Flexible Sensors with Switchable Adhesive for Skin Monitoring
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Solution Overview
Problem
Current soft, flexible vital signs monitoring systems face challenges with mechanical compliance, skin contact stress, and the removal of sensors, which can lead to epidermal skin stripping and lack visual inspection of skin health, particularly in ultra-fragile skin conditions.
Innovation Solution
The development of sensors with pre-curved, bendable architectures and switchable adhesive layers that are chemically or physically adjustable, allowing for easy attachment and removal while enabling direct visualization of the skin through perforations, reducing peel force and enhancing mechanical compliance.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If sensors use strong adhesive to attach firmly to skin, then sensor attachment reliability is improved, but skin damage occurs during sensor removal
Solution Approach 1:
The adhesive layer undergoes a reversible transition from an adhesive state to a non-adhesive state through chemical or physical changes. This parameter change allows the adhesive to firmly bond the sensor to the skin during monitoring, then become non-adhesive for safe removal without skin damage.
Solution Approach 2:
The adhesive layer is designed with dynamic properties that allow it to switch between adhesive and non-adhesive states. This dynamic characteristic enables the adhesive to adapt its bonding strength based on operational requirements - strong during attachment and monitoring, weak during removal.
2Manufacturing precision
If sensors are made rigid for structural stability, then manufacturing precision is improved, but mechanical compliance with skin reduces
Solution Approach 1:
The sensor incorporates a flexible substrate that replaces rigid structures with thin, compliant films. This flexible substrate maintains manufacturing precision while enabling mechanical compliance with the skin's surface contours and movements.
Solution Approach 2:
The sensor is designed with a pre-curved architecture that matches the natural curvature of the skin. This curvature design improves mechanical compliance and contact stress distribution while maintaining structural stability through precise manufacturing of the curved geometry.
3Ease of manufacture
If sensors use flat architecture for ease of manufacture, then manufacturing simplicity is improved, but contact stress on skin increases
Solution Approach 1:
The sensor employs a pre-curved architecture that conforms to the skin's natural curvature. This curved design distributes contact stress more evenly across the skin surface, reducing peak stress concentrations while remaining manufacturable through standard flexible substrate processes.
4Reliability
If adhesive layers are permanently adhesive for secure attachment, then sensor attachment reliability is improved, but ease of removal deteriorates
Solution Approach 1:
The adhesive layer transitions from an adhesive state during sensor attachment to a non-adhesive state during removal. This reversible parameter change enables secure attachment for reliable monitoring while facilitating easy, painless removal without skin damage.
Solution Approach 2:
The adhesive layer exhibits dynamic bonding characteristics, being adhesive when needed for secure attachment and non-adhesive when needed for easy removal. This dynamic behavior resolves the contradiction between reliable attachment and ease of removal.
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
This solution provides a method for non-invasive, continuous monitoring with reduced skin contact stress and improved skin health visualization, facilitating safe use on fragile skin without causing injury during sensor removal.
Implementation Method 1
each of the adhesive layers is switchable chemically or physically between an adhesive state and a non-adhesive state
Implementation Method 2
each of the sensors is configured to have a pre-curved architecture with a non-zero curvature, and the non-zero curvature of the corresponding sensor is configured to be adjustable based on a shape of the corresponding location on the mammal subject
Data Source
AI summary
This invention relates to apparatuses and methods for non-invasively measuring physiological parameters of a mammal subject using easily removable flexible electronics, and applications of the same. Specifically, a novel sensor class with a pre-curved architecture and strategically located perforations that may be used in apparatuses and methods for measuring physiological parameters of a mammal subject. Further, adhesive layers are used to attach the sensor systems on the skin of the mammal subject, and each adhesive layer is switchable chemically or physically between an adhesive state and a non-adhesive state, allowing easy removal of the corresponding sensor system from the skin of the mammal subject when being switched to the non-adhesive state.