Flocculent Pressure Sensor Sheet with Anisotropic Conductive Fibers
Find Innovative SolutionsGenerate Solutions
Solution Overview
Problem
Conventional pressure sensor sheets are thick and inflexible, making it difficult to achieve precise measurements on complex or moving objects, and they often suffer from noise due to changes in resistance when stretched, leading to inaccurate pressure readings.
Innovation Solution
A thin, flexible pressure sensor sheet with a flocculent conductive layer composed of tangled conductive fibers, where the conductive fibers are stacked perpendicular to the electrode sheets and have spaces between them, allowing for high sensitivity and minimal noise due to anisotropic resistance changes.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Length of moving object
If conventional pressure sensor sheets are used, then structural stability is maintained, but thickness becomes several hundred μm to several mm, reducing flexibility and followability
Solution Approach 1:
The pressure sensor sheet is divided into multiple functional layers: a flexible substrate layer, a conductive material layer with dispersed conductive particles, and an insulating layer. This segmentation allows each layer to contribute specific properties - the substrate provides flexibility and structural integrity, while the conductive layer enables pressure sensitivity without requiring excessive thickness.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent employs thin-film structures throughout the sensor design, with the conductive material formed as a thin layer on the substrate and the insulating layer applied as a thin coating. This thin-film approach enables the sensor to achieve thickness reductions to tens of micrometers while maintaining structural stability through the carefully engineered multi-layer configuration.
2Measurement precision
If conductive material is added to rubber substrate or resin coating film, then pressure sensitivity is improved, but resistance value changes when sheet stretches, creating measurement noise
Solution Approach 1:
The conductive material is dispersed locally within the resin coating film rather than uniformly distributed throughout the entire sensor structure. The conductive particles are concentrated in a specific conductive layer, creating localized conductivity pathways that respond to pressure changes while the overall sheet structure maintains dimensional stability during stretching, thereby reducing spurious resistance changes.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent uses a composite structure combining a polymer resin coating film with dispersed conductive material particles. This composite approach allows the resin matrix to provide structural stability during stretching while the conductive particles create pressure-sensitive pathways, separating the structural and functional roles to minimize measurement noise from sheet deformation.
3Strength
If thicker pressure sensor sheets are used, then structural integrity is maintained, but followability of complex shapes and moving objects deteriorates
Solution Approach 1:
The sensor design incorporates a flexible substrate and thin-film structure that enable dynamic adaptation to changing shapes and movements. The multi-layer construction with appropriate material selection allows the sensor to bend, stretch, and conform to complex surfaces while maintaining structural integrity through the engineered combination of flexible and stable materials in each layer.
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 solution enables high-precision, low-noise pressure measurements even on complex shapes and moving objects, with improved sensitivity to perpendicular pressure changes and reduced noise from parallel stretching, while maintaining flexibility and transparency for enhanced usability.
Implementation Method 1
a pressure-sensitive conductive layer composed of tangled conductive fibers which is disposed between the first electrode sheet and the second electrode sheet and undergoes a change in resistance value when compressed
Implementation Method 2
the conductive fibers are stacked in perpendicular direction and the conductive fibers that constitute the pressure-sensitive conductive layer have spaces provided therebetween
Data Source
Figure 1~2
Figure 3~4
Figure 5
AI summary
In order to provide a highly flexible and more highly sensitive ultrathin sheet for a pressure sensor, a pressure sensor, and a method for producing the sheet for a pressure sensor, a pressure sensor sheet (10) of the present invention is provided with a first electrode sheet (1a), a second electrode sheet (1b), and a flocculent pressure-sensitive conductive layer (3) composed of tangled conductive fibers (2) which is disposed between the first electrode sheet (1a) and the second electrode sheet (1b) and undergoes a change in resistance value when compressed, wherein the conductive fibers (2) extend along a direction parallel to the two electrode sheets and are stacked in a perpendicular direction, and the conductive fibers that constitute the pressure-sensitive conductive layer have spaces provided therebetween.