Velostat-Based Pressure Sensor Matrix for a Low-Cost Monitoring System Applied to Prevent Decubitus Ulcers

Abstract

Decubitus ulcers generate costs about 11.5 billion dollars per year in the EUA and cause many injuries such as pain, infections and deaths, totaling about 60 thousand deaths per year. Based on that, this paper presents the development of a bed pressure monitoring system, suited for everyday use to prevent pressure ulcers, that uses alarms to support the caregivers and health professionals to improve health conditions for patients. Instead of using units of sensors to build a sheet of sensors, the proposed solution was made with Velostat, a conductive material which is a carbon-impregnated polyolefin, this choice reduces the cost of the system, enabling access to patients in critical conditions in their homes or even in public hospitals. At this way, a reduced dimensions prototype was built using this conductive sheet which is pressure-sensitive and, as result, the tests demonstrate the functionality of the system, indicating peak pressure in real time on the patient’s skin on a mobile app.