Portable Piezoelectric Breast Sensor Array for Home Screening
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Solution Overview
Problem
Traditional breast cancer screening methods are inconvenient, intrusive, and costly, leading to missed early detections due to avoidance by some women, and existing piezoelectric devices are cumbersome and require power sources, making them unsuitable for portable and comfortable use.
Innovation Solution
A portable piezoelectric detection device with an array of sensors on a deformable material, a rigid layer, and an electrically coupled system that processes voltage signals from sensors to measure tissue properties like stress, viscosity, and blood vessel radius, integrated with a mobile app for data display, allowing comfortable and private screening at home.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Measurement precision
If traditional clinical screening methods are used, then detection accuracy is improved, but convenience and patient comfort deteriorate
Solution Approach 1:
The patent replaces complex mechanical clinical examination systems with a simplified piezoelectric sensing system that uses voltage generation from mechanical compression to detect tissue anomalies, enabling accurate cancer detection through a convenient handheld device
Solution Approach 2:
The device enables women to perform self-examination at home without requiring clinical facilities or professional operators, allowing convenient regular monitoring while maintaining detection capability through the piezoelectric sensor array
2Stability of the object's composition
If piezoelectric sensors are mounted on rigid structures, then sensor stability is improved, but device portability and comfort deteriorate
Solution Approach 1:
The patent uses a flexible printed circuit board (FPC) as the mounting structure for piezoelectric sensors, replacing rigid supports with a flexible thin film that maintains sensor stability while enabling device portability and comfort during breast compression
Solution Approach 2:
The FPC provides localized rigid support exactly where sensors are mounted while remaining flexible overall, allowing the device to be portable and comfortable while maintaining sensor stability during operation
3Extent of automation
If power sources are integrated into piezoelectric devices, then device functionality is improved, but device complexity and portability deteriorate
Solution Approach 1:
The piezoelectric sensors generate their own operating voltage through mechanical compression of breast tissue, eliminating the need for external power sources and simplifying the device while maintaining full functionality for detecting tissue anomalies
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
Enables convenient, non-invasive, and cost-effective breast cancer screening that can detect early tissue anomalies, facilitating timely medical intervention and improving treatment outcomes by frequent use at home.
Implementation Method 1
compressing said at least two piezoelectric sensors between the rigid material and a material to be measured, thereby to produce a voltage signal in said at least two piezoelectric sensors
Data Source
AI summary
A detection system for breast cancer includes a detection device; and a mobile application for displaying information. The device includes an array of piezoelectric sensors, a plastically deformable layer, a ridged layer, and an electrically coupled system for processing voltage signals from the sensors which are arranged a predetermined distance from one another and imbedded in the layer. The layer is located beneath layer and has a hemispherical shape. In use, the sensors produce a voltage in response to a force applied thereto, when the sensors are compressed between breast tissue and the layer. The electrically coupled system receives signals from the sensors which are transformed mathematically into pressure readings. Mathematical modelling and/or graphical data representation is then applied to the pressure readings to produce a graphic output which is compared to a reference library.