Printed Multilayer Piezoelectric Transducers on Paper for Haptic Feedback and Dual Touch-Sound Sensation

• Published in: Sensors (Basel, Switzerland) Vol. 22; no. 10; p. 3796
• Main Authors: Schmidt, Georg C, Werner, Jonas M, Weissbach, Thomas, Strutwolf, Jörg, Eland, Robert, Drossel, Welf-Guntram, Hübler, Arved C
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Switzerland MDPI AG 17.05.2022; MDPI
• Subjects: Analysis; Circuit components; Deflection; Design; Electric fields; Electric properties; Electrodes; Equipment Design; Feedback; Fluorides; Haptic Technology; Haptics; Humans; Interactive computer systems; Man-machine interfaces; Manufacturing; Multilayers; P(VDF-TrFE); paper electronics; Piezoelectric transducers; piezoelectrics; Polymers; printed actuators; Robotics; Screen printing; Sensors; Sound; Sound pressure; Touch - physiology; Transducers; User-Computer Interface; Germany; piezoelectrics; haptics; paper electronics; printed actuators; P(VDF-TrFE); screen printing
• ISSN: 1424-8220; 1424-8220
• DOI: 10.3390/s22103796

With a growing number of electronic devices surrounding our daily life, it becomes increasingly important to create solutions for clear and simple communication and interaction at the human machine interface (HMI). Haptic feedback solutions play an important role as they give a clear direct link and response to the user. This work demonstrates multifunctional haptic feedback devices based on fully printed piezoelectric transducers realized with functional polymers on thin paper substrate. The devices are flexible; lightweight and show very high out-of-plane deflection of 213 µm at a moderate driving voltage of 50 V (root mean square) achieved by an innovative multilayer design with up to five individually controllable active layers. The device creates a very clear haptic sensation to the human skin with a blocking force of 0.6 N at the resonance frequency of 320 Hz, which is located in the most sensitive range of the human fingertip. Additionally the transducer generates audible information above two kilohertz with a remarkable high sound pressure level. Thus the paper-based approach can be used for interactive displays in combination with touch sensation; sound and color prints. The work gives insights into the manufacturing process; the electrical characteristics; and an in-depth analysis of the 3D deflection of the device under variable conditions.