The study of a Non-invasive Technology for Glucose Measurements

Abstract
Diabetes is one of the most important chronic diseases associated with lifestyle. Determination of blood glucose level is a frequently occurring procedure in diabetes care. Collecting blood drops for chemical analysis is the most common method. It is liable to afflict a degree of pain and cause a skin injury. To eliminate these disadvantages, this thesis focuses on pulsed photoacoustic techniques, which have potential ability in non-invasive blood glucose measurement.
Compared with optical absorption techniques, Optical rotation and Brillouin scattering techniques, photoacoustic methods offer the advantage of higher detection sensitivity, as the PA signal is influenced not only by the optical absorption coefficient, but also by other physical parameters including thermal expansion, specific heat and acoustic velocity. The measurements showed that the expansion coefficient, specific heat and acoustic velocity change, respectively, in response to the change in glucose concentration and proved the sum effect of these parameters to photoacoustic signal.
In this thesis, PA amplitudes were first deduced on the basis of the thermodynamic principle, which correspond very well with results deduced from the wave equation of thermal generation. At the wavelength of 905 nm, the measured glucose detection sensitivity in water solution, about 4.5% for a 1% change in glucose concentration. It is preliminary study for blood glucose determinate. The anticipation future will be able to apply to the human body measurement, to achieve the goal for non- invasive diagnosis.