Closed cell pressure sensor
AssigneeNederlandse Organisatie voor toegepast-natuurwetenschappelijk onderzoek TNO
InventorsEdsger Constant Pieter Smits, Gerardus Titus Van Heck
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Abstract
A system for measuring external force is described. The system includes a substrate forming a set of closed pockets having at least a flexible wall deforming as a function of the external force and an enclosed MEMS device configured to cause variation of an electric signal as a function of a pressure inside the pocket. The flexible wall is provided with an outwards protruding shape configured to flex inwards into the pocket in a presence of the external force and to recover the outwards protruding shape absent the external force.
Claims21
A system for measuring an external force, the system comprising:
- a flexible substrate comprising one or more elastomeric compositions forming a set of closed gas filled pockets, wherein each pocket, of the set of closed gas filled pockets, has a flexible wall that deforms as a function of the external force on the flexible wall;
- a set of micro-electromechanical system devices, wherein each MEMS device, of the set of MEMS devices, is configured to cause variation of an electric signal as a function of a pressure inside a respective pocket of the set of closed gas filled pockets,
- wherein the flexible wall has an outwards protruding shape configured to flex, in response to an increase of the external force, inwards into the pocket for increasing a pressure inside the pocket, and
- wherein the flexible wall comprises a shape recovering resilient composition configured to cause the flexible wall to resiliently recover, in response to a decrease of the external force while the flexible wall is flexing inwards, to the outwards protruding shape.
A method of manufacturing a system for measuring an external force, the method comprising
- printing electroconductive wiring for a circuit along a sheet comprising a thermoplastic elastomer composition and connecting a set of micro-electromechanical system devices to the circuit;
- thermoforming a second sheet comprising a thermoplastic elastomer composition to form an outwards protruding shape;
- laminating the sheets placed over each other to form a set of closed gas filled pocket with an outwardly protruding shape, the set of pockets enclosing the set of MEMs devices, wherein each MEMS device, of the set of MEMS devices, is configured to cause variation of an electric signal as a function of a pressure inside a respective pocket of the set of closed gas filled pockets,
- wherein the flexible wall has an outwards protruding shape configured to flex, in response to an increase of the external force, inwards into the pocket for increasing a pressure inside the pocket, and
- wherein the flexible wall comprises a shape recovering resilient composition configured to cause the flexible wall to resiliently recover, in response to a decrease of the external force while the flexible wall is flexing inwards, to the outwards protruding shape.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.