Pressure sensors for printed blast dosimeters

• IEEE Sensors 2010 Conference

Printed electronics has focused in the past primarily on displays and radio frequency identification tags. Recently, inexpensive printed sensors have emerged as another potentially promising opportunity. Here, we report on piezoelectric polymer pressure sensors for a printed, disposable, blast dosimeter. Blast events due to improvised explosive devices (IEDs) are a major cause of traumatic brain injury (TBI) in the battlefield. The tape-like blast dosimeter is designed to measure and record the severity and the number of events during one week in order to enable early administration of medical care. The sensors were fabricated with methods such as lamination, die cutting, solution processing and printing, all compatible with inexpensive roll-to-roll processing. A set of ten pressure and ten acoustic sensors was calibrated and tested. The sensors performed to the required specifications and compared well to commercial reference sensors.

citation

Daniel, J. H.; Arias, A. C.; Ng, T.; Garner, S. Pressure sensors for printed blast dosimeters. IEEE Sensors 2010 Conference; 2010 November 1-4; Waikoloa HI.