REU 2021 \ Solar Shield

Prototyping Solar Radiation Shields for WearableTemperature Sensors

Studies on Individual Heat Exposure typically use small temperature sensors in various ways that make it difficult to validate data and do cross-study comparisons. This study attempts to prototype custom-made wearable solar radiation shields to improve hyperlocal ambient temperature sensing in urban areas where residents are vulnerable to the urban heat island effect.

Project Video People

Our Project

Temperature increase in urban areas caused by climate change negatively affect biodiversity and community health. Mortality caused by urban heat is higher than all other natural disasters combined. There is a need for more research in understanding individual heat experiences among urban residents in order to develop systems and encourage practices that prevent negative effects of urban heat. However, related work has mostly utilized wearable temperature sensors in various ways that is difficult to validate and do cross-study comparisons as small temperature sensors overheat under direct sunlight. This research addresses the issue by prototyping cases for wearable iButton temperature sensors on participants bodies spatially and temporally, and comparing results to on-site temperature sensors to test accuracy. The expected results are that casings that are designed to ignore body heat and attached to the correct body part will show more accurate temperatures. This research is important to determining policy and community action to lessen the risk of high temperatures to community health.

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Big Points

1. Designing wearable solar radiation shields does not provide more accurate data collection on personal heat exposure.
2. There are several shield design factors that affect temperature sensor performance.
3. On-Body locations affect temperature sensor performance.

Video

Improving the Reliability of Wearable Temperature Sensors Presentation

This video shows a summary of how our project was developed, beginning with the presentation of the problem faced by urban communities regarding exposure to extreme heat and how it causes health problems. Then, it is explained what is sought to achieve with this project and how it will be done, to continue with the design process of custom made wearable solar radiation shields together with the factors that interfere in its efficiency and in how the researchers design the prototypes to improve their precision. The places where the trials were carried out are shown, finally the results obtained during the trials are shown, as well as a comparison between the data from the iButton and the HoBo.