Printed capacitive sensor
AssigneeMilliken & Company
InventorsAlfred R. Deangelis, D. Bruce Wilson, Brian A. Mazzeo
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Abstract
The invention relates to a flexible, resilient capacitive sensor suitable for large-scale manufacturing. The sensor comprises a dielectric, an electrically conductive detector and trace layer on the first side of the dielectric layer comprising a detector and trace, an electrically conductive reference layer on a second side of the dielectric layer, and a capacitance meter electrically connected to the trace and to the conductive reference layer to detect changes in capacitance upon interaction with detector. The sensor is shielded to reduce the effects of outside interference.
Claims9
A capacitive sensor comprising:
- a first flexible, resilient dielectric layer having a first and second side and a thickness of between 8 and 250 micrometers;
- an electrically conductive detector and trace layer on the first side of the first dielectric layer comprising a detector and trace;
- a first electrically conductive reference layer on a second side of the first dielectric layer;
- an electric field across the first flexible, resilient dielectric layer;
- and
- a capacitance meter electrically connected to the detector and trace layer and to the first conductive reference layer;
- wherein the first conductive reference layer has a first voltage and the detector and trace layer has a second voltage, and wherein the first and second voltage have a difference of at least 0.1 volts;
- and
- wherein the first dielectric layer comprises a film free of voids.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.