Authors:
Ming Huang
1
;
Toshiyo Tamura
2
;
Wenxi Chen
3
;
Kei-ichiro Kitamura
4
;
Tetsu Nemoto
4
and
Shigehiko Kanaya
1
Affiliations:
1
Nara Institute of Science and Technology, Japan
;
2
Osaka Electro-Communication University, Japan
;
3
the University of Aizu, Japan
;
4
Kanazawa University, Japan
Keyword(s):
Noninvasive Measurement, Long-term Measurement, Core Temperature, Dual-Heat-Flux Method, Numeric Modeling, Experiment.
Related
Ontology
Subjects/Areas/Topics:
Biomedical Engineering
;
Biomedical Instruments and Devices
;
Devices
;
Health Monitoring Devices
;
Human-Computer Interaction
;
Physiological Computing Systems
Abstract:
This paper describes the improvement of a transcutaneous core temperature thermometer by modifying the configuration, in terms of height and radius, of the thermometer using the so-called dual-heat-flux (DHF) method. The motivation of these modifications is to decrease the volume of the thermometer so as to reduce the transverse heat flow inside, in other words, to preserve the underlying assumption of the DHF method that heat flows from the inner part of human body through skin onto the thermometer longitudinally. The modification’s effect is evaluated by both numeric modeling based on finite element method and experiment. The results of simulations and experiments show that a lower-in-height and larger-in-radius configuration will improve the accuracy of the thermometer. Prototypes of 22.0 mm radius can attain satisfactory accuracy with error less than 0.5 C when heights are 8.0 mm or less.