Wearable Technology for Assessment of Personal Exposure to Volatile Organic Compo

用于评估个人接触挥发性有机成分的可穿戴技术

• 批准号: 8252305
• 负责人: Stephen L Coy
• 金额: $ 19.9万
• 依托单位: IMAGINATIVE TECHNOLOGIES, LLC
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 财政年份: 2011
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2011-09-24 至 2012-09-30
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/8252305
• 关键词: Address; Breath Tests; Cellular Phone; Chemical Warfare Agents; Chemicals; Communication; Conscious; Data; Databases; Detection; Development; Devices; Environmental Exposure; Environmental Risk Factor; Equipment; Evaluation; Exposure to; Feasibility Studies; Gases; Goals; Hand; Health; Immunocompromised Host; In Situ; Individual; Investigation; Joints; Law Enforcement; Malignant Neoplasms; Mass Spectrum Analysis; Measurement; Measures; Mechanics; Medical; Methods; Military Personnel; Minnesota; Monitor; Narcotics; National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences; Optics; Performance; Phase; Polymers; Protocols documentation; Reaction Time; Recommendation; Records; Reporting; Research Personnel; Site; Specificity; Sports; System; Technology; Technology Assessment; Test Result; Testing; Time; United States Environmental Protection Agency; Universities; Vacuum; Validation; Work; base; cantilever; commercialization; cost; cost effective; data acquisition; demographics; design; detector; evaluation/testing; gas analyzer; improved; information processing; innovation; instrument; interest; novel; operation; planetary Atmosphere; pollutant; pressure; sensor; volatile organic compound

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): Volatile organic compounds (VOC's) have been recognized as the principal pollutants in the atmosphere. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) found that almost 50% total estimated lifetime cancer cases could be attributed to VOC's. The specific goal of this Phase I feasibility study proposed here is the development and validation of a novel microsensor breadboard system which will provide a reliable and highly sensitivite monitoring of VOC's. This novel micro gas sensor system will be based on a Micro Electro-Mechanical Systems (MEMS) implementation consisting of an ultra- fast micro Gas Chromatograph (mGC) and an array of optical cantilevers based highly sensitive micro gas sensor. The sensor system will small enough to be wearable or hand carried (size of an iPod), highly efficient, rugged, with an integrated detection and identification system for detection and analysis of Volatile Organic Compounds (VOCs). This proposed device, which will be called VOCAS, will be able detect and accurately analyze VOC's of interest with high specificity at ppm to sub-ppb levels with greatly reduced false positives. Detection levels are better than those of mass spectrometry over a large range of chemicals without the need for a complicated, bulky vacuum system. Our long term goal is to provide a noninvasive, low-profile, near real-time (within 15 seconds), affordable personal environmental exposure monitor platform for monitoring VOC's. This platform, which will be virtually unnoticed by the user for maximum performance and convenience, will provide a rugged, quantitative, reliable, in-field highly sensitive (sub ppb in some cases) measurement of personal-level, point-of-contact exposure to a variety of VOC's of particular interest to health conscious end-users, sports enthusiasts, the immunocompromised, and medical professionals. Integrated Bluetooth communication protocols will be employed to send real-time information wirelessly to a cell phone or PDA. In turn, this information can then be sent wirelessly to online databases for storing and processing information relating personal health with personal environmental factors and user demographics. Key attributes of the VOCS platform include: 1) Vastly increased sensitivity (low ppb), 1-to-2 orders of magnitude superior to current in-situ devices, 2) reduction of false positives due to specificity superior to current in-situ devices, 3) MEMS based chip sized detector module, enabling hand-held/wearable iPod sized field-portable miniature system, and 4) ambient-pressure operation without complicated vacuum systems. We envision that in addition to NIEHS uses, this proposed detector system has several other potential applications such as military uses (detection of many types of explosives and of chemical warfare agents), medical uses (breath analysis), and law enforcement uses (narcotics). PUBLIC HEALTH RELEVANCE: The NIEHS has determined the need for developing and validating new products/devices to improve our ability to precisely measure environmental exposures to individuals utilizing small, field deployable/wearable devices capable of measuring simultaneously and in near real time, multiple agents within a single exposure class such as volatile organic compounds (VOC's). Current detection methods for measuring the concentration of VOC's are inadequate because they require bulky, expensive equipment or off-site spectrochemical analysis. As a joint collaborative effort between a highly innovative small company, Imaginative Technologies (IT) and University of Minnesota (UM) this project will design, and build a breadboard sensor which will be based on a MEMS implementation consisting of an ultra-fast Gas Chromatograph (GC) and a highly sensitive optical array of cantilevers for the detection and identification of VOC's. This unit in breadboard form will be used to demonstrate parts-per-billion for detection and identification of VOCs with about 15 sec response time. This initial development phase will explore the possibility of a sensor platform (including associated data acquisition, logging and communication subsystems) which will be small enough to be wearable/handcarried (size of an iPod), highly efficient, and rugged enough to be used in the field. Cost-effective and accurate monitoring will allow workers to identify and avoid dangerous situations. Integrated data-logging capabilities will provide employers, regulators, and researchers with reliable exposure records.

描述（由申请人提供）：挥发性有机化合物（VOC）已被认为是大气中的主要污染物。美国环境保护局（EPA）发现，近50％的估计终身癌症病例可能归因于VOC的癌症。此阶段I可行性研究的具体目标是对新型微型传感器面包板系统的开发和验证，该系统将对VOC的可靠且高度敏感的监测。这个新型的微气体传感器系统将基于由超快速微气相色谱仪（MGC）和一系列基于光学悬臂的高度敏感的微型气体传感器组成的微型机电系统（MEMS）实现。传感器系统将足够小，可以穿着或手工携带（iPod的尺寸），高效，坚固耐用，并具有集成的检测和识别系统，用于检测和分析挥发性有机化合物（VOC）。该提议的设备将被称为VOCAS，将能够以PPM的高特异性检测并准确地分析VOC的voc，并以大大降低的假阳性为子PPB级别。检测水平比在大量化学物质上的质谱水平要好，而无需复杂的笨重的真空系统。 我们的长期目标是提供一个无创，低调的实时（在15秒内），负担得起的个人环境曝光监视器平台，用于监视VOC。该平台实际上不会被用户注意以提高性能和便利性，它将提供坚固，定量，可靠的，场地高度敏感的（在某些情况下为SUB PPB）测量个人级别，接触式接触的个人水平，与健康意识的最终意识最终的最终用户，体育爱好者，无限制的医学专业和医学专业人士，以及对健康意识的各种VOC的暴露。将采用集成的蓝牙通信协议将实时信息无线发送到手机或PDA。反过来，这些信息然后可以无线发送到在线数据库中，以存储和处理个人健康与个人环境因素和用户人口统计信息有关的信息。 Key attributes of the VOCS platform include: 1) Vastly increased sensitivity (low ppb), 1-to-2 orders of magnitude superior to current in-situ devices, 2) reduction of false positives due to specificity superior to current in-situ devices, 3) MEMS based chip sized detector module, enabling hand-held/wearable iPod sized field-portable miniature system, and 4) ambient-pressure operation without complicated vacuum系统。我们设想，除了NIEHS的用途外，该提出的探测器系统还具有其他一些潜在的应用，例如军事用途（检测许多类型的炸药和化学战代理），医疗用途（呼吸分析）和执法用途（麻醉品）。 公共卫生相关性：NIEHS确定了开发和验证新产品/设备的必要性，以提高我们精确测量能够使用小型，可部署/可穿戴的设备来衡量环境暴露的能力，能够同时实时和实时测量，在单个暴露班级中进行多个试剂，例如挥发性有机化合物（例如VOC的挥发性有机化合物）。当前测量VOC浓度的检测方法是不足的，因为它们需要笨重，昂贵的设备或异地光谱化学分析。作为一家高度创新的小型公司，想象力技术（IT）和明尼苏达大学（UM）之间的共同合作，该项目将设计，并建立一个基于由超快速气相色谱仪（GC）组成的MEMS实现的面包板传感器，以及由高度敏感的cantile阵列进行检测和识别VEC和VEC的光学阵列。面包板形式的该单元将用于展示每十亿分的零件，以检测和识别大约15秒响应时间的VOC。这个初始开发阶段将探讨传感器平台（包括关联的数据采集，日志记录和通信子系统）的可能性，该平台将足够小，可以穿戴/手工（iPod的尺寸），高效且坚固耐用，足以在现场使用。经济高效且准确的监控将使工人能够识别并避免危险情况。集成的数据遗传功能将为雇主，监管机构和研究人员提供可靠的暴露记录。