Flexible Sensing Arrays Fabricated with Carbon Nanofiber Composite Thin Films for Posture Monitoring

Abstract

Faulty posture increases joint stress and causes postural pain syndrome. In this paper, we present a portable strain sensing system with flexible sensor arrays to warn patients to correct inappropriate posture. A 3×3 flexible strain sensing array system was fabricated using patterned surface treatment and the tilted-drop process with carbon nanofiber composite solutions on polyimide substrates. Atmospheric plasma was used to enhance or reduce the surface energy in specific areas for patterned surface treatment. A scanning circuit was also developed to capture the signal from the flexible sensing array. The developed system has been used to measure the bent angle of the human neck from 15 to 60°. The results indicate that human posture can be successfully captured by analyzing the measured strains from a flexible strain sensing array.

Three-Dimensional Force Sensing Device Using Carbon Nanofiber Polymer Composites: Design and Fabrication

“…Conductive polymer composites for strain sensing can be obtained when conductive fillers (carbon black, graphite powder, carbon fibers, and carbon nanotube) are mixed into an insulating polymer matrix. [16][17][18][19][20][21][22][23][24] Kang et al 16) used single and multi-wall carbon nanotube polymer materials to form strain sensors for structural health monitoring applications. The measured gauge factors for the sensors in different conductive filler weight percentages (1-10%) were in the 1 to 6 range.…”