Conditions for CNT – Coated Textile Sensors Applied to Wearable Platforms to Monitor Limb Joint Motion

Despite recent research on joint motion measurement to monitor human body movement, current measurement techniques and tools have significant limitations, including requiring large space for measurement and causing discomfort in test subjects wearing motion sensors. Our study aims, first, to develop carbon nanotube (CNT)-based textile joint motion sensors. Second, ours study aims to identify the most suitable CNT-based sensor structure and attachment method for use on a wearable platform during general exercise speeds. Lastly, we used these sensors on the human body, using sleeves and legs to find the most stable location, and we used the CNT-based sensor condition to monitor joint motions. We utilized our CNT-based sensor, which has proper elasticity as well as conductivity, and applied it to the elbow and knee joints. Based on the strain gauge principle, we monitored the variance of electric resistance that occurred when the CNT-based sensor was stretched due to limb motion. Our study tested 48 types of sensors. These sensors were applied to the CNT using different base knit textiles as well as different attachment methods, layers, sensor lengths, and sensor widths. The four most successful sensor types, which showed superior efficacy over the others in joint motion measurement, were selected for further study. These four sensors were then used to measure the elbow and knee joint motions of human subjects by placing them on different locations on sleeves and legs. The CNT knit textile sensors best suited to measuring joint motions are those with a double-layered CNT knit and 5 cm long × 0.5 cm or 1 cm wide sensors attached to a polyester¬-based knit using a welding method. The best position for the sensor to more stably monitor joint motions was the “below hinge position” from the elbow or knee hinge joint. Our study suggests an alternative strategy for joint-motion measurement that could contribute to the development of more comfortable and human-friendly methods of human limb motion measurement.