TACTILE SURFACE AND METHOD OF MANUFACTURING SUCH A SURFACE

• Main Authors: SONGEON, LIONEL, MOUCHEL LA FOSSE, ERIC, RESSIER, LAURENCE, CZORNOMAZ, LUKAS, VIALLET, BENOIT, GRISOLIA, JEREMIE
• Format: Patent
• Language: English; French; German
• Published: 12.06.2013
• Subjects: CALCULATING; COMPUTING; COUNTING; ELECTRIC DIGITAL DATA PROCESSING; MEASURING; MEASURING FORCE, STRESS, TORQUE, WORK, MECHANICAL POWER,MECHANICAL EFFICIENCY, OR FLUID PRESSURE; PHYSICS; TESTING

A device for detecting and quantifying a force applied on a surface comprising a test specimen, an electrically insulating substrate, a first electrode bound to the substrate, a second electrode, an assembly of conductive or semi-conductive nanoparticles in contact with the two electrodes, and a measurement device. The measurement device provides proportional information with respect to an electrical property of the nanoparticles assembly. The electrical property is measured between the first and second electrode. The test specimen is the nanoparticles assembly itself and the electrical property is sensitive to the distance between the nanoparticles of the assembly. The invention uses the nanoparticles assembly itself as a test specimen and allows a force to be quantified even if the nanoparticles assembly is deposited on a rigid substrate.