Analysis, design and construction of electronic ice cuff for athletes

Abstract

In this paper we describe an electronic ice cuff system, a flexible wearable device intended for administering cold therapy for athletic injuries. Utilising a feedback loop for temperature management through a third party electronic device, the ice cuff combines inexpensive, commodity hardware; a thermoelectric cooler, a programmed microcontroller, temperature sensor, thermoelectric driver, Bluetooth module, seven segment display, heat sink with cooling fan, 12 V dc supply, connected in a closed circuit. Initial results of this pilot experiment demonstrates that using an electronic ice cuff allows for real-time monitoring of tissue temperature during cold therapy administration, and maintenance of target temperature range for as long as cold therapy is required for the therapy to be effective. This is a clear advantage over traditional icepacks, where tissue temperature falls rapidly when the icepack is applied.