This application claims priority to and the benefit of Korean Patent Application No. 10-2021-0109877 filed in the Korean Intellectual Property Office on Aug. 20, 2021, the entire contents of which are incorporated herein by reference.
The present disclosure relates to a perspiration mapping patch used while being attached to skin of a user.
Customized technology that measures biometric information non-invasively and long-term efficiently manages personal health and adopts the measured biometric information to treatment based on the biometric information is in the spotlight as a technology that can change the paradigm of the future medical and health care industry. Recently, in particular, research on a skin-attached sensor which is attached to skin to monitor a bio-signal is also being actively conducted. The bio-signal provides important information for biomedical devices, and multiple biosensors are essentially required to obtain individual signals from multiple points in a wide area.
However, a size of an area (hole) in which sweat is collected is generally very small compared to an entire size of the device of the perspiration sensor patch. Further, a location at which the amount of sweat secretion is large may be different depending on each person and each body region of a person. Accordingly, efficiency of collecting sweat and an analysis result may be different depending on the location where the perspiration sensor patch is attached.
Accordingly, in order to increase the usability and reliability of the sweat perspiration sensor patch, there is a need for a technology to identify and find locations where the amount of sweat secretion is large.
Further, the degree of sweat secretion may vary from person to person, and a health status and an exercise status may be analyzed based on the amount of sweat secretion, and knowing information about the average amount of sweat secretion of each individual may be necessary for efficient operation of a sweat sensor and interpretation of sensor data.
The above information disclosed in this Background section is only for enhancement of understanding of the background of the invention, and therefore it may contain information that does not form the prior art that is already known in this country to a person of ordinary skill in the art.
The present invention has been made in an effort to provide a perspiration mapping patch configured to recognize or display a location where sweat is secreted well in advance before a perspiration sensor patch is attached to skin.
However, the object to be solved in the exemplary embodiments of the present invention is not limited to the foregoing object, and may be variously extended in the scope of the technical spirit included in the present invention.
An exemplary embodiment of the present invention provides a perspiration mapping patch attached to skin of a user to absorb sweat, the perspiration mapping patch including: a sweat absorbing layer in which a plurality of opening units is arranged; a first support layer which is stacked on a first surface of the sweat absorbing layer and includes an opening opened to correspond to each of the plurality of opening units; and a second support layer stacked on a second surface facing an opposite side of the first surface of the sweat absorbing layer.
Each of the plurality of opening units may include a protrusion extendable in a plane direction
The protrusion may be configured to protrude into the opening of the first support layer.
At least one pair of protrusions may be disposed to face each other.
The protrusion may be formed to be tapered as the protrusion approaches a center of each of the opening units.
At least one pair of protrusions extended alternately may be disposed in the opening.
The first support layer may include a material having hydrophobicity.
The first support layer may be configured to have adhesiveness.
The second support layer may include a material having hydrophobicity.
In the second support layer, at least an area corresponding to each of the plurality of opening units may be formed to be transparent.
The plurality of opening units may be formed to have a matrix array.
The first surface of the sweat absorbing layer may be configured to face the skin.
The second support layer may be configured to cover and block the opening unit of the sweat absorbing layer.
The sweat absorbing layer may include a hydrogel.
The sweat absorbing layer may be configured to have a color.
The sweat absorbing layer may include a plurality of unit cells divided for the plurality of opening units, respectively, and the plurality of unit cells may be configured to be perforated from each other,
According to the perspiration mapping patch according to the exemplary embodiments, by analyzing a pattern immediately after the patch is attached to the skin and a shape of the deformed pattern after a certain period of time, it is possible to easily analyze the location and the degree of sweating only with a camera and a simple image analysis.
Further, a portion of the patch corresponding to an area where a lot of sweat is partially absorbed may be separated and left on the skin and displayed.
When the degree of sweating is analyzed, it is possible to recognize information about a skin state and physical constitution.
The present invention will be described more fully hereinafter with reference to the accompanying drawings, in which exemplary embodiments of the invention are shown. The drawings and description are to be regarded as illustrative in nature and not restrictive. Like reference numerals designate like elements throughout the specification. Further, some constituent elements in the accompanying drawings are exaggerated, omitted, or schematically illustrated, and a size of each constituent element does not fully reflect an actual size.
Further, the accompanying drawings are provided for helping to easily understand exemplary embodiments disclosed in the present specification, and the technical spirit disclosed in the present specification is not limited by the accompanying drawings, and it will be appreciated that the present invention includes all of the modifications, equivalent matters, and substitutes included in the spirit and the technical scope of the present invention.
Terms including an ordinary number, such as first and second, are used for describing various constituent elements, but the constituent elements are not limited by the terms. The terms are used only to discriminate one constituent element from another constituent element.
Further, it will be understood that when an element such as a layer, film, region, or substrate is referred to as being “on” another element, it can be directly on the other element or intervening elements may also be present, In contrast, when an element is referred to as being “directly on” another element, there are no intervening elements present. Further, when an element is “on” a reference portion, the element is located above or below the reference portion, and it does not necessarily mean that the element is located “on” in a direction opposite to gravity.
In the present application, it will be appreciated that terms “including” and “having” are intended to designate the existence of characteristics, numbers, steps, operations, constituent elements, and components described in the specification or a combination thereof, and do not exclude a possibility of the existence or addition of one or more other characteristics, numbers, steps, operations, constituent elements, and components, or a combination thereof in advance. In the specification, unless explicitly described to the contrary, the word “comprise” and variations such as “comprises” or “comprising”, will be understood to imply the inclusion of stated elements but not the exclusion of any other elements.
Further, throughout the specification, when it is referred to as “planar”, it means the case where a target part is viewed from above, and when it is referred to as “in cross-section”, it means the case where a cross-section obtained by vertically cutting the target part is viewed from the side.
Further, throughout the specification, when it is referred to as “connected”, this does not only mean that two or more constituent elements are directly connected, but may mean that two or more constituent elements are indirectly connected through another constituent element, are physically connected, electrically connected, or are integrated even though two or more constituent elements are referred as different names depending on a location and a function.
Referring to
A plurality of opening units 345 is arranged and formed in the sweat absorbing layer 340. The plurality of opening units 345 may be formed to have a matrix array. That is, the plurality of opening units 345 may be arranged in all directions in the plane direction of the sweat absorbing layer 340. Each of the opening units 345 may have a circular, oval, or polygonal planar shape, and a protrusion 346 may be further formed in the opening unit 345. Herein, the “plane direction” may be defined as a direction parallel to the surface of the sweat absorbing layer 340 formed of a sheet shape, and a “thickness direction” may be defined as a direction vertical to the surface of the sweat absorbing layer 340.
The first support layer 310 may include a plurality of openings 315 opened while corresponding to the plurality of opening units 345, respectively. Each opening 315 may have, for example, a circular shape, and the openings 315 may be formed to have a matrix array. The first support layer 310 may include a polymer material having hydrophobicity, and have adhesiveness to be attached to the skin. The opening 315 may be smaller or larger than the opening unit 345, and may have the same size as that of the opening unit 345. The size of the opening 315 influences on the amount of sweat supplied to the sweat absorbing layer 340 (density of sweat glands x area =the number of sweat glands), so that the relative size of the opening 315 with respect to the size of the opening unit 345 may be determined according to the use environment and condition.
The second support layer 320 may be configured to cover and block the opening unit 345 of the sweat absorbing layer 340. Further, the second support layer 320 may include a polymer material having hydrophobicity, and a region corresponding to the plurality of opening units 345 may be formed to be transparent at least.
Referring to
The protrusion 346 may be formed to be tapered as the protrusion 346 approaches the center C of the opening unit 345. That is, each protrusion 346 may have a tip that is sharpened toward the end, and the protrusions 346 opposing each other may be disposed so that the tips face each other with respect to the center C of the opening unit 345. The protrusion 346 configured as described above may be extended while having directionality when the protrusion 346 absorbs sweat and is expanded, and thus, the degree of deformation of the opening unit 345 may be more easily detected.
The protrusion 346 may be made of the same material as that of the sweat absorbing layer 340, and may be integrally formed by patterning the opening unit 345 of the sweat absorbing layer 340. The sweat absorbing layer 340 may be made of a material which is easily expanded when absorbing sweat, and may include, for example, a hydrogel. When the sweat absorbing layer 340 absorbs sweat, the sweat absorbing layer 340 may be expanded, and in this case, the protrusion 346 of the opening unit 345 of the sweat absorbing layer 340 may be extended in a direction facing the center of the opening unit 345. Further, the sweat absorbing layer 340 may control the degree and the direction of extension according to the absorption of the sweat by adjusting the shape and the size of the protrusion 346.
Referring to
Referring to
In the meantime, when sweat is absorbed in the portion of the perspiration mapping patch 30 according to the present exemplary embodiment or a part of the perspiration mapping patch 30 has a relatively large amount of sweat absorption (the amount of sweat secretion), the degree of expansion of the sweat absorbing layer 340 may be differently exhibited depending on the part.
Referring to
When sweat is absorbed in the portion of the perspiration mapping patch 30 illustrated in
Herein, in order to identify the sweat absorption area and calculate the amount of sweat absorption (the amount of sweat secretion), an image analysis of obtaining an image of the perspiration mapping patch 30 and recognizing the degree of change of the image may be utilized. For example, for the image analysis, a smart phone application may be utilized, or an image may be obtained through a camera and a computing device may analyze the obtained image.
An opening area of the opening unit 345 in an image of a unit cell 301 of the perspiration mapping patch 30 may be an area of a portion that is not covered with the sweat absorbing layer 340 and the first support layer 310. When the perspiration mapping patch 30 is attached to the skin of the user, a color of the skin may be exposed through the portion that is not covered by the sweat absorbing layer 340 and the first support layer 310. Accordingly, when the color of the area through which the skin is exposed is yellow, the number of pixels corresponding to the yellow area may be calculated from the obtained image. In this case, the sweat absorbing layer 340 and the first support layer 310 are manufactured by selecting a color which is easily distinguished from the color of the exposed skin, so that the changing opening area of the opening unit 345 may be easily distinguished.
For example, referring to
For another example, the entire sweat absorbing layer 340 may be configured to have a color, and the first support layer 310 and the second support layer 320 may be made transparent, and in this case, the amount of sweat absorption may be calculated and output based on an opened area of the sweat absorbing layer 340.
Referring to
When the perspiration mapping patch 40 according to the present exemplary embodiment exhibits the same distribution of the amount of sweat absorption (the amount of sweat secretion) illustrated in
In this case, when only the unit cells 401 in which the amount of sweat absorption (the amount of sweat secretion) is large are left and the remaining parts are perforated and removed, only the unit cells 401 corresponding to areas “A” and “B may be attached to the skin and left as illustrated in
Referring to
Referring to
Hereinafter, the process of manufacturing the perspiration mapping patch, and the result of the evaluation of a sweat detection characteristic by using the manufactured perspiration mapping patch will be described in more detail through an illustrative example. However, it should be noted that the protection scope of the present invention is not intended to be limited to the following example.
An acrylic acid and acrylamide-based hydrogel solution was prepared, and then photo-cured with UV on a film mask including a circular pattern to manufacture a hydrogel with the pattern. In particular, 1.32 g of KOH was added to 3.14 mL of distilled water and then 5.76 mL of acrylic acid was added and mixed. 1.66 mL of an acrylamide/bis-acrylamide solution was added to the mixed solution and mixed. Herein, 0.65 mL of an N-vinylpyrrolidone/lrgacure 651 solution was added and mixed, and then 12 mL of glycerol was added. A film mask having circular opening units was placed on the prepared hydrogel solution and the hydrogel solution was photo-cured with UV for 30 seconds and then washed. The transparent hydrogel was colored with blue in order to easily analyze a change in an opened area by using a camera. A drawing of the film mask with the circular pattern used for the photo-curing and a picture of the manufactured hydrogel are represented in
An acrylic acid and acrylamide-based hydrogel solution was prepared, and then photo-cured with UV on a film mask patterned with openings protruding in the shape of a cross to manufacture a hydrogel with the pattern. Except for the pattern shape, the manufacturing method is the same as that of Example 1. A drawing of the film mask used for the photo-curing and a picture of the manufactured hydrogel are represented in
After 1 μL of 100 mM NaCl solution was dropped on the hydrogel including the circular opening units, a change in an opened area of the opening unit was measured over time, and the results are shown in
After 1 μL of 100 mM NaCl solution was dropped on the hydrogel in which the opening unit includes the protrusion protruding in a plane direction, a change in an opened area of the opening unit was measured over time, and the results are shown in
Although the exemplary embodiment of the present invention has been described above, the present invention is not limited thereto, and it is possible to carry out various modifications within the scope of the claims, the description of the invention, and the accompanying drawings, and it is apparent that this also belongs to the scope of the present invention.
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10-2021-0109877 | Aug 2021 | KR | national |
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Machine Translation of JP 2014168573 (Year: 2014). |
Number | Date | Country | |
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20230055053 A1 | Feb 2023 | US |