Amorphous Metal Flexible Pressure Sensor for Electronic Skin
Find Innovative SolutionsGenerate Solutions
Solution Overview
Problem
Conductive nano-tubes used in pressure sensors lack elasticity, leading to cracking or cleaving under external forces, making them unsuitable for flexible and stretchable applications such as electronic skin technology.
Innovation Solution
A flexible pressure sensor and bimodal sensor are developed using an amorphous metal conductive layer on a flexible substrate, with micro-sized structure bodies and a counter electrode, capable of measuring resistance or capacitance changes to sense pressure and temperature, while maintaining conductivity under external stimuli.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If conductive nano-tubes are used in the conductive layer, then conductivity is achieved, but elasticity is lost causing cracking under external force
Solution Approach 1:
The patent changes the material parameter from crystalline nano-tubes to amorphous metal, fundamentally altering the structural organization from ordered to disordered atomic arrangement. This parameter change enables the material to exhibit both high conductivity and exceptional elasticity, resolving the contradiction between maintaining conductivity and preserving flexibility under deformation.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent creates a composite structure by combining amorphous metal with flexible substrate materials and encapsulating layers. This composite approach allows the amorphous metal layer to provide conductivity while the flexible substrate and encapsulation provide mechanical strength and elasticity, solving the contradiction between conductivity and flexibility.
2Adaptability or versatility
If the sensor structure is made flexible to enable stretchable applications, then adaptability is improved, but structural stability deteriorates leading to cracking
Solution Approach 1:
The patent employs flexible substrate materials and thin film encapsulation layers that can accommodate stretching and bending deformations. These flexible shells and films maintain structural integrity while allowing the sensor to adapt to various shapes and movements, resolving the contradiction between flexibility and structural stability.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent incorporates encapsulation layers and flexible substrate structures that beforehand cushion and distribute mechanical stresses before they can cause cracking. This preventive design allows the sensor to withstand repeated deformation cycles without structural failure, maintaining both flexibility and stability.
Applied Scientific Principles
This section explains which scientific principles are used to turn an abstract innovation direction into a practical engineering solution.
Function Achieved in This Case
The amorphous metal-based sensors exhibit excellent flexibility and conductivity, maintaining a predetermined level of conductivity even under significant elongation and bending, allowing for efficient pressure and temperature sensing with reduced operation voltage, making them suitable for electronic skin applications.
Implementation Method 1
the amorphous metal has elasticity, unlike the conductive nano-tube
Implementation Method 2
measure a resistance value generated by a change in a contact area between the counter electrode and the conductive layer depending on a pressure transferred from the outside
Implementation Method 3
configured to measure a resistance value generated by a change in a contact area between the counter electrode and the conductive layer depending on a pressure transferred from the outside through the conductive layer and the counter electrode to sense information on the transferred pressure
Implementation Method 4
configured to measure a capacitance value between the conductive layer and the counter electrode changed by a change in a distance between the conductive layer and the counter electrode depending on a pressure transferred from the outside to sense information on the transferred pressure
Implementation Method 5
measures a resistance value of the conducting wire changed depending on a temperature transferred from the outside to sense information on the transferred temperature
Data Source
AI summary
Provided are a flexible pressure sensor using an amorphous metal and a flexible bimodal sensor for simultaneously sensing a pressure and a temperature. The sensors according to an exemplary embodiment of the present invention include a conductive layer formed of the amorphous metal to have stretchable characteristics so that it may be used for an electronic skin. Therefore, these sensors may firmly maintain conductivity and sense a pressure or simultaneously sense a pressure and a temperature even in a state in which various kinds of physical external force are present. In addition, the flexible bimodal sensor according to an exemplary embodiment of the present invention is a novel element for an electronic skin that may simultaneously sense a pressure and a temperature using the amorphous metal.