Resistive fibre-meshed transducers

Abstract

The paper demonstrates the preliminary researchcarried out on fibre meshed transducers for wearablecomputing applications, their constructions using electro-conductive fibres via the route of modern electronicflatbed knitting technology. The paper reports theconstruction of resistive strain and displacementtransducers using electroconductive polymeric fibres(resistivity of 104?cm-1) and metallic fibres (resistivity of10?cm-1) and the modelling of electrical equivalentcircuits of the fibre meshed transducers. The models arediscussed in order to demonstrate the variation ofelectrical parameters under static and dynamic planarloads. Two methods of transducer construction are alsodiscussed; in the first method the electroconductive fibresare stretched out in the base fibre meshed structure, andin the second method the electroconductive fibres areintermeshed as an integral section of the base fibremeshed structure.