Detecting Dehydration Now Is Possible With A Simple Device
Opportunity
Novel wrist-worn wearable device with a pH sensor for the real-time measurement of sweat pH
Wearable devices and sensors can be used to monitor body signals such as the heart rate, blood oxygen/glucose level, and pH of sweat for the presence of health concerns such as dehydration and overexertion. In addition, the real-time monitoring of these parameters is useful for those who require close attention (sick or elderly people). Thus, these sensors have taken up a significant share in the fitness and healthcare markets.
Sweat pH is also an important indicator of various skin conditions, such as dermatitis. Moreover, it can be monitored in patients with diabetes to check for a prolonged period of low blood glucose, which may require medical intervention. Therefore, it is important to measure sweat pH along with other important parameters such as the heart rate and oxygen saturation level. However, current devices are capable of monitoring only one or two body signals at a time. For example, wearable health-monitoring devices employ pulse oximetry to simultaneously measure heart rate and oxygen saturation levels in the blood, but they cannot perform a sweat analysis.
Technology
We have designed a wrist-worn wearable prototype, called pH Watch, that allows for real-time monitoring of the pH of sweat. In our design, we combined a flexible pH sensor with the pulse oximetry chip of existing fitness trackers and mounted it on the pulse oximeter.
Because our pH sensor does not hinder the function of the pulse oximeter, it can be easily integrated into the design of modern wearable devices. This allows for the real-time measurement of sweat pH. Moreover, the readings are produced instantaneously with an accuracy of over 90%.
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