Development of a flexible balloon sensor for biomechanical-electrical coupling detection in the esophagus

To detect and analyze the mechanoelectrical coupling signals of esophageal tissue, this paper proposes a novel flexible balloon sensor structure. This structure consists of four internal piezoelectric sensor arrays and sixteen external impedance electrode arrays. To validate the performance of the sensor in detecting the structural and mechanical properties of esophageal tissue, various simulations and experiments were conducted using electrical impedance spectroscopy (EIS) and mechanical reconstruction analysis. The results demonstrate that the sensor can distinguish stressed segments and detect esophageal impedance. Additionally, selecting an 80% balloon inflation level and employing a remote excitation strategy for the impedance electrode array proved to be optimal choices. Overall, the coupling signals acquired by the sensor effectively reflect the mechanical and tissue characteristics of the esophagus.