Sensor Cell Network for Pressure, Temperature and Position Detection on Wheelchair Users

Cátia Tavares, Daniela Real, Maria de Fátima Domingues, Nélia Alberto, Hugo Silva and Paulo Antunes
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Cátia Tavares: Department of Physics & I3N, University of Aveiro, Campus Universitário de Santiago, 3810-193 Aveiro, Portugal
Daniela Real: Department of Physics & I3N, University of Aveiro, Campus Universitário de Santiago, 3810-193 Aveiro, Portugal
Maria de Fátima Domingues: Instituto de Telecomunicações and University of Aveiro, Campus Universitário de Santiago, 3810-193 Aveiro, Portugal
Nélia Alberto: Instituto de Telecomunicações and University of Aveiro, Campus Universitário de Santiago, 3810-193 Aveiro, Portugal
Hugo Silva: Instituto de Telecomunicações, Instituto Superior Técnico, University of Lisbon, 1049-001 Lisbon, Portugal
Paulo Antunes: Department of Physics & I3N, University of Aveiro, Campus Universitário de Santiago, 3810-193 Aveiro, Portugal

IJERPH, 2022, vol. 19, issue 4, 1-14

Abstract: This work proposes an optical sensing network to monitor pressure and temperature in specific areas of a wheelchair to prevent pressure ulcers and to monitor the position of the wheelchair user by analyzing its pressure distribution. The sensing network is composed of six optical fiber Bragg grating (FBG)-based sensor cells. Each sensor cell is built from a polylactic acid (PLA) base and has two FBGs, one embedded in epoxy resin to monitor pressure variations (FBG P ) and another without resin to monitor temperature (FBG T ). Once produced, all sensor cells were experimentally characterized for pressure and temperature variations, resulting in an average pressure sensitivity of 81 ± 5 pm/kPa (FBG P ) and −5.0 ± 0.4 pm/kPa (FBG T ), and an average temperature sensitivity of 25 ± 1 pm/°C (FBG P ) and 47.7 ± 0.7 pm/°C (FBG T ). The sensor cells were then placed in six specific areas of a wheelchair (four in the seat area and two in the shoulder blade area) to carry out experimental tests, wherein the response of the sensors to a specific sequence of relief positions was tested. During the execution of the test, the optical signal of all sensors was monitored, in real time, with the pressure and temperature values detected in each zone of the wheelchair. In addition, random position changes were performed in order to evaluate the precision of the proposed sensing network in the identification of such positions.

Keywords: wheelchair user; fiber Bragg grating; pressure and temperature sensors; pressure ulcers; position detection (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: I I1 I3 Q Q5 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2022
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