scholarly journals Noninvasive Flow Monitoring in Simple Flow Phantom Using Resistive Strain Sensors

Sensors ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 21 (6) ◽  
pp. 2201
Author(s):  
Sunghun Jung ◽  
Dae Yu Kim

In this paper, we introduce a monitoring method for flow expansion and contraction in a simple flow phantom based on electrical resistance changes in an epidermal strain sensor attached to the phantom. The flow phantom was fabricated to have a nonflat surface and small modulus that are analogous to human skin. The epidermal sensors made of polydopamine and polyvinyl alcohol show sufficient linearity (R = 0.9969), reproducibility, and self-adhesion properties, as well as high sensitivity to small modulus measurements (<1% tensile strain). Pulsatile flow monitoring experiments were performed by placing the epidermal sensor on the flow phantom and measuring the relative changes in resistance by the heartbeat. Experiments were conducted for three types of vessel diameters (1.5, 2, and 3 mm). In each of the experiments, the vessels were divided into Top, Middle, and Bottom positions. Experiments for each position show that the relative changes in resistance increase proportionally with the diameter of the vessel. The vessels located close to the epidermal layer have greater relative electrical changes. The results were analyzed using the Bernoulli equation and hoop stress formula. This study demonstrates the feasibility of a noninvasive flow monitoring method using a novel resistive strain sensor.

Author(s):  
Ryohei Nakagawa ◽  
Zhi Wang ◽  
Ken Suzuki

Health monitoring devices using a strain sensor, which shows high sensitivity and large deformability, are strongly demanded due to further aging of society with fewer children. Conventional strain sensors, such as metallic strain gauges and semiconductive strain sensors, however, aren’t applicable to health monitoring because of their low sensitivity and deformability. In this study, fundamental design of area-arrayed graphene nano-ribbon (GNR) strain senor was proposed in order to fabricate next-generation strain sensor. The sensor was consisted of two sections, which are stress concentration section and stress detecting section. This structure can take full advantage of GNR’s properties. Moreover, high quality GNR fabrication process, which is one of the important process in the sensor, was developed by applying CVD (Chemical Vapor Deposition) method. Top-down approach was applied to fabricate the GNR. At first, in order to synthesize a high-quality graphene sheet, acetylene-based LPCVD (low pressure chemical vapor deposition) using a closed Cu foil was employed. After that, graphene was transferred silicon substrate and the quality was evaluated. The high quality graphene was transferred on the soft PDMS substrate and metallic electrodes were fabricated by applying MEMS technology. Area-arrayed fine pin structure was fabricated by using hard PDMS as a stress-concentration section. Finally, both sections were integrated to form a highly sensitive and large deformable pressure sensor. The strain sensitivity of the GNR-base sensor was also evaluated.


2018 ◽  
Vol 2 (2) ◽  
pp. 355-361 ◽  
Author(s):  
Xi Fan ◽  
Naixiang Wang ◽  
Jinzhao Wang ◽  
Bingang Xu ◽  
Feng Yan

A stretchable plastic strain sensor was fabricated, showing high sensitivity and a broad strain-sensing region with good durability.


Nanoscale ◽  
2018 ◽  
Vol 10 (28) ◽  
pp. 13599-13606 ◽  
Author(s):  
Binghao Liang ◽  
Zhiqiang Lin ◽  
Wenjun Chen ◽  
Zhongfu He ◽  
Jing Zhong ◽  
...  

A highly stretchable and sensitive strain sensor based on a gradient carbon nanotube was developed. The strain sensors show an unprecedented combination of both high sensitivity (gauge factor = 13.5) and ultra-stretchability (>550%).


Nanomaterials ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 11 (9) ◽  
pp. 2333
Author(s):  
Huiying Shen ◽  
Huizhen Ke ◽  
Jingdong Feng ◽  
Chenyu Jiang ◽  
Qufu Wei ◽  
...  

Owing to the multi-dimensional complexity of human motions, traditional uniaxial strain sensors lack the accuracy in monitoring dynamic body motions working in different directions, thus multidirectional strain sensors with excellent electromechanical performance are urgently in need. Towards this goal, in this work, a stretchable biaxial strain sensor based on double elastic fabric (DEF) was developed by incorporating carboxylic multi-walled carbon nanotubes(c-MWCNTs) and polypyrrole (PPy) into fabric through simple, scalable soaking and adsorption-oxidizing methods. The fabricated DEF/c-MWCNTs/PPy strain sensor exhibited outstanding anisotropic strain sensing performance, including relatively high sensitivity with the maximum gauge factor (GF) of 5.2, good stretchability of over 80%, fast response time < 100 ms, favorable electromechanical stability, and durability for over 800 stretching–releasing cycles. Moreover, applications of DEF/c-MWCNTs/PPy strain sensor for wearable devices were also reported, which were used for detecting human subtle motions and dynamic large-scale motions. The unconventional applications of DEF/c-MWCNTs/PPy strain sensor were also demonstrated by monitoring complex multi-degrees-of-freedom synovial joint motions of human body, such as neck and shoulder movements, suggesting that such materials showed a great potential to be applied in wearable electronics and personal healthcare monitoring.


Nanomaterials ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 12 (1) ◽  
pp. 120
Author(s):  
Rui Wang ◽  
Xiaoyang Zhu ◽  
Luanfa Sun ◽  
Shuai Shang ◽  
Hongke Li ◽  
...  

The development of strain sensors with high sensitivity and stretchability is essential for health monitoring, electronic skin, wearable devices, and human-computer interactions. However, sensors that combine high sensitivity and ultra-wide detection generally require complex preparation processes. Here, a novel flexible strain sensor with high sensitivity and transparency was proposed by filling a multiwalled carbon nanotube (MWCNT) solution into polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS) channel films fabricated via an electric field-driven (EFD) 3D printing and molding hybrid process. The fabricated flexible strain sensor with embedded MWCNT networks had superior gauge factors of 90, 285, and 1500 at strains of 6.6%, 14%, and 20%, respectively. In addition, the flexible strain sensors with an optical transparency of 84% offered good stability and durability with no significant change in resistance after 8000 stretch-release cycles. Finally, the fabricated flexible strain sensors with embedded MWCNT networks showed good practical performance and could be attached to the skin to monitor various human movements such as wrist flexion, finger flexion, neck flexion, blinking activity, food swallowing, and facial expression recognition. These are good application strategies for wearable devices and health monitoring.


2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Lu Liu ◽  
Libo Wang ◽  
Xuqing Liu ◽  
Wenfeng Yuan ◽  
Mengmeng Yuan ◽  
...  

Abstract Although 2D nanomaterials such as MXene Ti3C2Tx have been used in flexible electronic devices for their unique properties such as high conductivity, excellent mechanical performance, flexibility, and good hydrophilicity, less research has focused on of MXene-based cotton fabric strain sensors. Moreover, fabrication of wearable strain sensors with a low cost, high sensitivity, good biocompatibility, and broad sensing range is still a challenge. In this work, a high-performance wearable strain sensor composed of 2D MXene d-Ti3C2Tx nanomaterials and cotton fabric is reported. As the active material in the sensor, MXene d-Ti3C2Tx exhibited an excellent conductivity and hydrophilicity and adhered well to the fabric fibers by electrostatic adsorption. Due to the unique structure of the fabric substrate and the properties of MXene sheets, the fabricated pressure sensor achieved a high sensitivity. The gauge factor of the MXene@cotton fabric strain sensor reached up to 4.11 within the strain range of 15 %. Meanwhile, the sensor possessed high durability (>500 cycles) and a low strain detection limit of 0.3%. Finally, the encapsulated strain sensor was used to detect subtle or large body movements and exhibited a rapid response. This study shows that the MXene@cotton fabric strain sensor reported here have great potential for use in flexible, comfortable, and wearable devices for health monitoring and motion detection.


2021 ◽  
pp. 004051752110441
Author(s):  
Qinghua Yu ◽  
Jinhua Jiang ◽  
Chuanli Su ◽  
Yaoli Huang ◽  
Nanliang Chen ◽  
...  

Flexible wearable strain sensors with excellent sensing performance have received widespread interest due to their superior application capability in the field of human-computer interaction, sports rehabilitation, and disease diagnosis. But at present, it is still a considerable challenge to exploit a flexible strain sensor with high sensitivity and wide sensing range that is easily manufactured, low-cost, and easily integrable into clothing. MXene is a promising material sensitive enough for flexible sensors due to its superior conductivity and hydrophilicity. The warp knitting weft insertion textile structure gives the fabric excellent elasticity, making it suitable as a flexible, stretchable substrate. Therefore, utilizing a polyester elastic fabric with a warp knitting weft insertion structure, a fabric strain sensor with high sensitivity and wide sensing range prepared by layer-by-layer self-assembly of polyvinyl alcohol layers and MXene layers is reported in this study. The strain sensor exhibits high sensitivity (up to 288.43), a wide sensing range (up to 50%), fast response time (50 ms), ultra-low detection limit (a strain of 0.067%), excellent cycle stability (1000 cycles), and good washability. Besides, affixing the MXene/polyvinyl alcohol/polyester elastic fabric strain sensor on the joints can detect the movement of limbs. Therefore, the MXene/polyvinyl alcohol/polyester elastic fabric strain sensor demonstrates potential application opportunities in smart wearable electronic devices, and the researcher can also apply this method in the production of other flexible, intelligent wearable devices.


2016 ◽  
Vol 4 (1) ◽  
pp. 157-166 ◽  
Author(s):  
Hu Liu ◽  
Yilong Li ◽  
Kun Dai ◽  
Guoqiang Zheng ◽  
Chuntai Liu ◽  
...  

Strain sensors with high sensitivity are reported in the thermoplastic polyurethane nanocomposites with ultralow graphene loading.


RSC Advances ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 9 (68) ◽  
pp. 39958-39964
Author(s):  
Xinxiu Wu ◽  
Fangfang Niu ◽  
Ao Zhong ◽  
Fei Han ◽  
Yun Chen ◽  
...  

Silver nanoparticle-decorated three-dimensional graphene foams were prepared and packaged with half-cured PMDS films, forming a special “hollow packaged” structure that exhibited high sensitivity for wearable strain sensor applications.


Sensors ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 19 (12) ◽  
pp. 2834 ◽  
Author(s):  
Hyunsuk Jung ◽  
Chan Park ◽  
Hyunwoo Lee ◽  
Seonguk Hong ◽  
Hyonguk Kim ◽  
...  

Studies on wearable sensors that monitor various movements by attaching them to a body have received considerable attention. Crack-based strain sensors are more sensitive than other sensors. Owing to their high sensitivity, these sensors have been investigated for measuring minute deformations occurring on the skin, such as pulse. However, existing studies have limited sensitivity at low strain range and nonlinearity that renders any calibration process complex and difficult. In this study, we propose a pre-strain and sensor-extending process to improve the sensitivity and linearity of the sensor. By using these pre-strain and sensor-extending processes, we were able to control the morphology and alignment of cracks and regulate the sensitivity and linearity of the sensor. Even if the sensor was fabricated in the same manner, the sensor that involved the pre-strain and extending processes had a sensitivity 100 times greater than normal sensors. Thus, our crack-based strain sensor had high sensitivity (gauge factor > 5000, gauge factor (GF = (△R/R0)/ε), linearity, and low hysteresis at low strain (<1% strain). Given its high sensing performance, the sensor can be used to measure micro-deformation, such as pulse wave and voice.


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