Optimization of a Stacked-design Core-body-temperature Sensor for Long-period Human Trials

We fabricated a wearable sensor that can be attached to the skin surface and continuously measure core body temperature (CBT) wirelessly over a long period. CBT is calculated from skin-surface temperature and heat flux passing through the sensor. Since heat flux is lost to the surroundings of the probe, the slightest change in convection in daily life will degrade the measurement accuracy of the sensor. Accordingly, we previously proposed a heat-flux-path control structure to reduce the absolute amount of heat-flux loss. To make wearable sensors for long-term human trials, we proposed an integrated design in which a sensor probe, a circuit board, and a battery are stacked. We optimized the proposed design by computer simulation and evaluated the fabricated sensor by a phantom experiment in which the convectional state was changed. The evaluation results demonstrate that the sensor has limits of agreement (LOA) of [−0.13; 0.03]°C under 1-m/s-wind convection. Moreover, a preliminary human trial conducted under daily-life conditions (including convectional changes) demonstrated that the sensor has LOA of [−0.18; 0.22]°C. These results demonstrate that the fabricated sensor is suitable for CBT measurement.