# US 12,765,780 B2 · Sensor unit for a portable computer system and integration of the sensor unit > Agents: this data is available as JSON from the patentgrep API and MCP server — see https://patentgrep.com/llms.txt - Number: US 12,765,780 B2 - Document ID: US12765780B2 - Status: Granted - Kind: B2 - Application number: 18/232,067 - Filed: 2023-08-09 - Published: 2023-12-07 - Granted: 2026-10-20 - Earliest claimed: 2016-12-21 - Assignees: GreenTEG AG - Applicants: greenTEG AG - Inventors: Michele Zahner; Thomas Helbling; Lukas Durrer; Etienne Schwyter - Web page: https://patentgrep.com/patent/US12765780B2 ## CPC - A61B 5/01: Measuring temperature of body parts {; Diagnostic temperature sensing, e.g. for malignant or inflamed tissue} (clinical contact thermometers G01K13/20) - A61B 5/0008: {Temperature signals} - A61B 5/681: {Wristwatch-type devices} - G01K 1/165: {for application in zero heat flux sensors} - G01K 13/20: Clinical contact thermometers for use with humans or animals - A61B 2562/0271: Thermal or temperature sensors - A61B: DIAGNOSIS; SURGERY; IDENTIFICATION (usefulness limited to only animals A61D) - G01K: MEASURING TEMPERATURE; MEASURING QUANTITY OF HEAT; THERMALLY-SENSITIVE ELEMENTS NOT OTHERWISE PROVIDED FOR (radiation pyrometry G01J5/00) ## Abstract A sensor unit determines the core body temperature by means for measured values which can be determined outside the body on a surface. The unit has at least one heat flow sensor, and at least one temperature sensor, which allows optimized determination of the core body temperature. The sensor unit includes at least one monolithic heat flow sensor in the form of a sandwich-like structure with multiple layers of different materials and at least one temperature sensor, which are soldered onto a circuit board at a distance from one another or onto the circuit board at the same height along a longitudinal direction of the circuit board, wherein the sensors are connected to an analog-to-digital converter and a microcontroller via wires or strip conductors. The electronic components can be connected to the electronics of a portable computer system. ## Claims ### Claim 1 The manufacture of portable computer system with a sensor unit for determining the core body temperature, by integration of the sensor unit comprising: one or more heat flow sensors, in the form of a solderable thin monolithic heat flow sensor with sandwich-like structure, forming a closed body on at least one side and a number of sensing junctions between different metal layers, at least one measuring temperature sensor, wherein the at least one measuring temperature sensors and the one or more heat flow sensors are soldered directly onto a printed circuit board or onto two different printed circuit boards, into a housing or into an adhesive pad, to be attachable onto a skin (H) of a user, wherein: provision of the housing with a cavity, or the adhesive pad with a cavity, provision of the sensor unit insertion of the sensor unit into a sensor unit sleeve of a mechanically flexible material comprising a thermally conductive silicone, wherein connecting wires protrude from the sensor unit sleeve, insertion of the sensor unit at least partly enclosed by the sensor unit sleeve into the cavity in the housing of the portable computer system, or the cavity in the adhesive pad, and subsequent connection of the connecting wires to the electronics of the portable computer system, wherein the sensor unit is embedded in the sensor unit sleeve forming a plug which remains in a recess of the housing. ### Claim 2 (depends on 1) According to claim 1, where the sensor unit sleeve comprises a cured thermally conductive material. ### Claim 3 (depends on 1) According to claim 1 where the sensor unit sleeve is a thermally conductive pad. ### Claim 4 (depends on 1) The method in accordance with claim 1, wherein the integrated sensor unit comprises two printed circuit boards, and the at least one heat flow sensor and the at least one temperature sensor are arranged on different printed circuit boards that are spatially separated. ### Claim 5 (depends on 1) The method in accordance with claim 1, wherein the at least one printed circuit board of the integrated sensor unit with the temperature sensor remains at least partially free of the sensor unit sleeve. ### Claim 6 (depends on 1) The method in accordance with claim 1, wherein the at least one monolithic heat flow sensor and the at least one temperature sensor of the integrated sensor unit are soldered layered on top of one another, onto the same side of the at least one printed circuit board of the integrated sensor unit. ### Claim 7 (depends on 1) The method in accordance with claim 1, wherein an analogue-to-digital converter, a microcontroller and a read-out/storage unit are arranged directly attached onto the at least one printed circuit board of the integrated sensor unit. ### Claim 8 (depends on 6) The method in accordance with claim 6, wherein the at least one monolithic heat flow sensor, the at least one temperature sensor, the analogue-to-digital converter, the microcontroller, a thermal insulator, and/or a thermal capacitance, packaged in an integrated circuit, are attached onto one side of the at least one printed circuit board of the integrated sensor unit. ### Claim 9 (depends on 1) The method in accordance with claim 1, wherein two heat flow sensors are soldered onto the same side of the at least one printed circuit board of the integrated sensor unit, spaced apart from one another in the longitudinal direction, and a thermal insulator is arranged on the side of the printed circuit board that is free of heat flow sensors, at the height of the first heat flow sensor in the longitudinal direction, such that a first heat flow can be measured through the thermal insulator and the first heat flow sensor, and a second heat flow can be measured through the second heat flow sensor. ### Claim 10 (depends on 1) The method in accordance with claim 1, wherein two heat flow sensors are soldered onto the same side of the at least one printed circuit board of the integrated sensor unit, spaced apart from one another in the longitudinal direction, and a thermal capacitance is arranged on the side of the at least one printed circuit board that is free of heat flow sensors, at the height of the first heat flow sensor in the longitudinal direction, such that a first heat flow can be measured through the thermal capacitance and the first heat flow sensor, and a second heat flow can be measured through the second heat flow sensor. ### Claim 11 (depends on 1) The method in accordance with claim 1, wherein on the side of the at least one printed circuit board of the integrated sensor unit that is free of heat flow sensors a metal plate is arranged so as to be extensively in contact with a thermal insulator, and/or a thermal capacitance, and/or a block made from a thermally conductive material, and/or a part of the sensor unit sleeve. ### Claim 12 (depends on 1) The method in accordance with claim 1, wherein on one side of the at least one printed circuit board of the integrated sensor unit, a heat flow sensor, a first temperature sensor, and a thermal insulator are spaced apart from one another in the longitudinal direction, and on the opposite side of the at least one printed circuit board that is free of heat flow sensors a second temperature sensor is arranged at the height of the thermal insulator along the longitudinal direction, such that a first temperature can be measured at the location of the first temperature sensor, and a second temperature can be measured at the location of the second temperature sensor after passage of the heat flow through thermal insulator. ### Claim 13 (depends on 1) The method in accordance with claim 1, wherein the casting mould remains as a lost mould on the material of the sensor unit sleeve. ### Claim 14 (depends on 1) The method in accordance with claim 1, wherein the casting mould is removed from the sensor unit sleeve after the curing of the latter. ### Claim 15 (depends on 1) The method in accordance with claim 1, wherein the cavity is designed as a through hole. ### Claim 16 (depends on 1) The method in accordance with claim 1, wherein the cavity is designed as a blind hole. ### Claim 17 (depends on 1) The method in accordance with claim 1, wherein the sensor unit sleeve is mechanically flexible, and the thermal conductivity lies between 0.3 and 10 W/mK, preferably between 0.8 and 3 W/mK, preferably manufactured from a thermally conductive silicone. ### Claim 18 (depends on 1) The method in accordance with claim 1, wherein the inner walls of the cavities are coated with an adhesive, before the sensor unit sleeve, or the sensor unit sleeve encased by the casting mould, is plugged into the cavity. ### Claim 19 (depends on 1) The method in accordance with claim 1, wherein the cross-sectional area of the at least one printed circuit board of the integrated sensor unit is at least partially circular, and strip conductors are guided at least partially along circular lines to the centre of the at least one printed circuit board, wherein the soldering surfaces of the at least one heat flow sensor and of the at least one temperature sensor are located in the centre of the at least one printed circuit board. ### Claim 20 (depends on 1) The method in accordance with claim 1, wherein wherein the centre of the at least one printed circuit board is surrounded by PCB-cavities (A) and both PCB-cavities (A) are arranged adjacent in the longitudinal direction to the heat flow and temperature sensors, bordering a bridge and a central printed circuit board disk is formed. ### Claim 21 (depends on 19) The method in accordance with claim 19, wherein the PCB-cavities (A) are executed as kidney shapes. ### Claim 22 (depends on 19) The method in accordance with claim 19, wherein with PCB-cavities (A′) in the edge region of the at least one printed circuit board, any interfering heat flow between the contacts of the connecting wires and the sensors is reduced.