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New Type of Thermal Moisture Sensor for in‐Textile Measurements
Author(s) -
Schönfisch David,
Göddel Michael,
Blinn Jörg,
Heyde Christian,
Schlarb Heiko,
Deferme Wim,
Picard Antoni
Publication year - 2019
Publication title -
physica status solidi (a)
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.532
H-Index - 104
eISSN - 1862-6319
pISSN - 1862-6300
DOI - 10.1002/pssa.201800765
Subject(s) - multiphysics , moisture , capacitance , textile , sensitivity (control systems) , materials science , signal (programming language) , capacitive sensing , system of measurement , thermal , acoustics , transient (computer programming) , perspiration , process engineering , mechanical engineering , finite element method , electronic engineering , composite material , electrical engineering , computer science , engineering , structural engineering , chemistry , physics , electrode , astronomy , meteorology , programming language , operating system
The measurement of moisture in textile materials worn on or near the skin can be performed for a variety of reasons, for example, to analyze the amount of perspiration in clothing, wound fluid in bandages or even urine in diapers or bed sheets. Conventional moisture measurement methods, such as electrical resistance or capacitance measurement, can be susceptible to cross sensitivities to electrical fields or ionic impurities, often occurring in measurements close to the human body. The very reliable gravimetric methods are too bulky and difficult to be integrated in portable and online measurements. In this paper, the authors present a “transient heat moisture sensor” (THMS) which is small and comparatively easy to integrate into textiles. The authors describe the measurement principle and present a sensor element manufactured with thin film technologies. The analytical description of the sensor fits to both, experimental data and the result of first numerical analysis (COMSOL Multiphysics). The authors demonstrate how to limit the sensors spatial sensitivity to a thin layer of textile without being influenced by the adjacent environment by proper timing of the signal readout.