Flexible Sensor String for Body Shape Estimation in EIT
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Solution Overview
Problem
Current EIT systems face challenges in accurately estimating the shape of body parts, particularly in clinical environments like NICUs, due to difficulties in obtaining subject-specific boundary shapes, leading to image distortion and noise, especially for premature infants where traditional methods are impractical.
Innovation Solution
A wearable apparatus using a string of sensors, comprising bend and stretch sensors, that conforms to the body shape without requiring line-of-sight, allowing real-time data collection without patient cooperation and accommodating movement, enabling accurate estimation of body shape for EIT image reconstruction.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Measurement precision
If traditional EIT systems use fixed electrode arrays requiring line-of-sight and patient stillness, then measurement setup is simplified, but measurement precision deteriorates due to inability to accommodate patient movement and obtain accurate boundary shapes
Solution Approach 1:
The sensor array is divided into multiple independently movable sensor elements that can be positioned at different locations around the patient's body. Each sensor element can independently detect boundary shape information, allowing the system to accommodate irregular body shapes and patient movement while maintaining measurement precision.
Solution Approach 2:
The sensor array is designed to be dynamically adjustable rather than fixed, allowing sensors to move and reposition themselves to maintain optimal contact with the patient's body surface. This dynamic capability enables continuous accurate boundary shape estimation even when the patient moves or changes position.
2Adaptability or versatility
If rigid electrode arrays are used to maintain fixed geometry, then device complexity is reduced, but adaptability deteriorates due to inability to conform to changing body shapes during breathing and movement
Solution Approach 1:
The sensor array incorporates movable sensor elements that can dynamically adjust their positions to conform to changing body shapes during breathing and movement. This dynamic adaptability allows the system to maintain accurate contact and measurement capability throughout the respiratory cycle and during patient movement.
Solution Approach 2:
The sensor array is implemented on a flexible substrate that can conform to the patient's body surface contours. This flexible structure allows the sensors to adapt to irregular and changing body shapes while maintaining proper contact, enabling continuous monitoring without requiring rigid fixed-geometry arrays.
3Measurement precision
If frequent repositioning of electrodes is performed to maintain contact, then measurement precision is maintained, but loss of time increases due to interruption of continuous monitoring
Solution Approach 1:
The movable sensor elements continuously adjust their positions to maintain optimal contact with the patient's body surface without requiring interruption of monitoring. This dynamic self-adjustment capability eliminates the need for manual repositioning and maintains continuous accurate monitoring throughout the respiratory cycle and during patient movement.
Solution Approach 2:
The sensor array is designed to maintain continuous contact and measurement capability through automatic adjustment mechanisms, ensuring that monitoring operates continuously without interruption. The sensors adapt to body shape changes in real-time, eliminating gaps in monitoring that would occur with manual repositioning.
4Productivity
If manual boundary shape measurement is used, then device complexity is minimized, but productivity deteriorates due to inability to provide real-time continuous data
Solution Approach 1:
The sensor array automatically detects and records boundary shape information without requiring manual measurement or intervention. The movable sensors self-adjust to maintain contact and continuously collect data, providing real-time automated boundary shape estimation that eliminates the limitations of manual measurement methods.
Solution Approach 2:
The system replaces manual mechanical measurement methods with automated electronic sensors that continuously detect boundary shape information. This substitution enables real-time data collection and processing, significantly increasing productivity compared to manual measurement techniques while providing continuous monitoring capability.
Applied Scientific Principles
This section explains which scientific principles are used to turn an abstract innovation direction into a practical engineering solution.
Function Achieved in This Case
The apparatus provides accurate and continuous monitoring of lung function in premature infants by improving the estimation of body shape, reducing errors in EIT image reconstruction, and accommodating changes in size and breathing, thus enhancing the accuracy of EIT imaging.
Implementation Method 1
the string of sensors comprising at least one bend sensor and at least one stretch sensor
Implementation Method 2
the string of sensors comprising at least one bend sensor and at least one stretch sensor
Implementation Method 3
A wearable apparatus using a string of sensors, comprising bend and stretch sensors, that conforms to the body shape
Data Source
Figure 1(a)~1(b)
Figure 1(c)~3(c)
Figure 2
AI summary
An apparatus (480) for use in estimating the shape of a body part of a subject, which apparatus (480) comprises: a string of sensors (481) for positioning adjacent the body part so that the string of sensors substantially conforms with the shape of the body part, or at least a part of it, the string of sensors comprising at least one bend sensor and at least one stretch sensor (482) arranged end to end such that, in use, the at least one bend sensor lies adjacent a first region of the body part and the at least one stretch sensor (482) lies adjacent a second region of the body part, wherein the magnitude of a curvature of the first region of the body part is greater than the magnitude of a curvature of the second region of the body part.