Title :
Lightweight portable sensors for health care
Author :
Trindade, I.G. ; Lucas, J. ; Miguel, R. ; Alpuim, P. ; Carvalho, M. ; Garcia, N.M.
Author_Institution :
Dept. of Textile Sci. & Technol., Univ. da Beira Interior, Covilha, Portugal
Abstract :
In this article, textile electrodes and semiconductor thin film piezoresistive sensors on plastic substrates were manufactured and fabricated with CMOS processes, respectively. An armband made of plain weave fabric, integrating embroidery textile electrodes of stainless steel (SS) and elastics to conform to human forearms were manufactured. The textile electrodes with an area of 1cm2 were made of two stitching layers for ease of manufacture and electrode robustness and connected through snap fasteners and SS/cotton threads to a signal processing electronic module. Piezoresistive sensors, consisting of n-type hydrogenated nanocrystalline silicon thin films patterned into rectangular bars and having metallic thin leads connecting the sensor to large pads were fabricated on 25μm thick flexible (polyimide) substrates. The textile and thin film piezoresistive sensors were connected to a small lightweight signal processing electronic module of a wireless portable unit for real-time monitoring and recording of the sensors signals. Surface electromyography signals of the forearms of a volunteer wearing the armband with textile electrodes exhibit amplitudes and baseline noise levels comparable to those obtained with standard Ag/AgCl electrodes. The piezoresistive sensor on plastic substrate was stuck with grease to the neck of a volunteer and small front/back neck movement monitored and recorded.
Keywords :
CMOS integrated circuits; biomedical electrodes; body sensor networks; electromyography; elemental semiconductors; health care; medical signal processing; piezoelectric semiconductors; piezoelectric thin films; piezoresistive devices; signal processing equipment; textiles; thin film sensors; CMOS process; arm band; cotton threads; flexible polyimide substrates; health care; hydrogenated silicon thin films; lightweight portable sensors; metallic thin leads; n-type silicon thin films; nanocrystalline silicon thin films; piezoresistive sensors; plain weave fabric; plastic substrates; real time sensor signal monitoring; real time sensor signal recording; semiconductor thin film; signal processing electronic module; snap fasteners; stainless steel embroidered textile electrodes; stainless steel threads; surface electromyography signals; wireless portable unit; Conductivity measurement; Lead; Monitoring; Optical films; Optical sensors; embroidery electrodes; flexible substrates; piezoresistive sensors; surface electromyography; wireless portable unit;
Conference_Titel :
e-Health Networking Applications and Services (Healthcom), 2010 12th IEEE International Conference on
Conference_Location :
Lyon
Print_ISBN :
978-1-4244-6374-9
DOI :
10.1109/HEALTH.2010.5556575