A novel pressure array sensor based on contact resistance variation: Metrological properties

The working principle and the metrological performances of a novel array sensor devoted to pressure map measurements are experimentally analyzed here. The physical principle on which the sensor elements are sensitive to the pressure is the variation of the contact resistance. Pressure maps from 1 up to 500 kPa can be measured. The prototype here utilized for the metrological characterization has been an 8×8 matrix sensor with a 5 mm spatial resolution over both x and y direction and a total thickness of 150 μm. The materials that have been chosen to assemble the prototype yielded to a very flexible and robust sensor which can easily be fitted over round surfaces without being damaged or leading to an alteration of its measuring properties. The static and the dynamic metrological performances of the sensor that have been studied and discussed are the response function and the calibration curve, the repeatability, the sensitivity, the time drift, the hysteresis, and the dynamic response. In spite of its functional and constructive simplicity, the metrological performances the sensor has exhibited, together with its peculiar constructive feature, have indicated the possibility to utilize it to effectively measure pressure maps in every application for which the sensor could be shaped in.