Wearable Sensor Layer with Resilient Pressure for Skin Contact
Find Innovative SolutionsGenerate Solutions
Solution Overview
Problem
Current wearable health monitoring and therapeutic systems face challenges in maintaining consistent skin contact and stable positioning of sensors and therapy devices during long-term use, leading to inaccurate readings and discomfort due to adhesive issues, tight-fitting garments, and unreliable wired connections.
Innovation Solution
A wearable system comprising a garment with integrated telemedicine devices that utilize a skin-proximate layer, an attachment layer, and a resilient layer to maintain consistent contact and positioning, featuring sensors for monitoring and therapy elements for continuous health monitoring and treatment, with wireless data transmission to ensure comfort and accuracy.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If adhesive-based sensors are used for long-term monitoring, then initial skin contact is achieved, but contact consistency deteriorates over time due to adhesive failure
Solution Approach 1:
The device is segmented into three functional layers: a skin-proximate layer with sensors, a resilient layer for continuous pressure application, and an attachment layer for garment integration. This segmentation allows each layer to perform its specific function optimally, with the resilient layer specifically tasked with maintaining contact consistency over time.
Solution Approach 2:
The resilient layer introduces dynamic adaptability to the device, allowing it to adjust to body movements and maintain consistent skin contact pressure throughout the monitoring period. This dynamic component compensates for the static limitations of adhesive alone.
2Stability of the object's composition
If tight-fitting garments are used to maintain device positioning, then positioning stability is improved, but user comfort deteriorates
Solution Approach 1:
The device is merged with a loose-fitting garment through the attachment layer, combining the positioning stability function with comfortable, unrestricted wear. The garment structure provides overall stability while the device-specific components ensure accurate sensor positioning.
Solution Approach 2:
The attachment layer acts as an intermediary between the device and the garment, providing secure connection points that maintain device positioning without requiring the entire garment to be tight-fitting. This mediator allows localized stability without global compression.
3Reliability
If wired connections are used for data transmission, then data reliability is improved, but ease of movement and comfort deteriorate
Solution Approach 1:
The mechanical wired connection system is replaced with a wireless communication system. This substitution eliminates the physical constraints of cables and wires, allowing free movement while maintaining data transmission functionality through electromagnetic fields.
4Ease of operation
If sensors are positioned away from skin to improve comfort, then ease of operation is improved, but measurement precision deteriorates
Solution Approach 1:
The device applies local quality by having the skin-proximate layer with sensors positioned directly at the measurement site for high precision, while the overall garment structure remains loose-fitting for comfort. The resilient layer ensures that the local sensor-skin interface maintains optimal contact pressure.
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 system enables stable, continuous monitoring and therapy without causing discomfort, ensuring consistent data acquisition and therapy delivery over extended periods while allowing for free movement, improving both user comfort and monitoring accuracy.
Implementation Method 1
a resilient layer disposed between the skin-proximate layer and the attachment layer, wherein the body covering and the resilient layer are configured to cooperate to exert a combined force which tends to urge the device towards the skin of the subject
Data Source
AI summary
A wearable system comprising: a body covering configured to cover a body part of a subject; at least one device attached to a surface of the body covering at a predetermined location with respect to the body part, the at least one device comprising: a skin-proximate layer configured to engage with a skin of the subject in a contact engagement at the predetermined location, an attachment layer configured to attach to the surface of the body covering, and a resilient layer disposed between the skin-proximate layer and the attachment layer, wherein the body covering and the resilient layer are configured to cooperate to exert a combined force which tends to urge the device towards the skin of the subject at the predetermined location.