protection scope of the utility model.

[0035] In the description of the utility model, if the terms indicating orientation or position relationship such as "upper", "lower", "front", "rear", "inner", "outer" and the like appear, they are based on the orientation or position relationship shown in the drawings, and are only for the convenience of describing the utility model and simplifying the description, and therefore cannot be understood as limiting the utility model. For those skilled in the art, the specific meaning of the above terms in the utility model can be understood in combination with specific circumstances. In addition, the terms "include" and "have" and any variants thereof are intended to cover non-exclusive inclusion, and can include other units not clearly listed or inherent to the products or devices.

[0036] In the embodiment drawings provided by the utility model, the connection relationship between the modules or components indicates that they have communication connection therebetween, which can be implemented as one or more communication buses or signal lines. Those skilled in the art can understand and implement it without creative labor.

[0037] In combination with Figures 1 to 13 As shown in the drawings, the utility model embodiment provides a wearable soft tissue Young's modulus monitoring device (referred to as "monitoring device") mainly used for related data acquisition of soft tissue Young's modulus calculation, which is composed of a pressure head 1, a contact radius sensor 2, a contact force sensor 3, a shell 4, an extension column 5, a wire 7, a bandage 8 and the like. Among them, the shell 4 and the bandage 8 jointly form a wearable mechanism for bearing the structures such as the pressure head 1, the contact radius sensor 2, the contact force sensor 3 and the extension column 5. When used, the monitoring device is fixed to the measured soft tissue area through the wearable mechanism, and the pressure head contact surface of the pressure mechanism is in contact with the measured soft tissue, and then the continuous dynamic monitoring of the Young's modulus of the measured soft tissue is realized.

[0038] As Figure 1As shown, the shell 4 can specifically adopt a rectangular box structure composed of a base 401 and a top cover 402. The base 401 and the top cover 402 are provided with screw holes 403 at corresponding positions, and the two can be fixedly connected through screws arranged in the screw holes 403. In other embodiments, the two can also be fixedly connected through other detachable ways such as hinging and clamping. The base 401 is provided with a circular through hole with a diameter matching that of the pressure head 1. The side wall of the top cover 402 is provided with a wire outlet 404 for passing the wire 7. The base 401 and the top cover 402 are also provided with a plurality of bandage grooves 405 for passing the bandage 8.

[0039] When the base 401 and the top cover 402 of the shell 4 are separated, the pressure head 1 attached with the contact radius sensor 2 and the extension column 5 attached with the contact force sensor 3 can be assembled into the base 401 of the shell 4. The pressure head 1 and the extension column 5 can be integrally formed or fixedly connected through adhesion. Figure 6 As shown, the connection between the pressure head 1 and the extension column 5 has a transversely protruding wing 6. In the top view direction, the shape thereof matches that of the base 401 of the shell 4, approximately an isosceles triangle with a top angle of 90 degrees, and has a certain thickness, for example, 1 mm, along the long axis direction of the extension column, which ensures that it has the necessary mechanical strength and can prevent the pressure head 1 from sliding outwards to the outside of the base 401 of the shell 4 along the long axis of the extension column 5. In other embodiments, other ways can also be used to limit the unlimited sliding of the pressure head 1 to the base 401 of the shell. For example, a limiting mechanism can be arranged at the corresponding position of the side wall of the pressure head 1 or the extension column 5, or the limiting can be achieved by designing the internal structure of the shell 4 after assembly, or the extension column 5 can be directly designed as a square column with a side length of 2R, in which case there is no need to arrange a limiting mechanism. After assembly, the base 401 and the top cover 402 of the shell 4 are combined, and the screws are screwed into the screw holes 403 for fixation.

[0040] The bandage 8 is mainly used for fixing the shell 4. Specifically, the bandage 8 is fixed to the shell 4 through the bandage grooves 405, and is used for fixing the monitoring device to the human tissue subsequently. Specifically, the bandage 8 is passed in through the bandage groove 405b and out through the bandage groove 405c, the length is adjusted to the point that the pressure head 1 is completely pressed into the measured soft tissue, and then the two free ends of the bandage 8 are fixedly crossed above the top cover 402. In other embodiments, the fixing way of the bandage 8 can be freely adjusted, such as being passed in through the bandage groove 405a and out through the bandage groove 405b. As long as the pressure head 1 can be completely pressed into the measured soft tissue and not loosened without human intervention, it is acceptable.

[0041] The pressure head 1 is a semi-spherical structure, including a semi-spherical pressure head contact surface 101 and a pressure head top surface 102 connected to the pressure head contact surface 101, and the pressure head top surface 102 is a circular plane. The distance D between the center point of the pressure head contact surface 101 and the pressure head top surface 102 is just equal to the radius R of the pressure head. The extension column 5 is generally a cylindrical structure, and the diameter of the cylindrical structure is equal to the diameter (2R) of the pressure head top surface 102. The extension column 5 is connected to the pressure head 1 (the pressure head top surface 102) downward and connected to the contact force sensor 3 upward. It can be understood that for soft tissues containing muscles, the indentation depth is usually greater than the radius of the pressure head, and by using the extension column 5, the monitoring of different soft tissues can be adapted, and the application range is expanded. The pressure head 1 and the extension column 5 are integrally formed, and the whole formed can be called a pressure applying mechanism. In other embodiments, the pressure head 1 and the extension column 5 can also be fixedly connected by bonding or the like; or the pressure applying mechanism can be only a pressure head with a semi-spherical pressure head contact surface; or the pressure applying mechanism is other structure with a semi-spherical pressure head contact surface.

[0042] It should be noted that in the embodiment, the distance from the top of the pressure head to the bottom of the pressure head is just equal to the radius of the pressure head, or more accurately, the chord height of the semi-spherical pressure head contact surface is equal to the radius of the semi-sphere. In other embodiments, the height from the top of the pressure head to the bottom of the pressure head can be less than the radius of the pressure head or greater than the radius of the pressure head, which is a nearly semi-spherical structure, but such structures are still classified as semi-spherical structures in the utility model. In other words, the semi-sphere defined in the utility model can be a standard semi-sphere or a non-standard nearly semi-sphere, and accordingly, the semi-spherical structure can be a standard semi-spherical structure or a nearly semi-spherical structure.

[0043] The contact radius sensor 2 is mainly composed of one or more groups of flexible pressure sensor arrays attached to the surface of the pressure head contact surface 101 by double-sided adhesive, instant adhesive, hot melt adhesive or the like, and each group of flexible pressure sensor array includes a plurality of pressure sensor units 201. It can be understood that the higher the spatial resolution of the sensor unit 201, the higher the calculation accuracy; the smaller the width of the contact radius sensor 2, the better the attachment to the pressure head contact surface 101, and the less likely to cause signal noise during attachment. The sensor arrays are converged by wires and led out through the wire outlet 404 on the shell 4 to be electrically connected to the data acquisition device.

[0044] The lower surface of the contact force sensor 3 is attached to the top of the extension column 5 by an adhesive such as double-sided tape, instant adhesive, or hot melt adhesive, and the upper surface is in contact with the housing 4. The contact force sensor 3 has the same shape and size as the surface of the extension column 5, and is also a circle with a radius R that completely covers the surface of the extension column 5. In other embodiments, the contact force sensor 3 does not necessarily have the same shape and size as the surface of the extension column 5, and can be, for example, a circle with a radius smaller than R, or a rectangle inscribed in the surface of the extension column 5, etc. The contact force sensor 3 is connected to the data acquisition device by a wire 7, and then the signal is output. The wire 7 can also be led out through the wire outlet 404 provided on the housing 4, or can be merged with the wire connected to the contact radius sensor 2 before being led out through the wire outlet 404.

[0045] The utility model does not make special limitation to the sensing principle of the contact force sensor 3 and the contact radius sensor 2, and can be based on principles such as piezoresistive, capacitive, electrostatic, and optical fiber, and the electrode layer and functional layer material are not limited, as long as pressure sensing can be realized. In the embodiment, the contact radius sensor 2 is based on the electrostatic sensing principle, and the flexible pressure sensing array it contains is mainly composed of an electrode, a functional layer, and a packaging layer. The electrode layer is obtained by processing a copper foil on a flexible PI substrate, the functional layer is a flexible and conductive ion membrane, and is mainly made of a mixture of thermoplastic polyurethane elastomer (TPU), ionic liquid, and indium tin oxide (ITO), and the packaging layer is made of flexible PU material. In a preferred embodiment, the contact radius sensor includes two or more flexible pressure sensing arrays, the extension lines at one end of each flexible pressure sensing array intersect at the center point of the contact surface of the pressure head, the other end extends in the direction of the top surface of the pressure head and is merged with the other flexible pressure sensing arrays through wires to output, and the whole is distributed about the center point of the contact surface of the hemispherical pressure head at an equal arc. The length L of each flexible pressure sensing array covers the hemispherical surface of the pressure head as much as possible, and the width W is generally not greater than 3 mm; each flexible pressure sensing array includes a plurality of sensing units arranged at equal intervals (unfolded at equal intervals, that is, the intervals in the arc direction are equal), and the interval between adjacent sensing units is less than 1 mm. As shown in the figure, the arc length between the bottom end of the flexible pressure sensing array and the center point of the contact surface 101 of the pressure head is Figure 2 ​​The sensing blind area is 1 mm. It can be understood that in actual use, the pressure in the sensing blind area is generally not 0, so that the sensing unit can not be arranged here. In use, at the position where the pressure is generated when the pressure head 1 (the pressure head contact surface 101) contacts the soft tissue to be measured, the functional layer material of the contact radius sensor 2 is deformed, the capacitance value or impedance value of the sensing unit changes, and a first electric signal is output. This first electric signal is received by the data acquisition device and transmitted to the upper computer. The upper computer calculates the contact radius by counting the number of sensing units whose first signals are greater than the set threshold. It can be understood that the first electric signal output by the flexible pressure sensing array actually refers to the electric signal output by each sensing unit, that is, the first electric signal output by the contact radius sensor actually includes a plurality of in sequence. For these distribution designs, the upper computer can know the position of each sensing unit according to the known arrangement mode or sequence, count whether the first electric signal is greater than the set threshold, and further calculate the contact radius.

[0046] It is worth noting that the contact radius sensor adopts the principle of electrostatic induction because compared with other types of sensors, the electrostatic induction sensor has higher sensitivity and lower detection limit, can generate a first electric signal under a smaller pressure (less than 1 kpa), and is beneficial to capture the small pressure signal of the contact edge of the pressure head 1 and the soft tissue to be measured. At the same time, thanks to the high sensitivity of the electrostatic induction sensor, a smaller pressure signal can also be captured by a smaller sensing unit, so that the spatial density (resolution) of the sensing array can be higher, further ensuring the high accuracy of the contact radius sensor.

[0047] Taking one of the flexible pressure sensing arrays as an example, when part of the sensing units in the flexible pressure sensing array are subjected to pressure, the first electric signal (such as the capacitance value) output by the sensing unit changes. After the first electric signal is transmitted to the upper computer by the data acquisition device, the upper computer counts the number N of sensing units whose first electric signal exceeds the set threshold, and calculates the contact radius R c , the calculation formula is as follows:

[0048] (1)

[0049] Among them, (2)

[0050] Therefore, the contact radius formula is as follows:

[0051] (3)

[0052] In the formula, is the arc of the contact area, R is the radius of the pressure head 1, that is, the radius of the hemispherical pressure head contact surface 101, is the arc length of the sensing blind area, is the distance between adjacent sensing units.

[0053] Considering that the angle between the monitoring device and the measured soft tissue can change during dynamic activities, the average of the four calculated contact radius values is taken as the final total contact radius to participate in the calculation of the Young's modulus, so as to reduce the calculation error caused by the skew of the monitoring device.

[0054] In this embodiment, the contact force sensor 3 is based on the piezoresistive principle and mainly consists of an electrode layer, a functional layer and a packaging layer. The electrode layer is obtained by processing copper foil on a polyimide (PI) substrate, the functional layer is composed of conductive polyethylene (PE) film, and the packaging layer is composed of polyurethane film (PU). The electrode layer is electrically connected to the data acquisition device through the wire 7. When the pressure head contact surface 101 of the pressure head 1 contacts the measured soft tissue, contact pressure is generated, which is transmitted upward to the contact force sensor 3 through the extension column 5, so that the functional layer material of the contact force sensor 3 deforms to produce piezoresistive change. The output second electrical signal is received by the data acquisition device and transmitted to the upper computer. The second electrical signal is converted into the corresponding contact force value by the upper computer. When the Young's modulus of the measured soft tissue changes dynamically, such as muscle contraction and relaxation, the contact pressure between the pressure head 1 and the measured soft tissue changes continuously, which can be converted into continuous real-time contact force F. It is worth noting that the contact force sensor 3 adopts the piezoresistive principle considering that the existing piezoresistive material is mature in application, stable in nature, and has high accuracy, linearity and repeatability, which can accurately capture the contact force between the pressure head 1 and the measured soft tissue.

[0055] In a specific application example, the radius R of the pressure head 1 and the extension column 5 is set to 8 mm, and the height of the extension column 5 is set to 16 mm. The contact radius sensor 2 includes four groups of pressure sensing arrays, each group containing 28 sensing units. The spatial width W of the expanded pressure sensing array is set to 2 mm, the length L is set to 11.6 mm, and the thickness is set to 0.5 mm; the distance between adjacent sensing units (i.e. the spatial resolution) is set to 0.4 mm, and the arc length of the sensing blind area is set to 1 mm. The radius of the contact force sensor 3 is set to 8 mm, and the thickness is set to 0.25 mm. The shell 4 is a rectangular box structure, and the height, length, width and wall thickness of the rectangular box are set to 10 mm, 26 mm, 26 mm and 3 mm, respectively. The shape and size of each strap slot 405 on the shell 4 are consistent, the length is set to 16 mm, and the width is set to 2 mm.

[0056] ​​​It is worth mentioning that in actual use, the above-mentioned sizes can be flexibly adjusted according to requirements, such as the radius of the pressure head 1 and the extension column 5 can be any size greater than 0; the spatial size of the pressure sensing array of the contact radius sensor 2 can be flexibly adapted according to the radius of the pressure head 1, and the spatial resolution can be flexibly adjusted according to the requirement of detection accuracy; the height of the extension column 5 can be adjusted according to the thickness of the tissue and the detection requirement, when the height of the extension column 5 is negative, it represents that the height of the pressure head is less than its radius; the radius of the contact force sensor 3 can be any value greater than 0, generally not greater than the radius of the extension column 5, and the thickness can be any value greater than 0; the size of the shell 4 can be flexibly adjusted according to the size of the pressure head 1 and the wing 6; the length and width of the binding strap slot 405 can be flexibly adjusted according to the size of the shell 4.

[0057] In this embodiment, the pressure head 1, the extension column 5 and the shell 4 can be obtained by 3D printing from a resin material, and the binding strap 8 is composed of nylon material. However, it can be understood that the material type of the pressure head 1, the extension column 5 and the shell 4 is not limited, and it can be understood that the material hardness is significantly higher than the measured soft tissue, and common choices include ceramic, glass, carbon fiber material, high molecular polymer and other high modulus composite materials. Moreover, the pressure head 1 and the shell 4 can be composed of different materials, or the same material. The binding strap 8 can also be made of nylon, polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS), silicone, polyurethane, rubber, spandex, polyester fiber, leather and its artificial products, etc. Material, generally in the form of fabric, ensure that it has certain strength and necessary softness.

[0058] The shape of the shell 4 in the utility model can be in various forms, such as a cylindrical body or a box structure after chamfering. The connection mode of the shell 4 and the binding strap 8 can also be flexibly adjusted, and it is not necessary to be connected through the binding strap slot 405, for example, it can be connected through buckling, bonding and the like. In other embodiments, the monitoring device can not be provided with the shell 4, for example, the binding strap 8 is directly covered above the pressing mechanism (contact force sensor 3), but in this way, it can be necessary to calibrate for specific application scenarios, such as simulating fixing the monitoring device on the biceps brachii of the upper arm, applying pressure above the binding strap 8 through a calibration device (such as LCR), recording the force value output by the calibration device and the second electric signal output by the contact force sensor 3, establishing a fitting relationship between the two, obtaining a calibration curve describing the fitting relationship, and used for subsequent signal conversion.

[0059] Further, the utility model discloses a wearable soft tissue Young's modulus monitoring system (referred to as "monitoring system" for short) mainly comprising a wearable soft tissue Young's modulus monitoring device, a data acquisition device and a host computer, wherein the monitoring device can adopt the structure introduced in the foregoing embodiments. The data acquisition device mainly comprises an electric signal acquisition circuit and a communication module, and is electrically connected with the wearable soft tissue Young's modulus monitoring device through wires and is mainly used for the acquisition and transmission of electric signals. The data acquisition device can also be worn on the human body, and the spatial distance between the data acquisition device and the monitoring device is generally within 10-30 cm. In a specific application example, the measured soft tissue is the biceps of the upper arm, and the data acquisition device can be fixed on the shoulder or the back through adhesive tape or a bandage or can be fixed on the waist through a waistband. The data acquisition device can communicate with the host computer through Bluetooth, wireless transmission and the like, and correspondingly, the communication module can be a Bluetooth module, a WIFI module and the like.

[0060] In another embodiment, the utility model can also be based on the monitoring device introduced in the foregoing embodiments, and directly integrate a data acquisition module in the shell 4 as a component part of the monitoring device. At this time, the shell 4 also does not need to be provided with the outlet 404 again, and the contact radius sensor 2 and the contact force sensor 3 are electrically connected with the data acquisition module in the shell 4.

[0061] As shown in Figure 12 When testing, the bandage 8 is wound around the test site, the shell 4 is pressed to make the shell base 401 adhere to the skin surface, at this time, the pressure head 1 is completely pressed into the measured soft tissue, then the bandage 8 is fixed on the arm, and thus the continuous dynamic monitoring of the wearable soft tissue Young's modulus is realized, that is, the first electric signal and the second electric signal can be continuously acquired in the process of any dynamic activity of the human body, and are transmitted to the host computer through the data acquisition device, the contact force between the pressure head 1 and the measured soft tissue and the contact radius change curve with time (as shown in Figure 13 ) are calculated by the host computer, and then the equivalent Young's modulus value of the measured soft tissue is calculated based on the Hertz contact model, and the equivalent Young's modulus value change curve with time is obtained, and the calculation formula is as follows:

[0062] (4)

[0063] In the formula, E represents the equivalent Young's modulus of the measured soft tissue, F represents the contact force, which is converted from the second electric signal measured by the contact force sensor, R represents the pressure head radius, which is a known quantity, v represents the Poisson's ratio of the measured soft tissue, and is set as a known quantity 0.45, And Rtotal represents the total contact radius between the measured soft tissue and the pressure head, which is calculated from the first electric signal measured by the contact radius sensor.

[0064] It can be understood that the host computer in the utility model can be a mobile terminal device such as a smart phone, a smart watch, a smart bracelet, a tablet computer, a notebook computer, etc., can also be a desktop computer, or a special terminal device in the medical field, as long as it can realize data processing and calculation functions. The host computer at least includes a calculation module, a storage module and a communication module. The communication module can be connected with the data acquisition device in a wireless communication mode, receives the first electric signal measured by the contact radius sensor 2 and the second electric signal measured by the contact force sensor 3 sent by the data acquisition device. The calculation module is a general and / or special processing module with processing and calculation capabilities, can call the pre-stored program in the storage module, execute corresponding instructions, so as to realize the calculation process of Young's modulus.

[0065] Finally, it should be noted that for those skilled in the art, it is obvious that the utility model is not limited to the details of the above exemplary embodiments, and the utility model can be realized in other specific forms without departing from the spirit or basic characteristics of the utility model. Therefore, no matter from which point of view, the embodiments should be regarded as exemplary and non-limiting, the scope of the utility model is defined by the appended claims rather than the above description, therefore all changes falling within the meaning and scope of the equivalent elements of the claims are intended to be included in the utility model. Any reference signs in the claims should not be regarded as limiting the claims involved.

Claims

1. A wearable soft tissue Young's modulus monitoring device, characterized by, The wearable soft tissue Young's modulus monitoring device comprises a pressing mechanism, a contact radius sensor, a contact force sensor and a wearable mechanism. The wearable mechanism comprises a shell and a band connected to the shell. The pressing mechanism comprises a pressure head arranged inside the shell. The contact radius sensor comprises at least two groups of flexible pressure sensing arrays arranged on the pressure head contact surface and distributed at equal arcs with respect to the center point of the hemispherical pressure head contact surface. The contact force sensor is arranged on the pressing mechanism and in contact with the inner surface of the shell. The contact radius sensor is also configured to output a first electrical signal in response to the contact pressure when the pressure head contact surface is in contact with the measured soft tissue. The contact force sensor is also configured to output a second electrical signal in response to the contact pressure provided by the pressing mechanism when the pressure head contact surface is in contact with the measured soft tissue.

2. The wearable soft tissue Young's modulus monitoring device of claim 1, wherein, In the flexible pressure sensing array, the sensing units are arranged in a column along the height direction of the pressure head, and the arc length between adjacent sensing units is equal.

3. The wearable soft tissue Young's modulus monitoring device of claim 1, wherein, The pressure head also has a pressure head top surface adjacent to the pressure head contact surface.

4. The wearable soft tissue Young's modulus monitoring device of claim 3, wherein, The pressing mechanism further comprises an extension column fixedly connected to or integrally formed with the pressure head top surface.

5. The wearable soft tissue Young's modulus monitoring device of claim 4, wherein, The extension column is a cylindrical structure, and the diameter of the cylindrical structure is equal to the diameter of the hemispherical pressure head contact surface of the pressure head.

6. The wearable soft tissue Young's modulus monitoring device of claim 5, wherein, The wearable soft tissue Young's modulus monitoring device further comprises a limiting mechanism for preventing the pressing mechanism from being separated from the shell through the through hole.

7. The wearable soft tissue Young's modulus monitoring device of claim 1, wherein, The contact radius sensor is a capacitive sensor.

8. The wearable soft tissue Young's modulus monitoring device of claim 1, wherein, The contact force sensor is a piezoresistive sensor.

9. The wearable soft tissue Young's modulus monitoring device of claim 1, wherein, The shell further comprises a plurality of band grooves for threading the band.

10. The wearable soft tissue Young's modulus monitoring device according to any one of claims 1 to 9, further comprising a data acquisition module arranged inside the shell. The contact radius sensor and the contact force sensor are electrically connected to the data acquisition module through wires.

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