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Taiwan-made technology enhanced diapers to hit market this year

15 Feb '13

2 min read

The 'smart' disposable diapers developed by Taiwan's Industrial Technology Research Institute (ITRI) are likely to be launched in the market by December this year.

According to a Focus Taiwan report, Chiou Yii-tay, a special assistant at the state-funded institute's Cloud Service Application Center, said they expect to commercially launch the electronic diapers by end of this year, as soon as KNH Enterprise Co., a producer of nonwovens, concludes making the final adjustments to its sensor computing system.

Together with medical device supplier Sinopulsar Technology Inc. and inorganic material provider Hua Mao Nano-Tech Co., KNH is also working on the new idea developed by the institute.

Designed with a view to improve the quality of health care in the long-term, the diapers would automatically intimate the nurses or caretakers when they need to be changed. The sensor in the diaper would sense when it is filthy and would send a wireless transmission signal to a chosen phone, with intimation that it needs to be changed.

These are more suitable for adult patients suffering from chronic diseases, ITRI said.

Use of anti-bacterial and far infrared ray nonwovens in these diapers, make them even more hygienic than other traditional diapers.

A number of Taiwanese health care institutes have tested similar kind of 'smart' diapers and mattresses on chronic disease patients and are making adjustments in lines with their response.

The ITRI said in future they would try to integrate the diapers with other medical care equipment through telecom, security and cable television systems for cloud data analysis, to create a platform for new medical care and health management services.

In 2011, Taiwan sold medical devices and equipments worth around NT$ 100 billion or US$ 3.37 billion, and according to statistics gathered by the Ministry of Economic Affairs the figure grew by about seven percent during last year.

Owing to increasing number of elderly and chronic disease patients, the world medical market is projected to have grown to be worth US$ 280 billion in 2012, up from 2011's US$ 270 billion, the Ministry said.

Technicaltextile News Desk - India