Sweat Collector Pressure Element Reduces Microfluidic Volume
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Solution Overview
Problem
Current sweat sensing technologies are labor-intensive, slow, and inconvenient, with large sweat volumes between sensors and skin, making continuous or repeated biosensing challenging, especially for low sweat rates, which limits their application and accuracy.
Innovation Solution
A sweat sensing device with a sweat collector and pressure element that reduces the volume between sensors and skin, utilizing pores or pathways for sweat entry and applying pressure to minimize sweat volume, thereby decreasing sampling intervals and improving biomarker measurement correlation with blood concentrations.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Loss of time
If a large sweat volume is maintained between sensors and skin, then sampling interval is extended, but sampling speed decreases and low sweat rates cannot be detected effectively
Solution Approach 1:
The sweat collector volume is made dynamically adjustable through a pressure element that can compress the collector to reduce volume when fast sampling is needed, and relax to allow larger volume for extended sampling intervals. This dynamic volume adjustment resolves the contradiction between sampling interval and sampling speed.
Solution Approach 2:
The physical parameter of sweat collector volume is changed on demand by applying pressure through the pressure element. By varying the volume parameter, the system can optimize for either fast sampling (small volume) or extended sampling intervals (large volume), resolving the contradiction between these two opposing requirements.
2Speed
If sweat collector volume is reduced, then sampling speed increases, but sampling reliability during low sweat rates deteriorates
Solution Approach 1:
The system dynamically adjusts sweat collector volume based on sweat rate conditions. During low sweat rates, the pressure element relaxes to allow larger volume for reliable accumulation. During high sweat rates, volume is reduced for faster sampling. This dynamic adaptation resolves the contradiction between sampling speed and reliability.
Solution Approach 2:
The pressure element is designed to automatically adjust pressure based on detected sweat rate conditions, allowing the system to self-regulate the optimal volume for current conditions without external intervention, thereby maintaining both speed and reliability across varying sweat rates.
3Reliability
If prolonged stimulation is applied to increase sweat volume, then sampling reliability improves, but device complexity and user inconvenience increase
Solution Approach 1:
The patent extracts the volume control function from complex stimulation protocols and implements it through a simple mechanical pressure element that directly compresses the sweat collector. This simplifies the device by replacing complex prolonged stimulation mechanisms with a straightforward pressure application mechanism, reducing device complexity while maintaining reliability.
4Volume of moving object
If sweat collector is held against skin with pressure, then sweat volume between collector and skin is reduced, but device complexity increases
Solution Approach 1:
The sweat collector is designed as a flexible membrane or thin-walled structure that can be easily compressed by the pressure element. This flexible design allows volume reduction through simple pressure application without requiring complex rigid mechanical systems, thereby reducing device complexity while achieving the desired volume reduction.
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 device enables faster and more reliable sweat sampling, reducing the time required to refresh sweat volume and improving the correlation of biomarker concentrations between sweat and blood, facilitating continuous monitoring and reducing the need for invasive methods.
Implementation Method 1
a pressure element capable of holding the sweat collector against the skin with a pressure and reducing the sweat volume between the sweat collector and the skin
Implementation Method 2
one or more pores or pathways for entry of sweat from the skin into the sweat collector
Implementation Method 3
one or more pores or pathways for entry of sweat from the skin into the sweat collector
Data Source
AI summary
A sweat sampling and sensing device for sensing sweat on skin includes an analyte-specific sensor for sensing a first analyte in sweat; a sweat collector placed on or adjacent to skin with a plurality of pores or pathways for entry of sweat from skin into said sweat collector, said sweat collector at least partly defining a sweat volume between said analyte-specific sensor and the skin; and a pressure element capable of holding said sweat collector against the skin with a pressure and reducing the sweat volume between said sweat collector and the skin.