Diaper that alerts when it needs to be changed developed
Japanese scientists have developed a urine-powered sensor that can alert caregivers when a diaper is wet. It took the scientists five years to develop a flexible embeddable battery and urine sensor for diaper. The setup contains a battery attached to capacitor that stores generated electricity and a transmitter which can beam signal to a receiver up to 16 feet away.
Tokyo, Dec 26 (PTI) Scientists in Japan have developed a new urine-powered sensor that can alert caregivers when a diaper is wet and ready to be changed. A team from the Ritsumeikan University in Japan worked on the diaper for about five years, with the aim of caring for ageing patients suffering from urinary incontinence. Producing a sensor suitable for a diaper proved to be a challenge, researchers said. They first developed a urine sensor too rigid to embed into a diaper. Flexible embeddable battery and sensor contain a chemical potentially unsafe for humans and their charging times varied. The new diaper sensors overcome all of those problems by using a urine-activated battery, Gizmodo reported. 