Designing to Achieve Medical Temperature Measurement Accuracy (.PDF Download)

Temperature is probably the most common physical measurement made during medical diagnosis or evaluation. Body temperature is an accurate predictor of many types of conditions and illnesses. The typical human temperature is within the range of 97.7°F to 99.5°F (36.5°C to 37.5°C) with 98.6°F (37°C) as being normal.

Such temperature readings are usually measured with a sensor under the tongue by a nurse with a portable thermometer. It takes less than 10 seconds. The precision is only one digit after the decimal point, but that’s generally enough to get an initial assessment for diagnostic purposes.

This approach isn’t good enough for clinical testing or for keeping track of human temperature over time. Therefore, some new method was required. Specifically, he need was for a temperature sensor with the 0.1°C precision of a resistance temperature detector (RTD) but without a 100-Ω platinum wire coil taped into your armpit.

A new approach offered by Texas Instruments gives the desired precision with a maximum error of less than ±0.3°C. This breakthrough development owes its success to a new wearable temperature sensor. TI and the University of California San Diego and San Francisco collaborated to improve wireless patient monitoring within the medical setting via TI's new digital temperature sensor, which offers ±0.1°C high accuracy.