Magnetostrictive amorphous sensor for biomedical monitoring

In biomedical engineering, increased attempts are made to develop sensors for the monitoring of various physiological functions. Besides of being sensitive and reliable, these sensors should be compact and light, thus not disabling the patient (or testee) in a considerable way. These requirements are encouraging the application of amorphous ferromagnetic ribbons with very low thickness. Their effectiveness already has been demonstrated by K. Mohri et al., who applied ribbons of high permeability in connection with a small permanent magnet for the monitoring of heart functions On the other hand, the present paper proposes the use of ribbons of high magnetostriction for the monitoring of articular movements (being relevant, e.g., for sports medicine) and of ventilation, respectively, making use of strain effects.