Correia, Ricardo N.Blackman, O. R.Hernandez, F. U.Korposh, SergiyMorgan, S. P.Hayes-Gill, R.James, Stephen W.Evans, D.Norris, A.2016-07-052016-07-052016-05-31Correia et al. (2016) Highly sensitive contact pressure measurements using FBG patch in endotracheal tube cuff, 6th European Workshop on Optical Fibre Sensors (EWOFS'2016), Limerick, Ireland, 30-31 May 2016http://dx.doi.org/10.1117/12.2236859https://dspace.lib.cranfield.ac.uk/handle/1826/10081A method for measuring the contact pressure between an endotracheal tube cuff and the trachea was designed and developed by using a fibre Bragg grating (FBG) based optical fibre sensor. The FBG sensor is encased in an epoxy based UV-cured cuboid patch and transduces the transversely loaded pressure into an axial strain that induces wavelength shift of the Bragg reflection. The polymer patch was created by using a PTFE based mould and increases tensile strength and sensitivity of the bare fibre FBG to pressure to 2.10×10-2 nm/kPa. The characteristics of the FBG patch allow for continuous measurement of contact pressure. The measurement of contact pressure was demonstrated by the use of a 3D printed model of a human trachea. The influence of temperature on the measurements is reduced significantly by the use of a second FBG sensor patch that is not in contact with the trachea. Intracuff pressure measurements performed using a commercial manometer agreed well with the FBG contact pressure measurements. © (2016) COPYRIGHT Society of Photo-Optical Instrumentation Engineers (SPIE). Downloading of the abstract is permitted for personal use only.enAttribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 InternationalFibre Bragg GratingFBGIntracuff pressureContact pressureEndotracheal tubeETTArticle