Researchers from North Carolina university has developed a wearable wireless hydration sensor that gives real-time data of skins hydration through a chest patch or wrist-worn device. The device quantitatively measures hydration levels in real time and tells when a person is likely to have heat stress.
This device comes in handy particularly for persons working in hot conditions and protects them from dehydration. We observe the cases wherein people fall victims to dehydration particularly during the summer season. This device will also be useful for athletes, military personnel, firefighters, older people who are at risk of health related problems to heat stress.
How does it work?
- The sensor contains two electrodes made of an elastic polymer composite that contains conductive silver nanowires.
- The electrodes monitor the electrical properties of skin
- Since the skins electrical properties change corresponding to hydration levels readings from the electrodes indicate the level of hydration.
- They incorporated the sensors in wearable devices such as wrist-watch and adhesive patch that can be worn on the chest
- These wearable devices transmit the data to a program that can be run on a laptop, smartphone or a tablet.
Researchers tested the working of sensors in lab conditions and found that the ambient humidity does not affect the performance of the wearable sensor. One more good thing is that the sensors are inexpensive and costs just about a dollar and the overall manufacturing cost may not exceed more than the common wearable devices such as Fitbit. This is much cheaper compared to the already available commercial models that cost around $8000.
The Researchers published their work in the journal Advanced Healthcare Materials
No comments:
Post a Comment