Microwave Humidity Sensor for Early Detection of Sweat and Urine Leakage

A planar microwave sensor devoted to the detection of humidity in underwear and clothes in general is proposed. The ultimate goal of the sensor is to detect the presence of liquids in fabrics, which is of interest to aid patients who suffer from certain pathologies, such as hyperhidrosis and enuresi...

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Detalles Bibliográficos
Autores: Su, Lijuan|||0000-0002-4753-9340, Vélez, Paris|||0000-0001-6502-5987, Casacuberta, Pau|||0000-0002-2658-2200, Muñoz Enano, Jonathan|||0000-0003-1271-3801, Martín, Ferran|||0000-0002-1494-9167
Tipo de recurso: artículo
Fecha de publicación:2023
País:España
Institución:Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona
Repositorio:Dipòsit Digital de Documents de la UAB
Idioma:inglés
OAI Identifier:oai:ddd.uab.cat:275096
Acceso en línea:https://ddd.uab.cat/record/275096
https://dx.doi.org/urn:doi:10.3390/electronics12102276
Access Level:acceso abierto
Palabra clave:Planar microwave sensor
Humidity sensor
Microstrip technology
Detection of sweat
Detection of urine leakage
Enuresis
Hyperhidrosis
Descripción
Sumario:A planar microwave sensor devoted to the detection of humidity in underwear and clothes in general is proposed. The ultimate goal of the sensor is to detect the presence of liquids in fabrics, which is of interest to aid patients who suffer from certain pathologies, such as hyperhidrosis and enuresis. The main target in the design of the sensor, considering the envisaged application, is simplicity. Thus, the sensor operates at a single frequency, and the working principle is the variation in the magnitude of the transmission coefficient of a matched line loaded with an open-ended quarter-wavelength sensing stub resonator. The stub, which must be in contact with the so-called fabric under test (FUT), generates a notch in the transmission coefficient with a resonance frequency that depends on the humidity level of the fabric. By designing the stub with a moderately high-quality factor, the variation in the resonance frequency causes a significant change in the magnitude level at the operating frequency, which is the resonance frequency when the sensing stub is loaded with the dry fabric, and the presence of liquid can be detected by means of an amplitude detector. A prototype device is proposed and experimentally validated. The measured change in the magnitude level by simply depositing one 50 μL drop of water in the FUT is roughly 25 dB.