Analyte Sensor With Varying Stiffness Layers
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing analyte sensors for body fluids face challenges in manufacturability, wearing comfort, and mechanical stability during wear time, particularly due to time- and cost-consuming manufacturing processes and drawbacks in mechanical stability and comfort.
Innovation Solution
The analyte sensor features a substrate with varying thickness layers applied using techniques like spin-coating or screen-printing, allowing for targeted stiffness and flexibility, reducing the risk of damage during insertion and enhancing robustness against external impacts.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Productivity
If traditional sensor manufacturing processes are used, then manufacturing precision can be maintained, but manufacturing time and cost increase significantly
Solution Approach 1:
The patent combines multiple sensor layers (substrate, conductive layers, functional layers) into a single integrated structure that can be manufactured using standard flexible PCB techniques. This merging of layers and functions into one manufacturable unit resolves the contradiction by enabling high-speed production through conventional processes while maintaining the precision of multi-layer sensor construction.
Solution Approach 2:
The flexible substrate serves multiple functions simultaneously: it provides mechanical support, enables varying stiffness through layer thickness control, and allows for integrated circuit board mounting. This multi-functionality reduces manufacturing complexity by eliminating the need for separate components and assembly steps, thereby improving productivity without sacrificing precision.
2Ease of operation
If uniform thickness layers are used, then manufacturing is simpler, but wearing comfort and flexibility are reduced
Solution Approach 1:
The patent implements local quality by varying the thickness of specific layers (particularly the functional layers and insulating layers) at different positions along the sensor length. This allows the sensor to have higher flexibility in regions requiring comfort (such as areas contacting skin) while maintaining structural integrity and sensing precision in other regions, thus improving wearing comfort without requiring complete structural redesign.
Solution Approach 2:
The varying layer thickness creates a dynamic stiffness profile along the sensor length, allowing different sections to adapt to different mechanical requirements. This dynamic structure enables the sensor to flex appropriately in wear regions while maintaining stability in mounting regions, resolving the contradiction between comfort and complexity by making the structure adaptive rather than uniform.
3Ease of operation
If the sensor is made more flexible for comfort, then wearing comfort improves, but mechanical stability during wear time deteriorates
Solution Approach 1:
The patent applies local quality by strategically varying layer thickness in specific regions: thinner functional layers in areas requiring flexibility for comfort, and thicker structural layers in areas requiring mechanical stability. This spatial differentiation allows the sensor to simultaneously achieve wearing comfort through flexibility where needed and mechanical reliability through enhanced structure where required, resolving the contradiction between these opposing requirements.
Solution Approach 2:
The sensor employs composite material construction with multiple layers of different materials (flexible substrate, conductive materials, insulating materials, functional layers) with varying thicknesses. This composite structure allows optimization of each layer's thickness for its specific function, enabling the overall sensor to achieve both flexibility for comfort and mechanical stability for reliability through the synergistic combination of different material properties and thickness profiles.
4Reliability
If thicker layers are used throughout, then mechanical stability improves, but flexibility and wearing comfort are reduced
Solution Approach 1:
The patent resolves this contradiction by applying local quality principles: thicker layers are used only in specific regions where mechanical stability is critical (such as mounting areas and structural support zones), while thinner layers are used in regions requiring flexibility for wearing comfort (such as skin-contact areas). This localized thickness optimization allows the sensor to achieve high mechanical stability where needed without compromising overall flexibility and comfort.
Data Source
AI summary
The present invention relates to an analyte sensor comprising a substrate, a first conductive material, a second conductive material, a first layer and a second layer, wherein the first and the second layer, independently of one another have a varying thickness along the length of the substrate and/or are located on the substrate as at least two fields separate from one another. The present invention furthermore relates to a method for manufacturing the analyte sensor and an analyte sensor system comprising the analyte sensor.