Wearable Heat Related Injury Risk Analysis (WHERA) system Resubmission

PROJECT SUMMARY/ABSTRACT With climate change unfolding, temperature-related illnesses, such as hypothermia and hyperthermia, affect increasing numbers of individuals worldwide every year. Core body temperature has been shown to be a reliable diagnostic of temperature-related illness and its severity, but the current measurement methods are inadequate because they fail to combine minimal invasiveness with high measurement accuracy. Dual-heat flux thermometry is a promising new way of measuring core body temperature at the skin surface, but thus far has lacked precision and compactness due to the limitations of traditional temperature sensing elements. To solve this problem, our team has synthesized thermally sensitive polymers and applied them in a dual-heat flux architecture. By varying the ratio between the polymer building blocks, our team was able to obtain thin films of polymer with thermal resolution of 10 mK. These wearable patches will provide real-time core body temperature information to individuals at risk of temperature-related injury such as firefighters, industrial and farm field workers, military personnel, athletes, as well as to patients requiring core body temperature monitoring for clinical reasons.