Abstract
In this work, a fiber Bragg gratings (FBGs) based sensing insole, capable of simultaneously measure plantar force (PF) and shear force (SF) is proposed. The insole has four measuring points, strategically located for a full gait analysis. Each sensing point contains a sensor-cell which consists of a polylactic acid (PLA) structure, covered by an epoxy resin layer, and crossed by one optical fiber with two FBGs, FBG1 and FBG2, respectively. Due to the specific design of the system, the FBG1 is sensitive to both forces (with higher sensitivity to the PF), while the FBG2 is designed to detect only the SF. The instrumented insole was tested during static and gait exercises, and the results, obtained for the PF and SF monitoring, were according to those theoretically expected.
Highlights
With the progressive increase in life expectancy, a continuous monitoring of the ageing citizens’ health is a necessary requirement to ensure a healthy life [1]
This paper reports the optimization of a fiber Bragg gratings (FBGs) based device able to measure plantar force (PF) and shear force (SF)
In 2016, Chethana et al presented a 3D force measurement platform, based on several FBG sensors [25]. It was reported the use of a cork insole with a FBG network [26] and polymer FBGs (PFBGs) network [27] sensors located at key points for the analysis of vertical force during gait
Summary
With the progressive increase in life expectancy, a continuous monitoring of the ageing citizens’ health is a necessary requirement to ensure a healthy life [1]. In 2016, Chethana et al presented a 3D force measurement platform, based on several FBG sensors [25] Later, it was reported the use of a cork insole with a FBG network [26] and PFBG network [27] sensors located at key points for the analysis of vertical force during gait. The same research group reported the application of these sensors in an insole to monitor these same parameters in five different zones in the sole of the foot, to prevent/diagnose diabetic feet and disturbances in the synchronization of the lower limbs [29] Each of these sensor-cells was composed by cork, PLA, epoxy resin and two in-line FBGs recorded on a single optical fiber [28,29]. This paper is organized in 5 sections: Section I is the introduction; Section II presents the FBG sensing principle; Section III focuses on the sensor-cell design, simulations and experimental characterization; Section IV shows the implementation of the sensor-cells on the insole and their performance during static and dynamic tests; Section V presents the overall device architecture; and Section VI outlines the main conclusions
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