In-Shoe Shear Stress Sensor For Diabetic Patient

描述(申请人提供)：与糖尿病相关的下肢并发症包括足底溃疡的发展，这可能导致感染和随后的截肢。虽然从力板分析得知，地面反作用力存在内侧/外侧和前/后方剪切分量，但对于这种力在日常活动中的实际分布，以及剪切力在导致足底溃疡中所起的作用，人们知之甚少。此外，以前没有获得这些数据的一个关键原因是缺乏经过验证的、广泛使用的、商业上可用的剪切传感器，部分原因是与剪切测量相关的各种技术问题。该研究计划旨在开发、制造和实施一种基于聚合物的布拉格光栅传感器阵列，该阵列将用于研究与糖尿病患者相关的足底压力和剪切变化。为了显著增加多路复用传感器的数量，将使用时域多路复用(TDM)和波分多路复用(WDM)技术的混合。一种利用激光写入、激光全息和电子束写入系统的简单微加工技术将允许快速构建复杂的光学光栅和波导系统。该系统的独特之处在于它的单输入、单输出配置。这项研究的另一个好处是有可能对切应力对溃疡发展的影响进行长期前瞻性研究。传感器的进一步应用超出了测量足底压力和剪切力的范围。可穿戴(鞋内)或嵌入式(活动鞋，或假体)传感器可从该传感器派生出来。还可以将其他传感器合并到聚合物基片中，以创建多参数传感器系统。

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): Lower limb complications associated with diabetes include the development of plantar ulcers that can lead to infection and subsequent amputation. While it is known from force plate analyses that there are medial/lateral and anterior/posterior shear components of the ground reaction force, there is little known about the actual distribution of this force during daily activities, nor about the role that shear plays in causing plantar ulceration. Furthermore, one critical reason why these data have not been obtained previously is the lack of a validated, widely used, commercially available shear sensor, in part because of the various technical issues associated with shear measurement. The research proposal is aimed at developing, fabricating and implementing a polymer based Bragg grating sensor array that will be used in study plantar pressure and shear changes associated with diabetic patients. In order to significantly increase the number of multiplexed sensors, a hybrid of time domain multiplexing (TDM) and wavelength division multiplexing (WDM) techniques will be used. A simple micro-fabrication technique utilizing laser writing, laser holography and electron beam writing system will allow a rapid construction of complex optical gratings and waveguide system. Uniqueness of the system is in its single input and single output configuration. One other benefit of this research is the possibility of performing a long term prospective study of the effect of shear stress on ulcer development. The further application of sensor goes beyond measuring plantar pressure and shear. A wearable (in-shoe) or embedded (active shoe, or prosthesis) sensor can be derived from this sensor. Other sensors can also be incorporated into the polymer-based sheet to create a multi-parameter sensor system.