A wearable system to detect urine leakage based on a textile sensor

Abstract

In this work, a wearable system to detect urine leakage based on a textile sensor is proposed. The system consists of a capacitive sensor embroidered with a conductive yarn in a cotton/polyester substrate. A microcontroller (MCU) with a wireless module for signal acquisition and a smartphone for monitoring complete the overall system. The capacitive sensor behaviour was tested in a climatic chamber between 30 % and 80% of relative humidity (RH) with a LCR meter and charge/discharge method directly connected to the MCU. The results show that the proposed system is able to detect urine leakage even though when the patient wears a diaper. The functionally allows to develop a real time monitoring system which can help nursing and medical assistants to take care of elderly and disabled people and improve the quality of life of these patients.