Thin, flexible, capacitive force sensors based on anisotropy in 3D-printed structures

Gerhard Jan Willem Wolterink, Remco G.P. Sanders, Gijs Krijnen

    Research output: Contribution to conferencePaperpeer-review

    21 Citations (Scopus)
    689 Downloads (Pure)

    Abstract

    Conductive 3D-printed structures made out of a carbon doped thermoplastic polyurethane (TPU) deposited by an FDM 3D-printer show a high inter-layer contact resistance. Due to this poor resistive coupling capacitive effects between layers become prominent. This effect can be used to create capacitive force sensors by depositing only two thin layers of material. In this paper we investigate the feasibility of such a 3D-printed force sensor. The change in capacitance due to the compression of the material caused by an applied force (0 N to 10 N) is measured using an LCR meter. The presented sensor con- cept has a high potential for implementation in biomedical and soft robotic applications since the sensor is thin and flexible because it is made from soft material.
    Original languageEnglish
    DOIs
    Publication statusPublished - 27 Dec 2018
    EventIEEE Sensors 2018 - Pullman New Delhi Aerocity, Delhi, India
    Duration: 28 Oct 201831 Oct 2018
    http://ieee-sensors2018.org/

    Conference

    ConferenceIEEE Sensors 2018
    Country/TerritoryIndia
    CityDelhi
    Period28/10/1831/10/18
    Internet address

    Keywords

    • 3D-Printing
    • Conductive
    • Flexible
    • Soft
    • Force
    • Sensor

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