Investigation of Soft Elastomeric Capacitor for the Monitoring of Large Angular Motions

Abstract

Angular motion measurement using commercial sensing technologies can be challenging due to the nonlinearity of the motion and the combination of translational, oscillatory, and rotational behaviors. Recent advances in hyperelastic and self-sensing materials have facilitated the development of flexible electronics, enabling robust and cost-effective angular motion sensing systems. The authors have recently proposed a flexible strain sensor termed corrugated soft elastomeric capacitor (cSEC). The cSEC is a thin-film, ultra-compliant, and scalable sensor that transduces geometric variations into a measurable change in capacitance. It is constituted by layering two conductive plates sandwiching a dielectric that is surfacecorrugated. In this paper, we study the use of the cSEC for angular motion sensing of a free rotational hinge, in which the cSEC was adhered onto the rotating area of the hinge subjected to an axial displacement generating clockwise and counterclockwise angular rotations.