<p>Currently, the analysis of an individual’s gait and foot pressure distribution is a valuable tool in orthopedics to assist in the diagnosis and treatment of gait disorders. Thanks to the development of pressure sensing insoles, gait and foot pressure distribution analysis has become more common in research focused on human locomotion. Typically, however, insoles containing pressure sensor arrays have limited customizability or are expensive to customize. The lack of &nbsp;affordable, patient-specific solutions can be problematic for patients who require insoles for foot deformities. Past work has been done to mitigate the lack of customizability of pressure sensing insoles through the use of 3D printing to create insoles with embedded commercial capacitive pressure sensors. The use of 3D printing to build insoles gives rise to the potential to create customized insoles rapidly and at low cost. However, at present, there are no wholly developed methods for integrating fully printed embedded capacitive sensors within pressure sensing insoles. This work focuses on the development and dynamic characterization of fully 3D printed capacitive sensors using Ninjatek’s NinjaFlex flexible thermoplastic polyurethane (TPU) filament and Eel conductive flexible filament through cyclic compressive testing using realistic footbed loads, as well as the creation of a simple analytical model based on mechanics of materials principles and capacitive properties of the sensor. In order to capture the range of possible frequencies the sensor might see in a pressure sensing insole, the sensors were tested and evaluated at frequencies of approximately 0.5 Hz to 30 Hz to understand their ability to sense expected footbed pressure distribution.</p>

Towards Dynamic Characterization of Fully 3d Printed Capacitive Sensors for Footbed Pressure Sensing Applications

Paper Proceedings: https://asmedigitalcollection.asme.org/SMASIS/SMASIS2021/volume/85499

ASME 2021 Smart Materials, Adaptive Structures and Intelligent Systems (SMASIS2021)

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