Unlike with some other tactile sensor designs, capacitive-based sensors do not have significant internal wear and tear under load. Since the scale of the deflections is so small, there is little chance for “set” in the material, thus reducing the frequency with which capacitive sensors must be calibrated.

Precision design and manufacturing techniques allow excellent repeatability and sensitivity, while advanced conductive materials allow for conformable, stretchable, industrial, and other hybrid sensor designs. The simplicity of the capacitive sensor design gives PPS a large degree of flexibility when creating custom sensor solutions.

The following table shows a comparison of capacitive sensors versus the two other most common approaches, resistive and piezoelectric tactile sensors.

PPS sensors use the electrical property of capacitance to measure the pressure applied to a sensor.

Based on the simple concept of varying an air gap between two electrodes, this approach allows us to build a widevariety of sensors to nearly any specification.

Capacitive sensing enables superior stability, repeatability and sensitivity when compared to piezoelectric or resistance technology.

PPS sensors are in turn supported by our high performance signal conditioning electronics.

For more information, go to Capacitive Tactile Sensing.