Mechanical Engineering Department, Federal University of Espírito Santo, Espírito Santo 29075-910, Brazil.
Graduate Program in Electrical Engineering, Federal University of Espírito Santo, Espírito Santo 29075-910, Brazil.
Sensors (Basel). 2019 Jul 18;19(14):3156. doi: 10.3390/s19143156.
Advances in medicine and improvements in life quality has led to an increase in the life expectancy of the general population. An ageing world population have placed demands on the use of assistive technology and, in particular, towards novel healthcare devices and sensors. Besides the electromagnetic field immunity, polymer optical fiber (POF) sensors have additional advantages due to their material features such as high flexibility, lower Young's modulus (enabling high sensitivity for mechanical parameters), higher elastic limits, and impact resistance. Such advantages are well-aligned with the instrumentation requirements of many healthcare devices and in movement analysis. Aiming at these advantages, this review paper presents the state-of-the-art developments of POF sensors for healthcare applications. A plethora of healthcare applications are discussed, which include movement analysis, physiological parameters monitoring, instrumented insoles, as well as instrumentation of healthcare robotic devices such as exoskeletons, smart walkers, actuators, prostheses, and orthosis. This review paper shows the feasibility of using POF sensors in healthcare applications and, due to the aforementioned advantages, it is possible to envisage a further widespread use of such sensors in this research field in the next few years.
医学的进步和生活质量的提高，导致了人口平均预期寿命的延长。人口老龄化给辅助技术的应用带来了需求，特别是对新型医疗保健设备和传感器的需求。除了电磁场抗扰度外，聚合物光纤（POF）传感器还具有其他优势，因为其材料特性，如高柔韧性、较低的杨氏模量（使机械参数具有高灵敏度）、更高的弹性极限和耐冲击性。这些优势与许多医疗保健设备和运动分析中的仪器要求非常吻合。有鉴于此，本文介绍了用于医疗保健应用的 POF 传感器的最新发展。本文讨论了大量的医疗保健应用，包括运动分析、生理参数监测、有仪器的鞋垫，以及外骨骼、智能助行器、执行器、假肢和矫形器等医疗机器人设备的仪器化。本文表明了在医疗保健应用中使用 POF 传感器的可行性，并且由于具有上述优势，在未来几年内，这种传感器在该研究领域可能会得到更广泛的应用。
