Wearable Muscle Hardness Sensing With Multi-Spring Force Units
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing wearable measuring devices, such as force sensor bracelets and gas-pressure sensor bracelets, suffer from measurement distortions due to factors like the tightness of fit and muscle bulges during movement, affecting the accuracy of skeletal muscle monitoring.
Innovation Solution
A wearable measuring device with at least two measuring units, each comprising a force sensor and a spring unit with different spring constants, is attached to the body part to detect tensioning forces, allowing for the estimation of muscle hardness by forming spring arrangements with equivalent spring constants, independent of fit and muscle contraction.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Ease of operation
If traditional force sensor bracelets or gas-pressure sensor bracelets are used to monitor skeletal muscle, then the measuring device can be worn on the body, but the measurement result is distorted by tightness of fit and muscle bulges during movement
Solution Approach 1:
The measuring device is divided into multiple measuring units (at least two), each with its own force sensor and spring unit. These units are distributed around the body part to measure forces from different muscle portions independently, allowing the system to differentiate between compression forces from tightness and tension forces from muscle contraction.
Solution Approach 2:
Spring units with different spring constants are introduced as intermediary elements between the force sensors and the muscle. These springs form spring arrangements with the muscle tissue, and their different stiffness characteristics allow the system to calculate muscle hardness while compensating for external compression forces.
2Measurement precision
If multiple measuring units with different spring constants are used to accurately estimate muscle hardness, then measurement accuracy improves, but device complexity increases
Solution Approach 1:
The system uses spring units with different spring constants (stiffness parameters) to create varied spring arrangements with the muscle. By measuring the tension forces in these springs with different known stiffness values, the system can calculate muscle hardness through mathematical relationships, transforming a complex biological measurement into a solvable physical problem.
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 solution provides accurate and reliable estimation of skeletal muscle hardness, unaffected by fit or muscle contraction, enabling user-friendly derivation of assistance requirements.
Implementation Method 1
the spring units will each form with the relevant, associated portion of the skeletal muscle a spring arrangement with an equivalent spring constant
Implementation Method 2
a greater tensioning force will be transferred to the spring unit having the higher spring constant than to the spring unit having the lower spring constant
Implementation Method 3
the force sensors are designed to detect a tensioning force of the associated spring unit
Data Source
AI summary
A wearable measuring device comprising a measuring apparatus that comprises at least two measuring units for monitoring a skeletal muscle of a person (or animal, etc.), and comprising a holding apparatus for attaching the measuring apparatus to a body part of the person having the skeletal muscle. It is provided that the measuring units each comprise a force sensor and an associated spring unit, the spring units differing from one another in their spring constant, that the measuring units can be attached to the body part in such a way that the spring units can be tensioned by a particular different section of the skeletal muscle, and that the force sensors are designed to detect a tensioning force of the associated spring unit.