For More Information click www.flexpoint.com
Few ideas and developments for the Bend Sensor and additional information can be supplied for each of the aforementioned concepts.
- Graphics printed on “A” side of material and the sensor on the “B” side. This saves material and assembly costs. The graphics can be printed to allow back lighting. Using polyester materials will also allow the sensor to be thermal formed to fit specific applications.
- Using the sensor laminated directly to support structure.
- Two methods can be leveraged. The first is to mount the sensor over a hole like a drum head. .005” displacement can yield a 2X change in resistance.
- The second method is to laminate the sensor to a beam. The sensor is laminated to the side of the beam that is in tension during use. In this case the sensor was used to mimic use in a bridge to monitor traffic patterns. The sensors fast response times allow it to be used to measure loading and unloading as well as impacts.
- The sensor substrate has been printed incorporating the pad layouts for surface mount components as shown in the following photo. This was done simply as a proof of concept.
- The Bend Sensor can be over-molded in a variety of materials. The following example was done as a variable speed seat positioning switch. Since the Bend Sensor is variable resistor the monitoring circuit can control the speed of the motor moving the seat or window. The sensor can be over-molded to protect it in harsh environments.
- Bend Sensors have been certified intrinsically safe for hazardous environments and are in production with a major manufacturer of burst detection equipment
- Other over-molding trials have been done for sensor integration. As the following picture shows sensors have been inserted into injection molds versus the cast in place examples previously noted. Flexpoint has a patent issued using the Bend Sensor as a method of measuring humidity.
- Bend Sensors have been approved for use in various flow applications like High temp sensors (200C) molded into silicon diaphragm flow indicators
