Boxer Underwear Incorporating Textile Moisture Sensor to Prevent Nocturnal Enuresis

Advanced Textile-Based Wearable Biosensors for Healthcare Monitoring

With the innovation of wearable technology and the rapid development of biosensors, wearable biosensors based on flexible textile materials have become a hot topic. Such textile-based wearable biosensors promote the development of health monitoring, motion detection and medical management, and they have become an important support tool for human healthcare monitoring. Textile-based wearable biosensors not only non-invasively monitor various physiological indicators of the human body in real time, but they also provide accurate feedback of individual health information. This review examines the recent research progress of fabric-based wearable biosensors. Moreover, materials, detection principles and fabrication methods for textile-based wearable biosensors are introduced. In addition, the applications of biosensors in monitoring vital signs and detecting body fluids are also presented. Finally, we also discuss several challenges faced by textile-based wearable biosensors and the direction of future development.

Toward autonomous wearable triboelectric systems integrated on textiles

One of the major requirements of smart textiles is to achieve the integration of an energy source for powering embedded electronic systems. In this context, textile triboelectric nanogenerators (T-TENGs) are particularly well suited to imperceptibly play this role in the core of textiles, making them highly appealing for the development of future autonomous systems. This article reviews the wide range of topics related to T-TENGs technology starting from triboelectric generation (textile device and behavior modeling) up to the complete integration of power transfer (rectifier) circuits on textiles. The modeling part deals with the current mathematical models of the triboelectric charge transfer in order to highlight efficient power transfer circuits. Then the materials and architectures used to fabricate different types of T-TENGs are described. Finally, the methods and technologies to seamlessly integrate the power transfer circuit into textiles are discussed: from realizing electrically conductive tracks through to integrating electronic component on textiles.

Bibliometric and visual analysis of nocturnal enuresis from 1982 to 2022

Nocturnal enuresis is a common disorder among children that seriously affects physical and mental health and has become a social problem. Bibliometric analysis is a valid way to examine existing research results, current research hotspots and research frontiers. Current studies on nocturnal enuresis are numerous and complex, but a bibliometric analysis of the existing research on nocturnal enuresis has yet to be published. To better identify the research trends and frontiers in nocturnal enuresis, it is necessary to conduct a comprehensive review and analysis. We used bibliometric and visualization methods to analyze the 1,111 papers published between 1982 and 2022 from the Web of Science core collection. Basic information about the country, institution, and authors was analyzed, which led to a basic understanding of nocturnal enuresis. The United States is the most prolific country, Ghent University is the most influential institution, and Rittig Soren is the most prominent scholar. The frequency of keywords, clustering, and the cited literature were analyzed to understand the hotspots and frontiers of research, and a brief review of the highly cited literature was conducted. The current research hotspots are the treatment modalities for nocturnal enuresis, epidemiological investigations, and the exploration of pathogenesis. Clinical research, adenoidectomy, aquaporin 2, and response inhibition are potential research hotspots. The standardization of terminology in nocturnal enuresis and the pathologies of polyuria and sleep disorder are at the forefront of research. In summary, the results of our bibliometric analysis reveal views on the current situation and the trend of nocturnal enuresis research for the first time. This study may provide guidance for promoting research on nocturnal enuresis.

Smart E-Textile Systems: A Review for Healthcare Applications

E-textiles is a new hybrid field developed with the help of the integration of electronic components into our daily usage of textile products. These wearable e-textiles provide user-defined applications as well as normal textile clothing. The medical field is one of the major leading areas where these new hybrid products are being implemented, and relatively mature products can be observed in the laboratory as well as in commercial markets. These products are developed for continuous patient monitoring in large-scale hospital centers as well as for customized patient requirements. Meanwhile, these products are also being used for complex medical treatments and the replacement of conventional methods. This review manuscript contains a basic overview of e-textile systems, their components, applications, and usages in the field of medical innovations. E-textile systems, integrated into customized products for medical needs, are discussed with their proposed properties and limitations. Finally, some recommendations to enhance the e-textile system’s integration into the medical field are argued.

Silver Conductive Threads-Based Embroidered Electrodes on Textiles as Moisture Sensors for Fluid Detection in Biomedical Applications

Wearable sensors have become part of our daily life for health monitoring. The detection of moisture content is critical for many applications. In the present research, textile-based embroidered sensors were developed that can be integrated with a bandage for wound management purposes. The sensor comprised an interdigitated electrode embroidered on a cotton substrate with silver-tech 150 and HC 12 threads, respectively, that have silver coated continuous filaments and 100% polyamide with silver-plated yarn. The said sensor is a capacitive sensor with some leakage. The change in the dielectric constant of the substrate as a result of moisture affects the value of capacitance and, thus, the admittance of the sensor. The moisture sensor's operation is verified by measuring its admittance at 1 MHz and the change in moisture level (1-50) µL. It is observed that the sensitivity of both sensors is comparable. The identically fabricated sensors show similar response and sensitivity while wash test shows the stability of sensor after washing. The developed sensor is also able to detect the moisture caused by both artificial sweat and blood serum, which will be of value in developing new sensors tomorrow for smart wound-dressing applications.

A device to detect leakage at the patient end of total intravenous anaesthesia

The use of total intravenous anaesthesia (TIVA) is limited by concerns of disconnections of the tubing, resulting in accidental awareness. We designed a sensor device to detect leakages at the patient end and notify the medical personnel, thereby allowing immediate intervention in preventing awareness. For moisture detection, resistive sensing was selected as the working principle. The prototype was in proximity to the tubing from the TIVA pump and the patient's intravenous cannula, and able to detect leakages in all potential leakage sites and activate an alarm. Our device consists of a disposable bandage (sensor), attached to a reusable clamp that is directly coupled to a central module (SparkFun MicroView, a small microcontroller with built-in Organic Light-Emitting Diode (OLED) display). The disposable bandage is wrapped around the possible leakage sites. Crucially, the disposable bandage is integrated with two separate moisture sensing threads. When moisture is present, the central module detects a drop in resistance across the moisture sensing threads and activates a flashing LED and buzzer. We have successfully created a functional leak detection device, comprising a moisture sensing bandage and an audio and visual alert system, to address the problem of undetected TIVA leakages at the patient end.

Textile-Based Sensors for Biosignal Detection and Monitoring

Biosignals often have to be detected in sports or for medical reasons. Typical biosignals are pulse and ECG (electrocardiogram), breathing, blood pressure, skin temperature, oxygen saturation, bioimpedance, etc. Typically, scientists attempt to measure these biosignals noninvasively, i.e., with electrodes or other sensors, detecting electric signals, measuring optical or chemical information. While short-time measurements or monitoring of patients in a hospital can be performed by systems based on common rigid electrodes, usually containing a large amount of wiring, long-term measurements on mobile patients or athletes necessitate other equipment. Here, textile-based sensors and textile-integrated data connections are preferred to avoid skin irritations and other unnecessary limitations of the monitored person. In this review, we give an overview of recent progress in textile-based electrodes for electrical measurements and new developments in textile-based chemical and other sensors for detection and monitoring of biosignals.

Conception of a Phantom in Agar-Agar Gel with the Same Bio-Impedance Properties as Human Quadriceps

The physiology of the patient can be reflected by various data. Serious games, using an intelligent combination, could be based on this data to adjust to the specificities of the patient. Rehabilitation would therefore be personalized to the patient. This smart suit would use dry electrodes in order to be easily usable. Before performing dry electrode validation tests on a population, it is necessary to perform preliminary tests on a phantom. Agar-Agar (AA) gel, combined with NaCl and graphite which directly impact the resistivity and reactance values of the phantom, are generally used. Depending on the part of the body simulated by the phantom, it is necessary to adapt the concentrations of NaCl and graphite in order to obtain values of physiological reactance and resistance. The anisotropy of a muscle must also be considered. Different concentrations of NaCl and graphite have been tested in order to present charts linking the concentrations to the resistance and reactance values of the AA phantom. Electrical properties similar to those of human quadriceps are achieved at a concentration of 7 g/L of NaCl and 60 g/L of graphite. These values can be used as a conversion table to develop an AA phantom with electrical properties similar to different muscles. Furthermore, an AA phantom has an anisotropy of 0° and 90°. This anisotropy corresponds to a human quadriceps, where 0° is the direction of the muscle fiber. This will allow us to study and characterize the behavior of the electrodes on an anisotropic model. Thus it can be used as a first test phase for dry electrodes in order to propose the most suitable conditions for a connected garment application.

E-Textile Systems Reliability Assessment-A Miniaturized Accelerometer Used to Investigate Damage during Their Washing

E-textiles reveal a new and hybrid sector of the industry that is created by the integration of electronic components or textile-based electronics in our daily life textile products. They are facing problems in terms of washability, reliability, and user acceptance. This manuscript explains the mechanical stresses acting during the washing process and their impact on e-textile systems. Different washing programs were investigated in terms of total process duration. This washing process duration is mainly divided into three diverse washing actions: low-speed rotation, high-speed rotation, and stop time. This investigation was performed to highlight the importance of the washing actions and their percentages in the total washing process. A piece of fabric with a flexible PCB (printed circuit board), equipped with an accelerometer with a Bluetooth communication device and a microcontroller, was placed in the washing machine to analyze the movement of fabric provoked by washing stresses. The PCB was used for fabric movements recording to determine the impact of mechanical stress on e-textile systems during the washing process. From the video analysis, it was concluded that the duration of the low-speed and high-speed rotation actions should be privileged comparing to the duration of the whole washing process. A power spectral density (PSD) analysis based on the accelerometer outputs was realized. Mechanical stresses at different frequencies were identified. Based on this analysis, it could be possible to improve the protocols of mechanical tests (Martindale and pilling box) used to simulate the mechanical stress applied to e-textile systems during the washing process.

In Situ Detection of Water Leakage for Textile-Reinforced Composites

By incorporating electrically conductive yarns into a waterproof membrane, one can detect epoxy resin cracking or liquid leakage. Therefore, this study examined the electrical conductivity variations of several yarns (metallic or carbon-based) for cracking and water detection. The first observations concerned the detectors’ feasibility by investigating their conductivity variations during both their resin implementation processes and their resin cracking. Throughout this experiment, two phenomena were detected: the compression and the separation of the fibres by the resin. In addition, the resin cracking had an important role in decreasing the yarns’ conductivity. The second part of this study concerned water detection. Two principles were established and implemented, first with yarns and then with yarns incorporated into the resin. First, the principle of absorption was based on the conductivity variation with the yarns’ swelling after contact with water. A short circuit was established by the creation of a conductive path when a drop of water was deposited between two conductive, parallel yarns. Through the influence of the yarns’ properties, this study explored the metallic yarns’ capacity to better detect water with a short circuit and the ability of the carbon-based yarns to detect water by the principle of absorption.

Interdigital Capacitor-Based Passive LC Resonant Sensor for Improved Moisture Sensing

Herein, a passive low-profile moisture sensor design based on radio frequency identification (RFID) technology is proposed. The sensor consists of an LC resonant loop, and the sensing mechanism is based on the fringing electric field generated by the capacitor in the circuit. A standard planar inductor and a two-layer interdigital capacitor (IDC) with a significantly higher fringing capacitance compared to that of a conventional parallel plate capacitor (PPC) are used, resulting in improved frequency offset and sensitivity of the sensor. Furthermore, a sensor tag was designed to operate at an 8.2 MHz electronic article surveillance (EAS) frequency range and the corresponding simulation results were experimentally verified. The IDC- and PPC-based capacitor designs were comprehensively compared. The proposed IDC sensor exhibits enhanced sensitivity of 10% in terms of frequency offset that is maintained over time, increased detection distance of 5%, and more than 20% increase in the quality factor compared to sensors based on PPC. The sensor's performance as a urine detector was experimentally qualified. Additionally, it was shown experimentally that the proposed sensor shows a faster response to moisture. Both simulation and experimental data are presented and elucidated herein.

Wearable Textile UHF-RFID Sensors: A Systematic Review

Textile radio-frequency identification operating in ultra-high frequency (UHF-RFID) sensors based on different scenarios are becoming attractive with the forthcoming internet of things (IoT) era and aging society. Compared with conventional UHF-RFID sensors, textile UHF-RFID sensors offer the common textile features, light weight, washability and comfort. Due to the short time and low level of development, researches on the integration of textile UHF-RFID techniques and textile sensing techniques are not flourishing. This paper is motivated by this situation to identify the current research status. In this paper, we provide a systematic review of the fundamentals of textile UHF-RFID sensors techniques, materials, the brief history and the state-of-the-art of the scenario-based development through detailed summary and analysis on the achievements from the starting year of 2004 to the present time. Moreover, according to the analysis, we give a proposal of the future prospects in several aspects, including the new materials and manufacturing processes, machine learning technology, scenario-based applications and unavoidable reliability.