A semiconductor strain gage tactile transducer

Author

Obana, Fernando Y. ; Carvalho, Aparecido A. ; Gualda, Renato ; Silva, Josivaldo G da

Author_Institution

Dept. of Electr. Eng., State Univ. of Sao Paulo, Brazil

Volume

1

fYear

2001

fDate

21-23 May 2001

Firstpage

429

Abstract

This paper describes the development of a semiconductor strain gage tactile transducer. It was designed with the goal of measuring finger forces without affecting the hand dexterity. The transducer structure was manufactured with stainless steel and has small dimensions (4 mm diameter and 1 mm thickness). It is light and suitable to connect to the finger pads. It has a device that prevents its damage when overforces are applied. The semiconductor strain gage was used due its small size and high sensitivity, although it has high temperature sensitivity. Theory, design and construction details are presented. The signal conditioning circuit is very simple because the semiconductor strain gage sensitivity is high. It presents linear response from 0 to 100 N, 0.5 N resolution, fall time of 7.2 ms, good repeatability, and small hysteresis. The semiconductor strain gage transducer has characteristics that can make it very useful in rehabilitation engineering, robotics, and medicine

Keywords

biocontrol; biomedical transducers; bridge circuits; dexterous manipulators; electric sensing devices; force sensors; neuromuscular stimulation; patient rehabilitation; piezoresistive devices; strain gauges; tactile sensors; 1 mm; 4 mm; FES; Wheatstone bridge; finger forces; finger pad connection; force sensor; high sensitivity; linear response; rehabilitation engineering; repeatability; robotics; semiconductor strain gage; signal conditioning circuit; small dimensions; small hysteresis; stainless steel; tactile transducer; Capacitive sensors; Circuits; Fingers; Force measurement; Hysteresis; Semiconductor device manufacture; Signal resolution; Steel; Temperature sensors; Transducers;

fLanguage

English

Publisher

ieee

Conference_Titel

Instrumentation and Measurement Technology Conference, 2001. IMTC 2001. Proceedings of the 18th IEEE

Conference_Location

Budapest

ISSN

1091-5281

Print_ISBN

0-7803-6646-8

Type

conf

DOI

10.1109/IMTC.2001.928854

Filename

928854