Textile Heat Flux Sensor Used in Stress Detection of Children with CP

This work is part of the European project MOTION (Interreg 2 Seas Mers Zeeën), which aims to develop an exoskeleton for children with cerebral palsy (CP). The developed exoskeleton is equipped with a smart garment in order to detect the stress (e.g. physical, physiological) during the rehabilitation. Five different sensors, i.e. electrocardiogram (ECG), respiratory rate (RR), pressure, galvanic skin response (GSR) and textile heat fluxmeter (THF), are integrated into this smart garment for stress detection. This paper focuses on the development of the textile heat fluxmeter. Several researchers used heat fluxmeters in physiological studies to measure the body heat exchanges with the environment. However, the non-permeability of such fluxmeter gives inaccurate measurements in wet condition. Innovative flexible textile heat fluxmeter may detect, analyze, and monitor the heat and mass transfers with minimum disturbance due to its porosity. Moreover, it is desirable to have flexible sensors when they need to be in contact with the human body, in which the flexibility and non-irritability requirements are of utmost importance.