Overture of Wearable Technology for the Measurement and Restoration of Body Temperature in Hypothermic Athletes

Abstract

A healthy individual maintains an optimum core body temperature of 37 degree Celsius. If the cold environment of the individual accelerates, the condition of hypothermia can develop. Hypothermia is one of the major hindrances faced by winter athletes. Initially the symptoms include rapid heart rate and breathing rate, but if condition of Hypothermia gets prolonged it can lead to slower heart and breathing rate and eventually results in unconsciousness and heart failure. Commercially available jackets have temperature settings but are manual and do not serve the purpose of hypothermia. The paper describes the design of a low-cost and very effective jacket that enables accurate measurement of core body temperature with the aid of a pyroelectric sensor incorporated in one of the circular parts of the earmuffs that the athlete is going to wear. If core body temperature of less than 37 degrees is detected, heating pads would get activated to attain optimal temperature. The jacket provides the ultimate solution to treat hypothermia only when the internal conditions exhibit that you actually have it and not due to the external environmental conditions. The prototype was found to detect and treat hypothermia effectively.