Formulating and Manufacturing Low Profile Integrated Batteries for Wireless Sensing Labels

我们寻求创造共形传感器，不同于现有电子产品，现有电子产品利用添加剂制造获得的超薄外形系数，提供具有传感、无线通信和能量收集功能的柔性标签，为完全集成的电池充电。为了实现这一点，我们必须重新设计天线和电池(无线系统中最大的设备，由于紧密集成效率很低)。我们的电池辅助标签将使用可回收材料的可持续墨水打印，用于循环经济。它们将在比被动替代方案更远的距离内进行通信，并实现“在物体上”或“在皮肤上”的监测，例如大气蒸气或医学测试。成功的结果将提供前所未有的数据，从附着和忘记的智能标签，可以通过叠印不同的感应膜定制。为了实现这一目标，我们由领先的无线、电池配方和数字制造研究人员组成的团队将与英国国家印刷电子弹射器相结合。以前提出的用于智能互联生态系统的基于无电池(无源)UHF RFID的标签传感器在功能上存在固有的限制(例如，没有数据记录或模拟到数字接口)，并且通信范围为几米或更短。这一限制是由于需要获得足够的电力而产生的。电池将克服射程和功能限制，但由于电池体积(包括支架大小)以及导电电池外壳和天线之间需要物理隔离以保持辐射效率，因此以整体体积为代价。此外，这对含有电池配方中常用材料的数百万个普遍存在的传感标签的寿命的终结也有严重影响。有了这些限制和相互连接独立组件的期望，就永远不可能生产出真正薄的标签式电力辅助电子产品。我们建议的标签将本质上是低能耗的，但集成的电池辅助将使许多潜在的应用成为可能，包括生物传感、制药智能监控和患者遵从性、安全、工业和家庭化学品、温度和电力监控，并在智能互联系统的新兴大数据节点中启用加密。为了确保这项工作的可交付产出，我们将重点创建概念验证蒸气传感标签，以满足两个确定的需求。1.我们将开发标签，以检测空气污染。众所周知，空气污染会降低生活质量，并通过酸雨攻击基础设施。2.我们将为我们的合作伙伴吉沃丹确定的工业过程和产品测试创建大气传感标签。由RFID工程师、功能材料科学家、喷墨专家和国家印刷电子弹射器组成的团队将在电池衬底上设计高效天线，展示适合于提供类似商业硬币电池性能的添加剂制造的超薄电池化学物质，创造用于打印薄膜氮氧化物传感器的墨水，通过喷墨打印创建传感无线标签原型，并使用商业滚转技术生产设备的测试运行。我们的设计将被集成到一个演示系统中，该系统可以读取标签并以可访问的方式显示结果。

We seek to create conformal sensors unlike existing electronics that exploit the ultra-thin form factor achieved by additive manufacture to offer flexible labels with sensing, wireless communication and energy harvesting to charge entirely integrated batteries. To achieve this, we must re-engineer antennas and batteries (the largest devices in wireless systems and which suffer poor efficiency from close integration). Our battery-assisted labels will be printed using sustainable inks with reclaimable materials for the circular economy. They will communicate at distances greater than passive alternatives and enable 'on object' or 'on-skin' monitoring, e.g. of atmospheric vapours or medical testing. Successful outcomes will provide unprecedented data from attach-and-forget smart labels that can be customised by overprinting with different sensing films. To achieve this our team of leading Wireless, Battery Formulation, and Digital Manufacturing researchers, will combine with the UK National Catapult for Printed Electrics. Previous battery-free (passive) UHF RFID based tag sensors proposed for smart connected ecosystems are inherently limited in their functionality (e.g. no data logging or analog to digital interface) and the communication range is a few metres or less. This limitation arises through the need to harvest sufficient power. A battery would overcome the range and functionality limitations, but at the cost of overall bulk due to battery volume, including holder size , and the physical separation needed between the conducting battery casing and the antenna in order to maintain radiation efficiency. Also, there are serious implications for the end of life of millions of pervasive sensing labels containing the materials commonly used in battery formulation. With these constraints and the expectation of interconnecting separate components, it will never be possible to produce truly thin label-like power-assisted electronics. The labels we propose will be inherently low energy in operation, but integrated battery assistance will make possible many potential applications including bio-sensing, pharma smart monitoring & patient compliance, security, industrial and domestic chemical, temperature, & power monitoring, and enable encryption in emerging big data nodes for Smart Connected Systems. To ensure deliverable outputs in this work, we will focus on creating proof of concept vapour sensing tags to address two identified needs. 1. We will develop labels to sense air pollution which is well known to reduce quality of life and attacks infrastructure through acid rain. 2. We will create atmospheric sensing labels for industrial processes and product testing as identified by our partner Givaudan. The team of RFID engineers, functional materials scientists, inkjet experts and the national Catapult for printed electronics will engineer efficient antennas on battery substrates, demonstrate ultrathin battery chemistries, suitable for additive manufacture that offer performance similar to commercial coin cells, create inks to print thin film Nitrogen Oxide sensors, create prototype sensing wireless labels by inkjet printing, and produce test runs of the devices using commercial roll-to-roll techniques. Our designs will be integrated into a demonstrator system that can read the tags and display results in an accessible way.