Stretchable strain sensor for distributed strain measurement and design of measurement circuit

Issue title: Proceedings from the 17th International Symposium on Applied Electromagnetics and Mechanics (ISEM 2015)

Guest editors: Fumio Kojima, Futoshi Kobayashi and Hiroyuki Nakamoto

Article type: Research Article

Authors: Nakamoto, Hiroyuki^{a; *} | Ootaka, Hideo^b | Hirata, Ichiro^c | Kobayashi, Futoshi^a | Kojima, Fumio^a

Affiliations: [a] Graduate School of System Informatics, Kobe University, Kobe, Japan | [b] Bando Chemical Industries, Kobe, Japan | [c] Hyogo Prefectural Institute of Technology, Kobe, Japan

Correspondence: [*] Corresponding author: Hiroyuki Nakamoto, Graduate School of System Informatics, Kobe University, 1-1 Rokkodai, Nada 6578501, Kobe, Japan. E-mail:nakamoto@panda.kobe-u.ac.jp

Abstract: We propose a stretchable strain sensor for measurement of distributed strain. The strain sensor is composed of elastic sheets. The elastic modulus of the strain sensor is low. Hence, the strain sensor pasted on human skin or clothes is able to stretch along their shape and stretch. The principle of the strain measurement is a capacitive change based on stretching. In this paper, a distributed strain sensor is proposed. A design of measurement circuit also is described. Experimental results reveal the characteristics of the distributed strain sensor and the effectiveness of the measurement circuit.

Keywords: Strain sensor, distributed strain, flexible sensor, stretchable sensor

DOI: 10.3233/JAE-162126

Journal: International Journal of Applied Electromagnetics and Mechanics, vol. 52, no. 3-4, pp. 1681-1688, 2016