title: Piezoresistive Soft Condensed Matter Sensor for Body-Mounted Vital Function Applications.
abstract: A soft condensed matter sensor (SCMS) designed to measure strains on the human body is presented. The hybrid material based on carbon black (CB) and a thermoplastic elastomer (TPE) was bonded to a textile elastic band and used as a sensor on the human wrist to measure hand motion by detecting the movement of tendons in the wrist. Additionally it was able to track the blood pulse wave of a person, allowing for the determination of pulse wave peaks corresponding to the systole and diastole blood pressures in order to calculate the heart rate. Sensor characterization was done using mechanical cycle testing, and the band sensor achieved a gauge factor of 4-6.3 while displaying low signal relaxation when held at a strain levels. Near-linear signal performance was displayed when loading to successively higher strain levels up to 50% strain.
authors.affiliation: Laboratory for High Performance Ceramics, Empa, Swiss Federal Laboratories for Materials Science and Technology, Überlandstrasse 129, Dübendorf 8600, Switzerland. mark.melnykowycz@empa.ch.
authors.forename: Mark
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Melnykowycz
authors.affiliation: STBL Medical Research AG, Höh-Rohnenweg 6, Wilen 8832, Switzerland. michael.tschudin@stbl.ch.
authors.forename: Michael
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Tschudin
authors.affiliation: Laboratory for High Performance Ceramics, Empa, Swiss Federal Laboratories for Materials Science and Technology, Überlandstrasse 129, Dübendorf 8600, Switzerland. frank.clemens@empa.ch.
authors.forename: Frank
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Clemens
mesh_terms: D015374:Biosensing Techniques / Q000379:methods*; D003020:Clothing; D004548:Elasticity; D006801:Humans; D009068:Movement / Q000502:physiology*; D036103:Nanotechnology; D053260:Soot / Q000737:chemistry*; D013314:Stress, Mechanical; D013784:Textiles; D014953:Wrist / Q000502:physiology
chemical_list: D053260:Soot
keywords: carbon black; composite; hybrid; motion capture; piezoresistive; polymer; pulse wave; sensor; wearable computing