Low cost pressure mapping platform for mobility monitoring applications

Printing of patterns with conductive inks on polymers surface enables the realization of “active polymeric materials”. These “active polymeric materials” can be used as system elements to perform a given function, for e.g., to give a response for an applied deformation. A new thin flexible pressure mapping platform using Inkjet Printing technology, aiming at a simpler, lower cost and larger scale manufacturing production is presented here. There are still many challenges in polymer functionalization (capacity to provide materials with transducing capabilities) and this study provides details regarding the manufacture of polymer based sensors as well as new insights into the limitations of using these materials as sensors. The sensing platform consists in a flexible PCB (Printed Circuit Boards) manufactured using conventional technology (defining the electrical connections and the capacitors dimensions) together with two flexible polymeric membranes (TPU) printed with conductive ink (Plexcore ®) for definition of the electrodes. Experimental results performed on manually assembled pressure sensors show the feasibility of the approach.