Extending the Dynamic Range of Piezoresistive Textile Pressure Sensors for Impact Detection
16th Textile Bioengineering and Informatics Symposium (TBIS 2023): Proceedings 2023
Aleksandrs Vališevskis, Uģis Briedis, Aleksandrs Okss

This paper explored the methods in which the dynamic range of commercially available piezoresistive fabrics can be extended. In particular, polymer-coated knitted fabric EeonTex LTT-SLPA 60 kOhm and carbon/polyester woven fabrics from the Sefar Carbotex line were studied. These materials performed well in instances of slowly changing loads. However, in instances where dynamic loads resistance of these materials decreased significantly, it reached 60-70 Ohms in the case of 3,5 J impacts and 10–30 Ohms in the case of 7 J impacts. This made it impossible to measure impacts of higher energy. The primary objective of this paper was to study methods for increasing resistance of these materials in order to make them suitable for measuring high energy impacts. These methods were based on combining the mentioned materials, as well as adding reinforcing materials that served as spacers. In order to test these methods an ad-hoc drop weight impact testing rig was constructed. The experiments that were carried out on this rig proved that the proposed methods were effective in increasing resistance of the piezoresistive layer and allowed for use in measuring higher loads. In particular, a combination of EeonTex LTT-SLPA 60 kOhm and Sefar Carbotex 03-120CF fabric with intermediate reinforcing layer of fiberglass mesh increased resistance more than tenfold to 1000–1360 Ohms (3,5 J impacts) and 620–790 Ohms (7 J impacts).


Keywords
Smart Textiles; Pressure Sensors; Piezoresistive Materials
DOI
10.3993/tbis2023

Vališevskis, A., Briedis, U., Okss, A. Extending the Dynamic Range of Piezoresistive Textile Pressure Sensors for Impact Detection. In: 16th Textile Bioengineering and Informatics Symposium (TBIS 2023): Proceedings, Poland, Poznan, 22-25 August, 2023. Poznan: Global Science Press, 2023, pp.59-69. ISSN 1942-3438. Available from: doi:10.3993/tbis2023

Publication language
English (en)
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