Shape Memory Alloy-based Whole Blood Glucose Monitoring Device: The e-Mosquito
Abstract
Diabetes Mellitus (DM) is a systemic disorder that results in elevated blood glucose levels in the body, leading to many secondary complications. Presently, manual fingerpicking tests remain the most popular method of blood glucose monitoring (BGM). However, the tests are often ignored by DM patients due to the pain and inconvenience. This thesis aims at addressing a growing demand for replacing the fingerpricking tests by presenting a wearable microsystem for minimally invasive, autonomous and pseudo-continuous blood glucose monitoring, the e-Mosquito. The proposed design of the e-Mosquito device aims to extract whole blood sample from a small lanced skin wound using a novel shape memory alloy (SMA)-based microactuator and directly measure the blood glucose level from this sample. A completely functional prototype of the e-Mosquito was developed. The prototype was first tested in-vitro on a custom-designed mechanical test station. Measurements showed that the output force and depth met the minimum requirements for reaching subcutaneous blood capillaries. The microactuation mechanism was also evaluated by extracting blood samples from the wrist of four human volunteers. 19 out of 23 actuations successfully reached capillary vessels below the wrist producing blood droplets on the surface of the skin. The integrated potentiostat-based glucose sensing circuit of the e-Mosquito device also showed a good linear correlation (R^2=0.9733) with measurements using standard BGM technology. These proof-of-concept studies demonstrated the feasibility of the SMA-based e-Mosquito device for replacing the fingerpricking tests in DM management.
Description
Keywords
Engineering--Biomedical, Engineering--Electronics and Electrical
Citation
Wang, G. (2017). Shape Memory Alloy-based Whole Blood Glucose Monitoring Device: The e-Mosquito (Doctoral thesis, University of Calgary, Calgary, Canada). Retrieved from https://prism.ucalgary.ca. doi:10.11575/PRISM/27771