Elastic Wearable Sensor Array for Reliable Vital Parameter Measurement
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing wearable devices for measuring vital parameters are expensive, unreliable, especially during movement, and cause skin irritation due to close contact with the skin. They also suffer from reproducibility issues and sensitivity loss due to stretching or compression of sensor structures.
Innovation Solution
A device with an elastic carrier and geometrically expanded, identical shape sensors applied to the carrier, which can be printed onto a textile material. The device selects the sensor providing the greatest signal amplitude and allows intrinsic filtering, ensuring reliable measurement even during movement.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If sensors are placed in close contact with the skin to prevent slipping during movement, then reliability of measurement is improved, but skin irritation and bruising occur
Solution Approach 1:
The sensor array is divided into multiple individual sensor elements distributed across the elastic carrier. This segmentation allows the system to tolerate local variations in contact quality while maintaining overall measurement reliability, and reduces the pressure concentration on any single skin location, thereby preventing irritation and bruising.
Solution Approach 2:
The invention changes the physical state of the sensor system from fixed rigid sensors to flexible printed sensors on an elastic carrier. This parameter change allows the sensor array to conform to skin contours without exerting excessive localized pressure, maintaining measurement reliability while preventing skin damage.
2Measurement precision
If geometrically expanded sensors are used to increase measurement area, then sensitivity to vital parameters is improved, but the sensor structure can be stretched or compressed during application causing sensitivity loss
Solution Approach 1:
The sensor array consists of multiple identical geometrically expanded sensor elements rather than a single large sensor. This segmentation provides redundancy so that if some sensors are stretched or compressed during application, others remain within the optimal sensitivity range, maintaining overall measurement reliability.
Solution Approach 2:
The elastic carrier serves multiple functions: it provides mechanical support for the sensor array, allows for stretching and compression during application, and maintains the geometric configuration of sensors. This multi-functionality enables the system to accommodate application variations while preserving sensor sensitivity.
3Ease of operation
If smart textiles are used for wearable measurement, then ease of operation and comfort are improved, but reliability during movement deteriorates
Solution Approach 1:
The invention uses thin film sensors printed on an elastic carrier instead of bulky smart textile components. This provides the flexibility and comfort of wearable textiles while maintaining the measurement reliability of precise sensor structures, as the thin film configuration minimizes interference with natural skin movement and deformation.
4Ease of operation
If small sensors are used to reduce skin irritation, then ease of operation is improved, but reproducibility of measurement location deteriorates
Solution Approach 1:
The sensor array is segmented into multiple small sensor elements distributed across a larger area on the elastic carrier. This segmentation maintains the comfort benefits of small sensors while improving reproducibility through spatial distribution - the array as a whole provides consistent measurement coverage regardless of slight variations in application location.
Solution Approach 2:
The invention transitions from a single-point measurement approach to a distributed array measurement approach. By spreading multiple small sensors across two-dimensional space on the elastic carrier, the system achieves both the comfort of small sensors and the reproducibility of a larger measurement zone, as the optimal signal can be selected from multiple locations.
Data Source
AI summary
The invention relates to device for the measurement of vital parameters, wherein the device is suitable for wearing on the skin, and wherein the device comprises:an elastic carrier (W), anda plurality of sensors (S1 . . . N), wherein the sensors (S1 . . . N) are geometrically extended and identical in terms of their shape,wherein at least two sensors from the plurality of sensors (S1 . . . N), are of different sizes in comparison with each other, whereinthe plurality of sensors (S1 . . . N) are printed onto to the elastically carrier (W).