A high-sensitive current-mode pressure/force detector based on piezoelectric polymer PVDF

Abstract

This paper introduces new electronic sensor circuits based on the usage of a piezoelectric Polyvinylidene fluoride-PVDF pressure detector coupled with a current-mode instrumentation amplifier, Schmitt comparator, and only grounded resistors. Pressure/force is measured in terms of the charge generated by the PVDF element as a result of the direct piezoelectric effect. The experimental test results demonstrated that the dynamic pressure response, the sensitivity and linearity of the designed sensor were higher than the sensitivity and linearity of a traditional piezoelectric sensor. The sensitivity of the PVDF sensor was 0.08 mV/Pa. The detector is calibrated over a frequency range of 1 Hz–1 kHz. The proposed signal conditioning electronics offer a potential for future miniaturization in order to be integrated with different commercial devices, for detecting certain tiny activities including finger movements, robotics and smart electronic devices. © 2018 Elsevier B.V.