LYNNTECH INC. — Department of Defense SBIR Phase II: DHA224-D001

Description

There are large numbers of workers and military personnel that are exposed to cold stress, creating the risk of freezing cold injuries, i.e., frostbite, a localized cold injury resulting from tissue freezing. Frostbite can occur at the cheeks, ears, nose, chin and groin. However, the most concerning is freezing injury to hands and feet since they are particularly vulnerable. Hands and feet become numb at about 8°C; and tissue freezing starts at skin temperatures of -1 to -4°C. Given the necessity to provide assistance to the injured person and urgent need to evacuate the casualties, it becomes challenging in remote areas, where evacuation may be difficult. Additionally, there are limited medical treatments for frostbite. Therefore, there is a need for an effective frostbite prevention system. Currently, there are no commercial systems that can be used in cold field conditions to wirelessly monitor groups of workers and provide identification of who has extremities at risk of freezing. The work described in this proposal concerns the development of a wireless skin sensing system for frostbite prevention using proven novel, lightweight, thin, stretchable wearable sensors, and an effective low-power wireless communication system. The reader is designed as a hand-held unit capable of operation in extreme cold conditions. The proposed wearable temperature sensor will be light, small, rugged, can be used in a variety of body parts, easily integrable with socks, gloves or gloves liners, unobstructive and washable, and its operation is not affected by deformation. The system will be simple to operate and can provide real-time data. It will generate an alarm right away after a temperature reading indicates that an extremity is at risk of a frostbite, rapidly identifying the individual and extremity.