Study of Performance of Knitted Conductive Sleeves as Wearable Textile Strain Sensors for Joint Motion Tracking

Isaia, Cristina; McMaster, Simon A.; McNally, Donal

Abstract

Textile-based strain sensors combine wearability with strain sensing functionality by using only the tensile and electrical properties of the threads they are made of. In this study, two conductive sleeves were manufactured for the elbow and three for the knee using a Santoni circular machine with different combinations of elastomeric and non-elastomeric yarns. Linearity, repeatability and sensitivity of the sleeves resistance with strain were compared during 5 repetitive trials, each of them consisting of 4 sequences of 50 joint flexion-extension cycles. All knitted conductive sleeves registered motion over 1000 cycles, proving their suitability for joint motion tracking. In addition, sleeves whose inner layer was made only with nylon exhibited the highest sensitivity and predictability of changes (i.e. a linear trend of the non-elastic deformation). On the other hand, sleeves whose inner layer was made with lycra and polyester or lycra and nylon showed a more balanced performance in terms of linearity, sensitivity and repeatability either for low or high number of cycles. Based on requirements, knitted conductive sleeves show a potential for application in rehabilitation both in healthcare and sports.

Citation

Isaia, C., McMaster, S. A., & McNally, D. (2020). Study of Performance of Knitted Conductive Sleeves as Wearable Textile Strain Sensors for Joint Motion Tracking. In 42nd Annual International Conferences of the IEEE Engineering in Medicine and Biology Society in conjunction with the 43rd Annual Conference of the Canadian Medical and Biological Engineering Society (4555-4558). https://doi.org/10.1109/EMBC44109.2020.9176429

• Conference Name: 42nd Annual International Conference of the IEEE Engineering in Medicine and Biology Society (EMBC) in conjunction with the 43rd Annual Conference of the Canadian Medical and Biological Engineering Society
• Conference Location: Montreal, QC, Canada
• Start Date: Jul 20, 2020
• End Date: Jul 24, 2020
• Acceptance Date: Apr 10, 2020
• Online Publication Date: Aug 27, 2020
• Publication Date: Jul 20, 2020
• Deposit Date: Nov 12, 2020
• Publicly Available Date: Nov 12, 2020
• Publisher: Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers
• Pages: 4555-4558
• Series ISSN: 2694-0604
• Book Title: 42nd Annual International Conferences of the IEEE Engineering in Medicine and Biology Society in conjunction with the 43rd Annual Conference of the Canadian Medical and Biological Engineering Society
• ISBN: 978-1-7281-1991-5
• DOI: https://doi.org/10.1109/EMBC44109.2020.9176429
• Public URL: https://nottingham-repository.worktribe.com/output/5036182
• Publisher URL: https://ieeexplore.ieee.org/document/9176429
• Additional Information: © 2020 IEEE. Personal use of this material is permitted. Permission from IEEE must be obtained for all other uses, in any current or future media, including reprinting/republishing this material for advertising or promotional purposes,creating new collective works, for resale or redistribution to servers or lists, or reuse of any copyrighted component of this work in other works.