KR20200143072A - Flexible sensor apparatus and preparing method for the same - Google Patents

Abstract

Disclosed are a flexible sensor device capable of determining presence or absence of a gait disorder and a degree thereof, and a manufacturing method thereof. According to the present invention, the flexible sensor device comprises: a wearing unit made of a flexible material which is worn on a body of a subject to be examined and stretched or bent so as to determine presence and absence of a physical disorder and a degree thereof; and a flexible sensor unit having both ends detachably installed on the wearing unit by a detachable means, wherein the detachable means is fixed, and a body unit formed by alternately stacking a plurality of conductive cloths and silicon to be elastically stretchable between the both ends.

Description

Flexible sensor apparatus and manufacturing method {Flexible sensor apparatus and preparing method for the same}

The present invention relates to a UN sensor device and a manufacturing method capable of grasping the presence or absence of a gait disorder and its degree.

In general, the cause of the gait disorder is caused by trauma due to an accident, nerve paralysis due to a stroke, etc.

One of the most common gait disorders is foot drainage. This is a phenomenon in which the foot cannot be lifted while walking because the connection between the lower extremities and the central nerve is lost. The causes of foot pituitary dysfunction include stroke, hemiplegia, amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, multiple sclerosis, and central nerve injury caused by physical shock. Among them, in the case of stroke, when looking at the current status of stroke patients in 2012, patients with various sequelae excluding deaths after the occurrence of stroke, that is, suffer from hemiplegia of the limb with a probability of about 66% after the stroke.

In the gait analysis and diagnosis for the above-described gait disorder, typical gait analysis methods include an IR (infrared ray) camera, an IMU sensor, and a goniometer.

In the case of an IR camera, a marker is attached to the body and photographed with an infrared camera. In this case, it is possible to measure all three-dimensional movements and observe both joint movements, but there is a big problem in place constraints.

In the case of an IMU sensor, a small sensor capable of measuring acceleration is worn on the body and then changes due to movement are observed. This has the advantage of being light and without place restrictions, but there is a problem that it is affected by an external environment such as a magnetic field.

In the case of a goniometer, it is a method of observing movement after attaching it to the body in a form that can be bent. In this case, there is an advantage that it is light, there is no place restriction, and intuitive observation is possible, but there is a problem in that when touching the body due to the hard material, discomfort is felt.

On the other hand, in consideration of the limitations of the gait disability measurement system that could only be measured in the laboratory, the wearable measurement equipment was devised to easily diagnose and analyze the gait in the daily life of the subject.After that, to properly measure the natural and continuous movement of the body. The use of flexible sensors has begun to emerge.

Such a flexible sensor is a sensor that is based on a material such as silicon and fabric, not plastic or iron material used in the past. Such flexible sensors include a silicon-based sensor in which a liquid metal is injected, a sensor in which a conductive cloth and silicon are mixed, and a sensor based on a mixture of thermoplastic plastics and conductive nanoparticles.

Among them, silicon-based sensors injected with liquid metal are attached to each joint of the lower extremity using Velcro or the like, so that sensors are attached to the three joints of the lower body to grasp human movement. This sensor has the advantage of being used by simply wearing it on clothes, but it has a problem with high accuracy but low linearity as a resistance change-based sensor.

The sensor in the form of a mixture of conductive cloth and silicon is directly attached to the glove through silicon to detect the movement of the hand, so it has the advantage of being easy to manufacture with a simple lamination work, but because the sensor is attached directly to clothing. There was a problem that was not suitable for places with severe flexion such as ankles.

The sensor based on a mixture of thermoplastic plastics and conductive nanoparticles is used for gait cycle analysis by being combined with an ankle protector, and has the advantage of being easy to wear without being exposed to the outside.However, in the case of non-linear properties and fabric-based, mechanical deformation is small compared to silicone. there was.

Registered Patent 10-1895694

An object of the present invention is to solve this problem, it is based on capacitance that can secure linearity, has a wide mechanical range of motion by using silicone, it is easy to manufacture by using a conductive fabric, and the structure of the ankle and Regardless, it is to provide a flexible sensor device and a manufacturing method in a form that is easy to combine and separate from clothing.

As a specific means for achieving the above object, the present invention includes a wearing part made of a flexible material to be worn on the body of a subject to be examined and stretched or bent so as to determine the presence and extent of a physical disability;

Including a body portion formed by alternately stacking a plurality of conductive cloths and silicon so that both ends of the wearing portion are detachably installed by a detachable means, and both ends to which the detachable means is fixed, and a plurality of conductive cloths and silicon are alternately stacked to stretch elastically between both ends It may include a flexible sensor unit.

At this time, the detachable means is fixed to the upper surface of the base at both ends, and the first silicon is hardened at the lower part of the base to be integrally formed.

In this case, the body portion is formed by alternately stacking the plurality of conductive cloths and the second silicon, but the hardness of the first silicon may be greater than the alarm of the second silicon.

At this time, the boundary surface of the both ends and the main body is formed integrally by forming a plurality of protrusions and grooves corresponding to each other on a plane so as to correspond to a tensile force, and may be formed in the form of toes that engage with each other.

In this case, the width of both ends may be larger than the width of the main body.

In this case, the detachable means may include an annular female pin and a hook-shaped male pin inserted into the female pin, wherein the female pin may be fixed to the wearing part, and the male pin may be fixed to the flexible sensor part.

As another specific means for achieving the above object, the present invention comprises the steps of alternately laminating and hardening silicon and at least one conductive cloth on a first mold to form a body portion; Completing the flexible sensor unit by pouring silicon on both ends of the second mold frame while providing the main body in the center, and providing a base provided with a detachable means on the upper portion thereof and hardening; Fixing a detachable means corresponding to the detachable means to a wearing part worn on the body of a subject to be examined so that the presence and degree of a physical disability can be determined; And attaching the flexible sensor unit to the wearing unit via the detachable means.

In this case, the hardness of silicon at both ends may be greater than the hardness of silicon at the main body.

At this time, the boundary surface of the both ends and the main body is integrally formed with a plurality of protrusions and grooves corresponding to each other in a plane so as to correspond to a tensile force, and may be formed in the form of toes that are bitten together.

As described above, the present invention has the following effects.

(1) The present invention is based on silicon, so that the range of motion of the sensor can be widened.

(2) Since the present invention is based on capacitance, higher linearity can be expected than that of a resistance-based sensor.

(3) The present invention is easier to manufacture than using a liquid metal or nano material by using a conductive fabric.

(4) In the present invention, after wearing medical stockings modified to enable sensor coupling, easy coupling and wearing are possible.

(5) In the present invention, it is possible to combine the sensor without being limited to the structure of the ankle.

1 is a front view of a flexible sensor device according to the present invention.
2 is a perspective view of a flexible sensor according to the present invention.
3 is a perspective view of a first mold used in a method for manufacturing a flexible sensor device according to the present invention.
4 is a cross-sectional view of a body part manufactured by the first mold shown in FIG. 3.
5 is a cross-sectional view showing another example in the same view as FIG. 4.
6 is a perspective view of a second mold used in the method for manufacturing a flexible sensor device according to the present invention.
7 is a side view of a flexible sensor according to the present invention.
8 is a flowchart of a method of manufacturing a flexible sensor device according to the present invention.

Hereinafter, embodiments of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings so that those of ordinary skill in the art can easily implement the present invention. The present invention may be implemented in various different forms, and is not limited to the embodiments described herein. In the drawings, parts irrelevant to the description are omitted in order to clearly describe the present invention, and the same reference numerals are assigned to the same or similar components throughout the specification.

In the present specification, terms such as "comprise" or "have" are intended to designate the presence of features, numbers, steps, actions, components, parts, or combinations thereof described in the specification, but one or more other features. It is to be understood that the possibility of addition or presence of elements or numbers, steps, actions, components, parts, or combinations thereof is not preliminarily excluded. In addition, when a part such as a layer, film, region, plate, etc. is said to be "on" another part, this includes not only the case where the other part is "directly above", but also the case where there is another part in the middle. Conversely, when a part such as a layer, film, region, plate, etc. is said to be "below" another part, this includes not only the case where the other part is "directly below", but also the case where there is another part in the middle.

Hereinafter, a flexible sensor device and a manufacturing method according to an embodiment of the present invention will be described in more detail with reference to the drawings.

The flexible sensor device according to the first embodiment of the present invention, as shown in FIGS. 1 to 7, includes a wearing part 100 and a flexible sensor part 10.

Referring to FIGS. 1 and 2, the wearing part 100 may be made of a flexible material that is stretchable so that it is worn on the body of a subject to be examined and can be stretched or bent so as to determine the presence and extent of a physical disability.

At this time, the wearing part 100 may apply a so-called compression stocking, medical ankle protector, which is widely used for medical purposes. These compression stockings can be worn on the knee or ankle position of the subject's joints. Since the wearing part 100 has elasticity, it is easily worn on the body and can be moved freely even when worn.

At this time, the wearing unit 100 is provided with a detachable means so that the flexible sensor unit 10 can be attached and detached, and the wearing unit 100 has a ring shape at both ends of the position where the flexible sensor unit 10 is to be attached. The male pin 101, which is a detachable means of, is sewn. The male pin 101 is coupled to the female pin 21 which is a detachable means of the both ends 20 so that the flexible sensor unit 10 is detachably attached to the wearing unit 100. Of course, in addition to the detachable means such as the male pin 101 and the female pin 21, a detachable means such as Velcro tape may be applied.

The flexible sensor unit 10 may include both end portions 20 and a body portion 30 with reference to FIGS. 1 to 7.

Here, the both ends 20 are installed detachably at both ends of the wearing unit 100 by a detachable means, and the detachable means is fixed.

At this time, in the both ends 20, referring to FIGS. 2 and 7, the female pin 21, which is a detachable means, is fixed on the upper surface of the base 21a, and the first silicon 22 is at the lower part of the base 21a. This can be solidified and formed integrally.

At this time, since the female pin 21 is commercially sold while being fixed to the base 21a made of cloth or synthetic resin, it may be purchased and used.

At this time, the first silicon 22 may be used by purchasing a commercially sold'Sorta clear 40' product. Although described later, the first silicon 22 is applied with a product having a higher hardness than the second silicon 31.

At this time, the both ends 20, referring to FIG. 4, insert and seat the body part 30 already made into the second mold frame 120, pour the first silicon 22 before hardening, and the upper surface After placing the base (21a) on it is manufactured by hardening. A toe-shaped protrusion 20a and a groove portion are formed at the boundary portion of the both ends 20 that are coupled to the main body 30 to be coupled to each other. Referring to the perspective view of the first mold frame 130 of FIG. 3, the protrusion 130c and the groove are continuously formed, and the width increases linearly from the inside to the outside of the protrusion 130c.

The main body 30 may be formed by alternately stacking a plurality of conductive cloths 32 and second silicon 31 so as to stretch elastically between the both ends.

At this time, the main body 30 is formed by alternately stacking the plurality of conductive cloths 32 and the second silicon 31, but the hardness of the first silicon 22 is It is formed larger than the alarm. Therefore, when the flexible sensor unit 10 is stretched by rotation of the joint portion while the flexible sensor unit 10 is worn on the wearing unit 100, the body unit 30 is stretched more elastically than the both ends 20. will be.

In this case, the second silicon 31 may be, for example, a commercially available'EcoFlex 0030' product.

At this time, as described above, the interface between the both ends 20 and the main body 30 is formed integrally with a plurality of protrusions 20a and 30a corresponding to each other in a plane so as to correspond to a tensile force, It consists of toes that bite each other. Therefore, even if both ends 20 are pulled at both ends, in addition to the adhesive force of the silicone of the main body 30 of the both ends 20, the binding force increases due to the coupling of the protrusions 20a and 30a and the grooves.

At this time, referring to FIG. 2, the width of the both ends 20 is formed larger than the width of the body part 30, and accordingly, the body part 30 is stretched and stretched more than the both ends 20. .

At this time, as described above, the detachable means is composed of a hook-shaped male pin 101 and a ring-shaped female pin 21 inserted into the male pin 101, wherein the male pin 101 is worn In the part 100, the female pin 21 is fixed to both ends 20 of the flexible sensor part 10. Therefore, when the female pins 21 are respectively coupled to the male pins 101, the attachment of the flexible sensor 10 to the wearing part 100 is completed. Of course, on the contrary, the pins 21 and 101 may be quickly separated.

1, a flexible sensor device according to the present invention is shown. The flexible sensor unit 10 is attached to the wearing unit 100 by a combination of the female pin 21 and the male pin 101. At this time, when the test subject wears the wearing part 100 and then the joint part is bent, that is, both the wearing part 100 and the flexible sensor part 10 attached thereto as the test subject bends the joint part. It is bent along this, and the flexible sensor unit 10 detects it. Sensing information on the motion detected in this way will be received, stored, and analyzed by the electric device that the test subject will wear on the waist or the like.

2, the flexible sensor unit 10 is shown. The flexible sensor unit 10 is composed of both ends 20 and a main body 30 that is an intermediate connection part thereof, and male pins 21 are fixed on the upper surfaces of both ends 20. Both ends 20 are made of a first silicon 22 except for the female pin 21 and the base 21a. The main body 30 is formed by alternately stacking silicon layers made of conductive cloth 32 and second silicon 31. The both ends 20 and the main body 30 are connected to correspond to each other by the toe-shaped protrusions 20a and 30a and the groove, so that they can sufficiently withstand the tensile force. Most of the body 20b other than the boundary portion coupled to the both ends 20 of the main body 30 has a width smaller than that of the both ends 20.

On the other hand, the manufacturing method of the flexible sensor device according to the present invention, referring to Figs. 3 to 8, the silicon 31 and at least one conductive cloth 32 are alternately stacked and hardened on the first mold frame 130. Forming the body portion 30, and with the body portion 30 provided in the center of the second mold 120, silicon 22 was poured on both ends thereof, and a detachable means is provided at the top thereof. Completing the flexible sensor unit 10 by providing and hardening the base 21a, and the female pin 21 on the wearing unit 100 worn on the body of the subject to be tested so that the presence and degree of physical disability can be identified. Fixing the male pin 101, which is a detachable means corresponding to, and attaching the flexible sensor unit 10 to the wearing unit 100 via the female pin 21 and the male pin 101 It may include.

3 to 5, a perspective view of the first mold 130 is shown. As shown, the second silicon 31 and the conductive cloth 32 are alternately stacked and hardened. When completely hardened, the completed body part 30 is separated from the first mold frame 130. Referring to FIGS. 4 and 5, an embodiment in which the number of layers of the laminated conductive cloth 32 is different is illustrated. Referring to FIG. 4, a sensor is fabricated in a three-layer structure, and is intended to see a larger signal width, and a signal conductive cloth 32b is positioned between the ground conductive cloth 32a. Referring to FIG. 5, the purpose of the main body part 30' is to be made relatively simple, and a conductive cloth for grounding (32a') at the top and a conductive conductive cloth for signal (32b') at the bottom are sequentially formed of silicon ( 31').

Referring to FIG. 6, a perspective view of the second mold frame 120 is shown. The completed body is seated on the central portion 120a of the second mold 130, and the first silicon 22 is poured into both ends 120b of the second mold 120. Then, the base (21a) having the female pin (21) on the upper surface is placed thereon, and the first silicon (22) is hardened. After that, the flexible sensor unit 10 manufactured from the second mold frame 120 is separated from the frame, and it is worn on the mounting portion of the medical ankle protector using male pins and female pins.

When the test subject moves while wearing the wearing part 100 on a body such as an ankle, the movement information is sensed by the flexible sensor 10. Based on this, diagnosis and analysis of disorders are conducted. At this time, it is necessary to give a pre-tension of about 30% so that the sensor does not distort due to the bottom bend during walking.

Although an embodiment of the present invention has been described above, the spirit of the present invention is not limited to the embodiment presented in the present specification, and those skilled in the art who understand the spirit of the present invention can add components within the scope of the same idea It will be possible to easily propose other embodiments by changing, deleting, adding, etc., but it will be said that this is also within the scope of the present invention.

10: flexible sensor unit
20: both ends 21: female pin
21a: base 22: first silicon
30: body portion 100: wearing portion
101: male pin 120: second mold frame
130: first mold frame

Claims (9)

A wearing unit made of a flexible material to be worn on the body of the subject to be examined and stretched or bent so as to determine the presence and extent of a physical disorder;
Including a body portion consisting of a plurality of conductive cloths and silicon are alternately stacked so that both ends of the wearing portion are detachably installed by a detachable means, and both ends of which the detachable means is fixed, and a plurality of conductive cloths and silicon are alternately stacked so that elastically stretchable between the both ends. Flexible sensor unit;
Flexible sensor device comprising a. The method of claim 1,
A flexible sensor device formed integrally by fixing the detachable means on the upper surface of the base and the first silicon hardened at the lower part of the base. The method of claim 2,
The body part is made by alternately stacking the plurality of conductive cloths and the second silicon, the hardness of the first silicon is greater than the alarm of the second silicon flexible sensor device. The method of claim 1,
The boundary surface of the both ends and the main body is formed integrally by forming a plurality of protrusions and grooves corresponding to each other on a plane so as to correspond to a tensile force, and a flexible sensor device formed in the form of toes that engage with each other. The method of claim 1,
A flexible sensor device in which the width of both ends is larger than the width of the main body. The method of claim 1,
The detachable means is composed of an annular female pin and a hook-shaped male pin inserted into the female pin, wherein the female pin is the flexible sensor unit, and the male pin is fixed to the wearing unit. Forming a body portion by alternately stacking and hardening silicon and at least one conductive cloth on a first mold;
Completing the flexible sensor unit by pouring silicon on both ends of the second mold frame while providing the main body in the center, and providing a base provided with a detachable means on the upper portion thereof and hardening;
Fixing a detachable means corresponding to the detachable means to a wearing part worn on the body of a subject to be examined so that the presence and degree of a physical disability can be determined;
Attaching the flexible sensor unit to the wearing unit via the detachable means;
Flexible sensor device manufacturing method comprising a. The method of claim 7,
A method of manufacturing a flexible sensor device in which the hardness of silicon at both ends is greater than that of silicon at the main body. The method of claim 7,
A method of manufacturing a flexible sensor device comprising a plurality of protrusions and grooves corresponding to each other in a plane so that the boundary surfaces of the both ends and the body part are integrally formed to correspond to a tensile force, and are formed in the form of toes that bite each other.

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