Structural Color Sensor with Reference and Stretching Areas
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Solution Overview
Problem
Structural color sensors are susceptible to changes in color due to variations in view angle and light source angle, which affect the accuracy of detecting substrate stretching.
Innovation Solution
A sensor design with a flexible substrate featuring a first area where micropattern intervals remain constant and a second area where intervals increase upon stretching, using a metal layer to maintain initial color in the first area and allow color change in the second area, allowing accurate determination of stretching by comparing structural colors.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Measurement precision
If structural color sensors use micropatterns on flexible substrate to detect stretching, then sensing capability is achieved, but color changes due to view angle and light source angle affect measurement accuracy
Solution Approach 1:
The flexible substrate is divided into two distinct areas: a first area with micropatterns that maintain constant intervals during stretching (reference area), and a second area with micropatterns whose intervals change during stretching (sensing area). This segmentation allows the reference area to provide stable color information unaffected by stretching, while the sensing area responds to stretching, enabling accurate measurement despite view angle and light source variations.
Solution Approach 2:
Different regions of the flexible substrate are given different functional properties: the first area is designed with micropatterns that remain stationary relative to each other during stretching (maintaining constant structural color), while the second area has micropatterns that change spacing during stretching (changing structural color). This local differentiation enables the system to distinguish between color changes caused by stretching versus those caused by viewing conditions.
2Measurement precision
If micropattern intervals are increased upon stretching to enable detection, then stretching measurement is enabled, but initial color identification becomes inaccurate due to angle variations
Solution Approach 1:
The first area with constant-interval micropatterns is prepared in advance on the flexible substrate before stretching occurs. This reference area is pre-configured to maintain its structural color regardless of stretching, providing a stable baseline for comparing the color changes in the second area. The imaging module captures images of both areas simultaneously, allowing the determination module to identify the initial structural color from the first area and use it as reference for accurate stretching measurement.
3Device complexity
If a single uniform micropattern area is used on the flexible substrate, then device complexity is reduced, but the ability to distinguish angle-induced color changes from stretching-induced color changes is lost
Solution Approach 1:
The substrate is segmented into two functional areas with different micropattern configurations. The first area uses micropatterns with constant intervals that serve as a reference, while the second area uses micropatterns with variable intervals that respond to stretching. This segmentation, while increasing structural complexity, enables the system to differentiate between color changes caused by viewing angles and those caused by stretching, thereby improving measurement precision.
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
Enhances sensing accuracy by minimizing color changes due to view and light source angles, enabling precise measurement of substrate deformation.
Implementation Method 1
A structural color is a color that appears in the feathers of peacocks and the wings of butterflies and is made when light is reflected, scattered, or diffracted due to micro-or nano-scale micropattern structures on the surface
Implementation Method 2
a first area in which intervals between the micropatterns are maintained constant when the flexible substrate is stretched
Implementation Method 3
a second area in which intervals between the micropatterns are increased when the flexible substrate is stretched
Data Source
AI summary
Provided is a sensor using a structural color including a flexible substrate including micropatterns on a surface thereof, an imaging module configured to photograph the micropatterns to obtain a color image, and a determination module configured to determine a degree of stretching of the flexible substrate with the obtained color image when the flexible substrate is stretched, wherein the flexible substrate includes a first area in which intervals between the micropatterns are maintained constant when the flexible substrate is stretched, and a second area in which intervals between the micropatterns are increased when the flexible substrate is stretched, and the determination module is configured to determine the degree of stretching of the flexible substrate from a change in structural color of the second area based on a structural color of the first area.