Ryan S. Severns, Grand Rapids, MI; James D. Voll, Columbus, IN; Brett A. Knittle, Oldenburg, IN; Gavin M. Monson, Oxford, OH; John V. Harmeyer, Cleves, OH; Charles A. Lachenbruch, Batesville, IN; Frank E. Sauser, Cincinnati, OH; Joseph T. Canter, Harrison, OH; Yongji Fu, Harrison, OH; Kirsten M. Emmons, Batesville, IN; David L. Ribble, Indianapolis, IN; Neal Wiggermann, Batesville, IN; John D. Christie, Batesville, IN; Dan R. Tallent, Hope, IN; Marwan Nusair, Cincinnati, OH; and Edward J. Koors, Indianapolis, IN.
Assigned to Hill-Rom Services, Inc., Batesville, IN.

Filed: 8/23/18
Issued: 7/21/20

An antenna inlay of an RFID tag, the antenna inlay comprising an antenna portion, a first electrical contact portion, a second electrical contact portion, the first electrical contact portion comprising a first electrical lead having a first gap formed therein to provide a first lead segment and a second lead segment, and a first resistor placed across the gap to electrically interconnect the first and second lead segments, wherein the antenna inlay is provided in an absorbent article comprising a topsheet made of a fluid permeable material, a backsheet comprising a first layer of fluid impermeable material, a conductive ink pattern provided above the first layer and configured to form a first electrode trace and a second electrode trace, a passive radio frequency identification (RFID) tag including the antenna inlay and attached to the first layer such that the first and second electrical contact portions couple to the first and second electrode traces, an absorbent core situated between the topsheet and the backsheet, and a fluid filter layer situated so as to inhibit a low volume of fluid from being able to reach the first and/or second electrode traces beneath the absorbent core, wherein after fluid of a sufficient volume greater than the low volume has passed through the topsheet, the absorbent core, and the fluid filter layer, an electrical pathway is formed between the first and second electrode traces by the fluid which enables the passive RFID tag to emit a signal indicating an incontinence event has occurred in response to the passive RFID tag being excited by external energy.