Development of Pressure-based Displacement Sensor System for Inclination Measurement

Precise measurement of contact force and accurate shape detection is essential in various industrial applications. While conventional unidirectional sensors are effective in measuring the magnitudes of contact forces along a specific axis, they cannot measure parameters such as the inclination of the contact surface. This study introduces a multi-directional pressure-sensing system to overcome these limitations. A sensing module with a linear pressure–displacement relationship was developed, and a linear regression model was established through statistical analysis to verify its reliability. Additionally, the sensing modules were arranged at equal intervals of 120° to enable measurement of the contact surface’s inclination and pressure distribution. Based on experimental results, the proposed sensing module exhibited an error rate of less than 0.5%, which highlights its reliability. Moreover, the inclination measurement system maintained an error of 1.2% within a 5° range, thereby guaranteeing high accuracy throughout its operating window. The proposed multi-directional pressure-sensing overcomes the limitations of conventional unidirectional sensors and is expected to be effective in various systems requiring precise contact force and inclination measurements, such as robotic grippers, medical devices, and industrial automation systems.