Development of Flexible Strain Sensor Utilizing Recycled Electronic Components /
Muhammad Shahzaib Mughal
- 65p. Soft Copy 30cm
The development of flexible and cost-effective strain sensors is crucial for advancing prosthetic technology, particularly in artificial limb control. This research focuses on the development of a flexible strain sensor utilizing recycled electronic components to control the movement of a prosthetic hand while also measuring stress applied to the prosthetic fingers. This new design improves conventional flex sensors since it avoids noise, costs less and is more durable. While past studies depended on different sensor types, this study introduces sensing based on a parallel plate capacitor with just one layer. The sensor is made by using items from electronic waste, with conductive graphite from dry batteries and flexible campaign banners. Furthermore, a special type of silver paper is integrated with the parallel plate capacitor, improving sensor efficiency. The system uses five capacitive strain sensors, positioned on every finger, to sense finger bending. When the finger of the capacitor bends, the separation of the plates or their dielectric properties changes, increasing the capacitance. If the capacitance becomes greater than a certain number, the servo motor moves the associated robotic finger from 0 degrees to 180 degrees. Parallel to the finger movement detection, we create an extra system built on an Arduino that can sense the pressure applied to the prosthetic hand’s fingers, using separate supplies that are better for measuring force.