Fraunhofer Institute for Electronic Nano Systems
Body temperature is an essential indicator for the occurrence of infections and can be used as an indicator for the diseases outbreak already 72 hours before the actual fever (38.1 °C). In the project beforeFever, Fraunhofer ENAS explores manufacturing strategies for flexible and cost-effective wearables for temperature measurement on the human body to enable an initial indication or a follow-up of sick patients. By using and combining conventional printing technologies, flexible polymer films could be coated with graphical indicators and adapted thermochromic pigments with temperature indication from 37 °C. The future use of novel ultra-thin and breathable medical substrate materials is expected to extend the wearing time of the indicators up to 14 days. Therefore, this cost-effective measurement method is very well suited for use even in underserved regions or with very high patient numbers.