A Polypyrrole-based Strain Sensor Dedicated to Measure Bladder Volume in Patients with Urinary Dysfunction

Abstract

This paper describes a new technique to measure urine volume in patients with urinary bladder dysfunction. Polypyrrole – an electronically conducting polymer - is chemically deposited on a highly elastic fabric. This fabric, when placed around a phantom bladder, produced a reproducible change in electrical resistance on stretching. The resistance response to stretching is linear in 20%-40% strain variation. This change in resistance is influenced by chemical fabrication conditions. We also demonstrate the dynamic mechanical testing of the patterned polypyrrole on fabric in order to show the feasibility of passive interrogation of the strain sensor for biomedical sensing applications.

Keywords

• Strain sensor
• urinary bladder volume
• polypyrrole
• impedance spectroscopy
• elastic properties
• gauge factor