Flexible Wireless Sensor Platform Using Inkjet Printing
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Solution Overview
Problem
The high costs and complexities associated with manufacturing wireless sensors, particularly due to the need for complex photolithography in PCB technologies, limit their widespread adoption and flexibility in existing building infrastructure, where they often require enclosures that add weight and bulk.
Innovation Solution
The development of a wireless sensor platform using flexible substrates such as paper, plastic, or fabric, integrated with 2D or 3D additive manufacturing techniques, including inkjet printing and low thermal budget curing, to create sensors and antennas with low power consumption and high resolution, enabling integration of capacitive and resistive sensors with low thermal damage.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Manufacturing precision
If conventional PCB technologies with photolithography are used to manufacture wireless sensors, then manufacturing precision and reliability are improved, but device complexity and production costs increase
Solution Approach 1:
The patent replaces complex photolithography and mechanical PCB fabrication processes with direct inkjet printing of conductive and functional materials. This substitution eliminates multiple photolithography steps, photoresist handling, and complex etching processes, while achieving comparable or superior manufacturing precision through digitally controlled material deposition.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent changes the fundamental manufacturing parameters from subtractive photolithography to additive inkjet printing. By controlling inkjet printing parameters such as droplet size, deposition speed, and material composition, the system achieves precise sensor fabrication without the complexity of traditional PCB photolithography processes.
2Reliability
If wireless sensors are designed with enclosures for protection, then reliability is improved, but weight and volume increase
Solution Approach 1:
The patent employs flexible substrate materials such as thin plastic films or coated papers that provide necessary protection while maintaining extreme lightness and flexibility. These thin film enclosures replace bulky rigid housings, providing environmental protection without significantly increasing weight or volume.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent transitions from three-dimensional enclosed housings to two-dimensional flexible substrate-based protection. By using thin flexible substrates as the primary structural and protective element, the sensor achieves reliability without the weight and volume penalties of traditional 3D enclosures.
3Ease of manufacture
If additive manufacturing processes are used to create sensors on flexible substrates, then ease of manufacture and flexibility are improved, but manufacturing precision may deteriorate
Solution Approach 1:
The patent replaces mechanical PCB fabrication with digitally controlled inkjet printing, where computer-aided design files directly control material deposition. This digital control system maintains high manufacturing precision while dramatically improving ease of manufacture, as design changes can be implemented without retooling or remasking.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent optimizes inkjet printing parameters including droplet diameter, spacing, and deposition patterns to achieve precise sensor features. By carefully controlling these parameters, the system attains manufacturing precision comparable to photolithography while benefiting from the flexibility and ease of additive manufacturing.
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
This approach reduces production costs and enhances flexibility, allowing for lightweight, compact sensors that can be easily retrofitted in existing buildings with minimal labor, while achieving high sensitivity and accuracy in temperature, humidity, and strain measurements with low power consumption.
Implementation Method 1
encoding the sensor signals into a bit sequence via code shift keying using a spread spectrum coding
Implementation Method 2
generating the bit sequence using a linear feedback shift register (LFSR) using the n-bit word as a seed
Implementation Method 3
forming at least one planar sensor and at least one antenna on the surface using at least one additive process
Implementation Method 4
The method also includes mounting one or more discrete components on the surface and electrically coupling the communications system to the at least one planar sensor and the at least one antenna. As a result, the discrete components define at least a communications system for receiving sensor signals from the at least one planar sensor and for transmitting a bit sequence based on the sensor signals via the at least one antenna. In the method, the at least one additive process includes a depositing of at least one material and a curing of the at least one material and the curing is selected so as to limit thermal damage to the flexible substrate.
Data Source
AI summary
A wireless sensor platform and methods of manufacture are provided. The platform involves providing a plurality of wireless sensors, where each of the sensors is fabricated on flexible substrates using printing techniques and low temperature curing. Each of the sensors can include planar sensor elements and planar antennas defined using the printing and curing. Further, each of the sensors can include a communications system configured to encode the data from the sensors into a spread spectrum code sequence that is transmitted to a central computer(s) for use in monitoring an area associated with the sensors.