SUSPENDED MEMBRANE PRESSURE SENSING ARRAY
First Claim
1. A method of making a capacitive multidimensional sensing apparatus, the method comprising:
- providing a substrate having a plurality of elongated substrate electrodes, a separation layer comprising one or more separators and one or more open portions, and a membrane having a plurality of elongated membrane electrodes;
orienting the membrane relative to the substrate such that each of at least two of the plurality of elongated membrane electrodes intersects each of at least two of the plurality of substrate electrodes forming a multi-dimensional array of capacitive elements, and such that open portions of the separation layer align with the capacitive elements; and
attaching the separation layer to the membrane.
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Accused Products
Abstract
An accurate and low cost macro pressure sensor is described. The pressure sensor includes an array of capacitive sensing elements formed at the intersections of sets of conductors. A lower set of conductors is supported by a substrate and an upper set of conductors is supported on a flexible polymer membrane. Capacitive sensing elements are formed where a conductor in the upper set overlaps a spacer in the lower set. Separators hold the membrane away from the substrate with a separation that, because of deflection of the membrane, varies in relation to the pressure applied to the membrane. As a result, the separation of conductors, and therefore capacitance, in each cell varies in response to the applied pressure. By attaching the membrane to the separators and optionally using slits in the membrane between capacitive sensing elements, measurements made in each capacitive sensing element can be mechanically decoupled.
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Citations
41 Claims
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1. A method of making a capacitive multidimensional sensing apparatus, the method comprising:
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providing a substrate having a plurality of elongated substrate electrodes, a separation layer comprising one or more separators and one or more open portions, and a membrane having a plurality of elongated membrane electrodes; orienting the membrane relative to the substrate such that each of at least two of the plurality of elongated membrane electrodes intersects each of at least two of the plurality of substrate electrodes forming a multi-dimensional array of capacitive elements, and such that open portions of the separation layer align with the capacitive elements; and attaching the separation layer to the membrane. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15)
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16. An apparatus for capacitively sensing force or pressure, the apparatus comprising:
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a substrate; a plurality of elongated substrate electrodes disposed at the substrate; a membrane configured to deflect in response to force or pressure applied to the membrane; a plurality of elongated membrane electrodes disposed at the membrane, wherein each of at least two of the plurality of membrane electrodes intersects each of at least two of the plurality of substrate electrodes forming a multi-dimensional array of capacitive elements having a capacitive element at each intersection; and a plurality of separators fixedly connected with the substrate and separating the substrate and the membrane, thereby forming a plurality of sensor regions of the apparatus with sensor regions positioned between adjacent separators of the plurality of separators each including at least one capacitive element; and wherein a membrane portion of each sensor region is mechanically decoupled from a membrane portion of each adjacent sensor region. - View Dependent Claims (17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28, 29, 30, 31, 32, 33, 34, 35, 36, 37, 38, 39)
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40. A method of operating a capacitive multi-dimensional sensing apparatus, the method comprising:
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providing a multidimensional array capacitive sensing apparatus comprising; a substrate having a plurality of substrate electrodes; a membrane having a plurality of membrane electrodes, wherein each of at least two of the substrate electrodes intersects more than one membrane electrode in the plurality of membrane electrodes, the intersections of the membrane electrodes and the substrate electrodes forming a multidimensional array of capacitors; and a separation layer having open portions corresponding to a plurality of sensor regions; deflecting a first membrane portion corresponding to a first toward the substrate by stretching the first membrane portion with a first pressure while mechanically isolating membrane portions corresponding to adjacent sensor regions from a deflection of the first membrane portion; and measuring a change in capacitance between a substrate electrode and a membrane electrode corresponding to the deflection of the first membrane portion. - View Dependent Claims (41)
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Specification