A wearable sweat rate sensor to monitor the athletes’ performance during training

Abstract

ObjectivesWe developed a wearable sensor for the real time measurement of sweat rate in localized areas of the human body. This sensor represents the first step in the development of a wearable sensor network capable to estimate the global sweat rate via an ad hoc algorithm. Such device would be used to monitor athletes' hydration status during training and improve their performances. Equipment and MethodsFor this study, we tested our sensor on thirteen football players during a cycling test on a cycle ergometer. The sweat rate sensor was compared to a medical device that, although measuring a different physiological process, provides discrete data based on the same working principle, i.e. the diffusion of the water vapour emitted from the skin. ResultsOur sensor has a working range up to 400 g/m2•h. The statistical analysis and the Bland-Altman plot proved that our sensor is comparable to the medical device used as gold standard. At low sweat rate, the bias is 3.4 g/m2•h with a standard deviation of 7.6 g/m2•h. At maximum sweat rates, the bias is 2.3 g/m2•h with a standard deviation 6.9 g/m2•h. The pvalues for the Bland-Altman plots at low and maximum sweat rate (0.1331 and 0.2477 obtained by Kolmogorov-Smirnov test, respectively) allow the hypothesis that there is a significant difference between our sweat rate sensor and the medical device to be rejected. ConclusionWe presented a prototype of a wearable sweat rate sensor for localized measurements. The trials on thirteen athletes proved that the performance

Multiphysics Modeling of a Wearable Sensor for Sweat Rate Measurements

“…2after replacing ∆P by rh 2 P sat,T2 −rh 1 P sat,T1 , where rh and T are the measured relative humidity and temperature respectively. P sat,T is the saturation water vapor pressure at the measured temperature T , calculated, for instance, from the Antoine's formula [14].…”

“…The present multiphysics simulation and analysis of an open chamber device was inspired from a device designed, implemented and tested by Salvo et al [14]. This device was fitted in a velcro strap to be used for in-vivo tests.…”

Measuring the Psychobiological Correlates of Daily Experience in Adolescents

“…These issues specific to the placement and wearing of devices on the adolescent participant may affect recruitment, compliance, and attrition, and we urge researchers to develop strategies to increase the acceptability of cardiovascular activity measurement devices to adolescent participants. Recent advances in the technology of remote and wearable technologies suggest the imminent possibility of continuous, remote and real‐time monitoring of electrocardiogram, heart rate, HRV, respiration rate, and skin temperature, embedded in clothing (e.g., Bandodkar & Wang, ; Salvo, Pingitore, Barbini, & Di Francesco, ); however, extensive validation work remains to be completed before these may be acceptable for research purposes.…”

Soft Bioelectronic Stickers: Selection and Evaluation of Skin‐Interfacing Electrodes

“…The recording of biopotentials through the surface of human skin is useful for an abundant range of applications that involve dynamic conditions and/or long‐term measurements. Wearable devices for biomonitoring of such signals are currently employed in sports, remote health monitoring, and human‐machine interfaces, for prosthetics and other applications . Despite recent progresses in adhesive epidermal patches capable of conducting electrophysiological measurements and emerging commercially available biosensors, most of the current commercial solutions for physiological signal monitoring are typically based on electronic printed circuit boards (PCBs) composed of hard, rigid, and brittle materials that do not conform adequately to soft human tissue and organs.…”