Fabrication Process and Evaluation of Printed Strain Sensors for Detection of Maximum Strain Direction

This work demonstrates a printed strain sensor that enables strain analysis in various directions. In contrast to the conventional rosette strain gauges, which are composed of three conventional strain gauges, the sensor has a single symmetrical construction in which sensing direction can be switched using a dedicated electronic system and software. The main advantage of the demonstrated sensor over the conventional sensors is significantly lower power consumption. While the power consumption of conventional rosette sensors is around 144 mW, the power consumption of the demonstrated sensor is only around 0.089 mW. The low power consumption is very important in terms of practical applications and incorporation of such sensors into the Internet of Things (IoT) devices. Moreover, the sensor consists of the full Wheatstone bridge structure that provides compensation for temperature changes and thus relatively stable measurements at various temperatures.