Development of sensor for normal and shearing force measurement in socket for prosthesis

Abstract

A sensor using pressure-sensitive conductive rubber was developed, however this sensor could only measure normal loads and was unable to detect the shearing load and moment. Thus, a flexible contact sensor for three-axis load measurement using an elastic body and a pressure-sensitive conductive material has been developed in a previous study. The sensor has a load detection layer composed of multiple zones. It is possible to separately measure the shear component and components of the load based on the relationship among the voltage changes in each zone. However, the thickness of the sensor was over 5mm. In the present study, a sensor using a prismatic elastic body and a load measurement layer was developed for the normal and shearing force measurement in socket for prosthesis. The sensor is capable of determining the applied normal load, shearing load. To investigated the effectiveness of this sensor, the dependence of the voltage change on the normal force, shearing force. In the result, the thickness of developed thin sensor was 1.2mm.