Properties of tactile transducer with respect to kind of resistive ink and dimension of electrodes

Abstract

The article presents end evaluates foil transducers, namely conductive rubber and conductive ink, and their use in the pressure distribution measurement system Plantograf. The ability of both materials to act as transducer between pressure and electrical quantities is assessed by means of measurement on a robotized workspace; two electrode types and various ink layer thicknesses are studied. Basing on the measurements, we present graphically the dependency of the electrical resistance of the materials on the applied pressure. Although both materials proved their ability to act as a transducer in a planar sensor, they both exhibit some limitations. In case of rubber it is limited pressure range up to ca. 1400 kPa and significant hysteresis of the material. The main limiting factor with conductive ink is its poor adherence to the electrodes, which poses important problem for its practical use, although this material evinces better transfer characteristics, particularly in the configuration with 7 μm ink layer and LD type electrode.

Keywords

• Conductive rubber
• Conductive ink
• Tactile sensor
• Foil transducer
• Pressure distribution