Motion Velocity, Acceleration and Energy Expenditure Estimation Using Micro Flow Sensor

Motion velocity, acceleration, and energy expenditure estimations are important in quantitative assessments for physical recovery and exercise-based interventions for post-stroke patients with partial losses of neurological functions. This paper proposes a novel wearable motion estimation device using a micro flow sensor, which realizes motion velocity, acceleration detection, and energy expenditure estimation for human limb motion. A homemade micro thermal flow sensor is used to detect motion velocity. Jerk-Kalman based algorithm is proposed to extract motion acceleration from the flow sensor outputs. Motion velocity and acceleration are used to estimate energy expenditure of limb motion. Calibration experiments and application cases are conducted to validate the effectiveness of the methodology. The micro flow sensor based motion estimation method is free of accumulated error, robust for dynamic motion measurement, and provides a promising auxiliary approach for evaluating energy expenditures of human limbs in rehabilitation training.