TactArray Pressure Sensor Pad

TactArray is a flagship pressure mapping sensor and covers a larger area than DigiTacts. TactArray represents a new approach to tactile sensing, designed to perform in even the most complex situations. Taking the form of a thin, flexible pressure mapping pad, it can be molded and stretched around complex shapes and operate even in extreme temperatures and pressure requirements.

What is a TactArray Sensor PAD?

The TactArray instrumentation solution includes a flexible pressure sensing pad that captures pressure distribution between two objects in direct physical contact, representing a broader category of innovative pressure sensors. TactArray solutions have given the "sense of touch" to many products or tools for their development, enabling PPS customers around the world to create many successful products.

Designed for engineers, researchers, and product designers that have a need to capture contact pressure distribution in their applications, PPS's patented TactArray sensor technology forms a pressure sensor array of two-dimensional sensing elements in a thin, continuous sheet. By placing TactArray sensors between objects, wrapping them around shapes, or applying them to a flat surface, customers measure and visualize pressure information in their applications. Using this simple but powerful capacitive sensing approach, the TactArray provides a platform for the most repeatable and sensitive tactile sensors in the market today along with a wide variety of options for design.

All TactArray instrumentation solutions consist of TactArray sensors, available in a wide range of sensing-element densities (up to 8,192 sensing elements) to match your application. Using PPS's T5000, U400, or B400 conditioning electronics to attach to a computer by USB or Bluetooth, TactArray solutions run PPS’s Chameleon image capture and analysis software. This industry-leading software is fully featured: every system ships with Chameleon Core free, covering live streaming, review, and basic analysis. Chameleon Premium is an optional upgrade for teams that need to save and record sessions, run advanced analysis, or capture synchronized video with your data results for even greater insight.

Key Features:

Provide high-resolution, highly sensitive array sensors that allow designers to develop the best product designs based on highly reliable, high-resolution data. This ensures the development of sensors with high sensitivity and linearity, crucial for precise applications.
Deliver high performance capacitive sensing technology that saves time and improves results by significantly reducing recalibration and repeated tests, allowing developers to resolve problems and answer questions faster. Twice the repeatability, 100x better minimum pressure detection, and 50% better pressure sensing resolution compared to typical resistive tactile sensor technologies.
Feature Chameleon Visualization Software, providing intuitive, easy-to-use, high-quality visualization and easy access to data for analysis and export to other applications. Every system ships with Chameleon Core free; Chameleon Premium is an optional upgrade for teams that need to save and record sessions, run advanced analysis, or capture synchronized video.
Include PPS's own conditioning electronics, T5000, U400, or B400, matched to your sensor's construction, for a latency-free, plug-and-play connection by USB or Bluetooth.

TactArray Product Line Brochure

Comfortable Tactarray - flexible pressure sensor pad

Conformable TactArray (CTA)

The Conformable TactArray (CTA) is an ~1mm thick flexible sensor designed as a pressure sensor pad. Its construction from soft, conductive cloth allows the CTA to adapt and conform to various surfaces, including complex 3-dimensional and multi-faceted shapes, making it ideal for attaching to different body parts to improve comfort and fit, and to identify stress concentrations and discomfort points for more ergonomic product designs. Available in multiple sizes and configurations.

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Industrial TactArray (ITA)

Engineered for even the most extreme conditions, the Industrial TactArray (ITA) excels in temperatures between -40° C and 200° C, and in pressures from 3 to 300 psi, up to 600 psi on certain designs. Additionally, its design allows it to adeptly manage varying levels of force, ensuring optimal performance in high-pressure environments, including manufacturing settings that depend on consistent, uniform pressure distribution for quality control, such as heat-sealing, nip-roller monitoring, and metal forming.

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Hybrid TactArray (HTA)

This sensor retains some flexibility but also has the rigidness to lie flat as a flat pressure sensor for mounting or integration of the sensor onto an object. The Hybrid TactArray (HTA) offers a similar resolution and performance to the Conformable TactArray, in a more rigid form-factor.

A Conformable Hybrid construction (CHTA) is also available, adding laser-cut slits through the polyimide layer for noticeably better conformability on more complex, multi-curved surfaces than standard HTA can reach.

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Stretchable TactArray (STA)

The Stretchable TactArray (STA) is a flexible pressure sensor pad that can stretch up to 10% while still maintaining high data quality. Its sensitivity and precision in detecting subtle changes in pressure make it ideal for a wide range of applications. This pressure sensor pad, utilizing a soft and conductive silver-metalized Spandex and is approximately 3mm thick, demonstrates its versatility especially when measuring pressure distribution and comfort across dynamically moving surfaces.

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Frequently Asked Questions

Can I run multiple sensors together as one system?

Yes, with one constraint: sensors sharing the same conditioning electronics need similar element sizes to each other. Multiple sensor units can also be combined into a single measurement area, and Chameleon records and analyzes data from multiple sensors synchronized within one experiment.

Can sensors be custom-shaped or sized, and what's the lead time?

Yes. Approximate lead time for our designs is in the catalog; custom modifications can be made, please discuss your requirements with your engineer.

Can TactArray sensors be sterilized or used in wet environments?

TactArray sensors aren't waterproof by default; removable waterproof sheaths or full encapsulation are available where moisture is unavoidable. For sterilization, avoid autoclaving, it changes the sensor's characteristics and can cause permanent damage. Sterile sheaths, gamma sterilization, or (for industrial sensors) IR sterilization are the recommended methods instead.

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