WO2018133522A1 - Fabric electrode and electrocardiogram monitor - Google Patents

Abstract

A fabric electrode and electrocardiogram monitor. The fabric electrode comprises a substrate (1) and a conductive fabric (2). The conductive fabric (2) is fixed to the substrate (1). A chamber is formed between the conductive fabric (2) and the and substrate (1). An elastic supporting member (3) is filled in the chamber. The conductive fabric (2) located opposite to the substrate (1) is a honeycomb structure fabric having a honeycomb opening facing away from the substrate (1). A conducting resin (4) is filled in the honeycomb. The electrocardiogram monitor comprises the fabric electrode. The fabric electrode has favorable breathability and a relatively stable structure, provides stable contact with skin to effectively prevent the fabric electrode from moving, and reduces a contact resistance between the fabric electrode (2) and the skin. The electrocardiogram monitor achieves higher resolution, sensitivity, and stability of a detected physiological signal.

Description

Fabric electrode and ECG tester Technical field

The invention belongs to the technical field of medical device/medical device auxiliary device, and particularly relates to a fabric electrode and an electrocardiograph.

Background technique

With the improvement of people's living standards, more and more unhealthy eating habits, and the irregularity of people's living and working conditions in urban areas, cardiovascular and cerebrovascular diseases have become the most important health threat to the elderly in recent years, second only to cancer. Effective prevention of sudden death caused by cardiovascular and cerebrovascular diseases is effective monitoring of the cardiovascular and cerebrovascular system of chronic diseases, especially long-term monitoring at night, which will increase the probability of catching disease changes, such as premature ventricular contractions. Monitoring requires 6 hours of monitoring to be reliably obtained.

For patients with cardiovascular and cerebrovascular chronic diseases, long-term monitoring in hospitals is difficult to achieve. The ideal state is to carry out long-term nighttime sleep monitoring in the home environment. During the monitoring process, the physiological signals of the human body are output and sent to the designated server, and the early warning is provided by comparing and analyzing and identifying certain dangerous signals. The experiment found that effective early warning can greatly reduce the probability of accidental sudden death. Therefore, the wearable system for physiological signal acquisition used in the home environment provides an effective way for patients with cardiovascular and cerebrovascular diseases to prolong their lives.

The acquisition structure of the physiological electrical signal is called an electrode. Conductive electrode is a common accessory on health care equipment. It can be used to evenly transmit current signals on the human body. It can also be used to collect electrical signals from human body electrical signals. The electrodes are divided into various types. The silica electrode is divided into water-absorbing electrodes according to its application. , heating electrodes and conductive electrodes, etc. The characteristics of the conductive electrode are as follows: first, it has far-infrared rays; second, it has anti-fouling, deodorizing, absorbing toxins, and inhibiting bacteria; third is good in conductivity; fourth is electrode use. Soft and elastic, it can be applied to any part of the body. The conductive electrode is made up of eucalyptus oil, medical amide and a variety of strong adhesion chemical raw materials and non-woven fibers; it is soft, comfortable, safe and hygienic, has no irritation to the skin, has no side effects, and relies on its high electrical conductivity. It can be used in all kinds of medium and low frequency physiotherapy devices as well as in medical and beauty industries.

Due to the wide range of physiotherapy and health care equipment, there are higher requirements for different forms of conductive electrodes, which not only require good conduction performance, but also have good practical performance. Flexible electrodes have emerged in this context, flexible electrodes have flexibility and breathability, and the performance of the electrodes can improve the wearing comfort when wearing the monitoring system for a long time. The experiment found that the newly developed flexible and permeable dry electrode can collect and monitor the ECG signal under the resting state of the human body, but the EEG signal is very weak.

In addition, fabric electrodes have been shown to better capture physiological electrical signals in the resting state of the human body, mainly due to the fact that the conductive fibers in the fabric are very close to the heart when worn (the ECG signal is strong). However, when the human body is in an active state, the disadvantages of the fabric dry electrode are manifested, that is, a slight slip between the skin and the skin may cause a baseline shift of the signal; or a large impedance between the skin and the fabric electrode causes a large noise, Will affect the system's judgment of human physiological signals. Therefore, the existing electrodes of the wearable device can not solve the problem of physiological signal acquisition stability under the dynamic condition of the human body.

To sum up, the existing electrode structure of physiological electrical signal acquisition mainly has the following problems:

1. The impedance between the existing flexible fabric of the fabric and the skin is relatively large, resulting in large signal noise and instability;

2. When the human body wears the fabric electrode, the existing electrode and the skin may appear relative displacement, causing signal motion artifacts;

3. When wearing the fabric electrode, in order to achieve stable signal acquisition, the tight-fitting method is often used, thus causing discomfort in the wearing monitoring device.

Summary of the invention

The object of the present invention is to overcome the above deficiencies of the prior art and to provide a fabric electrode for solving It is a technical problem that the existing fabric electrode has poor signal stability and is uncomfortable.

Another object of the present invention is to provide an electrocardiograph to solve the problem of signal distortion caused by poor signal stability and uncomfortable defects of the existing electrocardiograph due to the presence of electrodes, and the technical problem of limited use.

In order to achieve the above object, in an aspect of the invention, a fabric electrode is provided. The fabric electrode comprises a substrate and a conductive fabric, the conductive fabric is fixedly coupled to the substrate, and a cavity is formed between the conductive fabric and the substrate, and the cavity is filled with an elastic support body, at least The conductive fabric of the opposite surface region of the substrate has a honeycomb structure, and the honeycomb opening of the honeycomb structure is away from the substrate, and the conductive rubber is filled in the nest.

In another aspect of the invention, an electrocardiograph is provided. The electrocardiograph comprises an electrode and the electrode is a fabric electrode of the invention.

Compared with the prior art, the fabric electrode of the present invention has a honeycomb structure at least in contact with the conductive fabric of the human body, and the composite structure formed by the conductive fabric and the conductive adhesive can effectively improve the gas permeability of the fabric electrode and enhance the gas permeability. Comfort; on the other hand, it enhances the stability of the fabric electrode structure, enhances the stability of the contact between the fabric electrode and the skin, effectively avoids the displacement of the fabric electrode, and reduces the contact resistance between the conductive fabric and the skin, and improves The resolution, sensitivity and stability of fabric electrode physiological signal monitoring.

The electrode of the electrocardiograph of the invention adopts the fabric electrode of the invention, thereby effectively improving the bonding force between the electrode and the skin, avoiding the relative displacement of the electrode, and reducing the impedance between the electrode and the skin, thereby improving the heart. The resolution and sensitivity of the physiological signal monitoring of the electric tester.

DRAWINGS

1 is a schematic structural view of a fabric electrode according to an embodiment of the present invention;

2 is a schematic view showing the honeycomb structure of the conductive fabric contained in the fabric electrode according to the embodiment of the present invention;

Figure 3 is a partial front elevational view showing the honeycomb structure of the conductive fabric contained in the fabric electrode of the embodiment of the present invention;

4 is a schematic view showing the structure of a substrate included in a fabric electrode according to an embodiment of the present invention.

detailed description

In order to make the technical problems, technical solutions and beneficial effects to be solved by the present invention more clearly, the present invention will be further described in detail below with reference to the embodiments and drawings. It is understood that the specific embodiments described herein are merely illustrative of the invention and are not intended to limit the invention.

In one aspect, embodiments of the present invention provide a fabric electrode. The fabric electrode structure is shown in Figures 1-4 and includes a substrate 1 and a conductive fabric 2. The conductive fabric 2 is fixedly coupled to the substrate 1 , and a cavity is formed between the conductive fabric 2 and the substrate 1 , and the cavity is filled with an elastic support 3 .

The substrate 1 contained in the above fabric electrode provides a carrier for bonding structural members such as the conductive fabric 2. In one embodiment, the shape and size of the substrate 1 substantially determines the shape and size of the fabric electrode of the embodiment of the present invention, and the specific shape and size may be determined according to the practical application requirements of the fabric electrode. As in an embodiment, the shape of the substrate 1 may be circular or square. In another embodiment, regardless of whether the substrate 1 is circular or square, the circular diameter or square side length may be from 3 cm to 5 cm. The thickness of the substrate 1 can be flexibly selected according to the material. In one embodiment, the thickness is controlled to be 1 to 5 mm. In addition, the material of the substrate 1 may be selected from metals, and specifically may be stainless steel, aluminum alloy or the like. Of course, the material of the substrate 1 can also be plastic, regardless of the metal or plastic, to ensure that the conductive fabric 2 is electrically connected to the signal collection system.

The bonding of the substrate 1 and the conductive fabric 2 can be performed by using an adhesive, such as a conductive adhesive. In order to improve the bonding stability of the two, in one embodiment, a pinhole structure 11 is formed on the periphery of the substrate 1. The pinhole structure is used for the passage of the sewing thread, and the two substrates 1 of the conductive fabric 2 are sewn and fixedly connected, thereby improving the stability of the connection between the two, that is, improving the stability of the fabric electrode structure.

In addition, the above substrate 1 is a mesh structure 12, and a pinhole structure 11 is evenly distributed at the edges thereof, as shown in FIG. This structure can effectively reduce the weight of the substrate 1, that is, reduce the weight of the entire electrode and improve its gas permeability.

The conductive fabric 2 contained in the above fabric electrode has electrical conductivity and can effectively capture electrical signals. At least in the region of the conductive fabric 2 opposite to the substrate 1, a honeycomb structure is provided. Of course, the entire conductive fabric 2 can also be provided in a honeycomb structure. Among them, the structure of the honeycomb is shown in Figures 2 and 3. In addition, the nest opening of the honeycomb structure is facing away from the substrate, that is, the opening of the nest is oriented toward a contact surface such as skin.

Since the conductive fabric 2 in the region opposite to the substrate is directly in contact with the surface to be inspected, such as the skin, when the fabric electrode is specifically operated, at least the conductive fabric 2 of the region is disposed or woven into a honeycomb structure. The air permeability of the fabric is effectively improved; on the other hand, the contact surface with the conductive adhesive 4 filled in the nest is increased, thereby enhancing the bonding force between the conductive adhesive 4 and the conductive fabric 2, and the fabric electrode is improved. In addition, the honeycomb structure can also provide a buffering space, and enhance the squeezing buffer space between the fabric electrode and the contact surface such as the skin, so that the fabric electrode is in close contact with the skin surface, and the gas permeability is ensured. .

In a further embodiment, the nest of the honeycomb structure presents a pyramid shape with the spire facing the substrate 1. The nest is arranged in a pyramid shape, and when the electrode is pressed, the cushioning function of the honeycomb structure is further improved, and the fabric electrode is further improved to ensure close contact with the skin surface under the action of the pressing force, and the gas permeability is ensured.

In a specific embodiment, the surface resistance of the conductive fabric 2 in each of the above embodiments is controlled to be not more than 10 Ω/m ² . In another embodiment, the conductive fabric 2 has a thickness of 2 to 10 mm, and the honeycomb structure has a thickness of 2 to 10 mm. In still another embodiment, the conductive fabric 2, particularly the honeycomb structure region, has a warp and weft density of 15 to 30/cm ² , the warp and weft yarn density of 20 to 80, and the honeycomb structure has a cell size of 12*12. Warp and weft, 18*18 warp and weft or 24*24. The honeycomb structure is formed by weaving conductive fibers according to the design of the honeycomb structure using various types of looms (swords, jets, and the like) according to the existing process.

In still another embodiment, the fiber material of the conductive fabric 2 is any one of silver-plated nylon filament, high-strength stainless steel filament, and polymer conductive fiber, or two or more blended fibers.

The conductive adhesive 4 is filled in the honeycomb structure of the above-mentioned conductive fabric 2, which on the one hand improves the bonding force between the above-mentioned fabric electrode and the contact surface such as the skin, and at the same time, assists the conductive fabric 2 to capture the electrical signal, and improves the conductive fabric 2 Sensitivity. The conductive paste 4 is filled in the nest of the honeycomb structure and overflows the nest appropriately, for example, a conductive adhesive layer can be formed outside the honeycomb structure. In an embodiment, the conductive paste 4 has a bulk resistance of not more than 10 ³ Ω·cm. In another embodiment, the conductive adhesive 4 may be a conductive latex, such as a conductive material (such as graphene oxide or metal micro-nano particles, content <10 wt%) added to the nipple material to form a bulk resistance of less than 10 ³ Ω. Cm silica gel with a certain adhesion.

The elastic support body 3 contained in the fabric electrode can serve as a cushioning function, and the fabric electrode can be ensured to adhere to the skin surface under the action of the pressing force, and the gas permeability is ensured. Thus, when the fabric electrode is used in a wearable device, the elasticity of the wearable device in contact with human skin can be flexibly adjusted, and the flexibility of wearing can be improved. In a specific embodiment, the thickness of the elastic support body 3 is controlled to be 5 to 10 mm. In another embodiment, the elastic support body 3 is made of any one of a sponge, a high elastic spacer fabric, and a rubber. The sponge may be, but not limited to, a polyurethane foam sponge, a polyester sponge, a polyether sponge, a polyvinyl alcohol sponge, or the like. The material has high elasticity and good gas permeability, thereby improving the gas permeability and the buffering ability of the above-mentioned fabric electrode, further ensuring that the fabric electrode is in close contact with the skin surface, and the gas permeability is ensured. Alternatively, the elastic support 3 may be coated with the above-mentioned conductive fabric 2, and then the conductive fabric may be bonded to the substrate 1, such as by adhesive bonding or/and suture stitching.

On the basis of the above embodiments, the surface of the substrate 1 opposite to the bonding surface of the conductive fabric 2 is also fixedly coupled with a connecting member 5 for connecting the fabric electrode to the fabric electrode carrier. The connection of the connecting member 5 to the fabric electrode carrier is preferably a detachable connection, of course, it may also be a fixed connection, preferably a detachable connection, such as the connecting piece 5 being a Velcro, a buckle with the female snap, and a pin. Connect any one. The fixed connection can be a sewn connection.

Therefore, the above fabric electrode not only has excellent gas permeability, enhances comfort, but also has excellent structural stability, enhances stability in contact with the skin, effectively avoids the displacement of the fabric electrode, and the skin The low contact resistance between the two increases the resolution, sensitivity and stability of the physiological signal monitoring of the fabric electrode.

On the other hand, on the basis of the above fabric electrode, the embodiment of the invention also provides an electrocardiogram Tester. The device may be a conventional electrocardiograph, or may be a wearable electrocardiograph, preferably a wearable ECG tester, the electrocardiograph contains an electrode, and the electrode is implemented by the invention described above. Example fabric electrode. In this way, the bonding force between the electrode and the skin is effectively improved, the relative displacement of the electrode is avoided, and the impedance between the electrode and the skin is reduced, thereby improving the resolution and sensitivity of the physiological signal monitoring of the electrocardiograph.

The above is only the preferred embodiment of the present invention, and is not intended to limit the present invention. Any modifications, equivalent substitutions and improvements made within the spirit and principles of the present invention should be included in the protection of the present invention. Within the scope.

Claims (10)

A fabric electrode comprising a substrate and a conductive fabric, wherein the conductive fabric is fixedly coupled to the substrate, and a cavity is formed between the conductive fabric and the substrate, and the cavity is filled with elastic support The conductive fabric at least opposite to the substrate is in a honeycomb structure, and the honeycomb opening of the honeycomb structure is away from the substrate, and a conductive paste is filled in the nest. The fabric electrode of claim 1 wherein said cells are pyramid shaped with the spire facing said substrate. The fabric electrode according to claim 1 or 2, wherein the conductive fabric has a sheet resistance of not more than 10 Ω/m ² ; and/or The conductive fabric has a thickness of 2 to 10 mm; and/or The conductive fabric includes a warp and weft density of the honeycomb structure of 15 to 30/cm ² and a warp and weft yarn density of 20 to 80. The fabric electrode according to claim 3, wherein the fiber material of the conductive fabric is any one or two or more kinds of blended fibers of silver-plated nylon filament, high-strength stainless steel filament, and polymer conductive fiber. The fabric electrode according to any one of claims 1, 2, 4, wherein the conductive paste has a bulk resistance of not more than 10 ³ Ω·cm. The fabric electrode according to claim 1 or 2, wherein the elastic support has a thickness of 5 to 10 mm; and/or The elastic support material is any one of a sponge, a spacer fabric, and a rubber. A fabric electrode according to any one of claims 1 to 2, wherein a surface opposite to the conductive fabric bonding surface of the substrate is further bonded with a connector for achieving connection with the fabric electrode carrier. The fabric electrode according to claim 7, wherein the connecting member is a Velcro, a male buckle that is engaged with the female snap, a pin connection, and a stitching. The fabric electrode according to any one of claims 1, 2, 4, or 8, wherein a periphery of the substrate is provided with a pinhole structure, and the conductive fabric passes through a line passing through the pinhole and the substrate Sewing is fixed. An electrocardiograph comprising an electrode, characterized in that the electrode is a fabric electrode according to any of claims 1-9.

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