Design of a Force Sensor Based on Flexure Beams With Piezoresistive and PVDF Elements

Majority of existing methods of measuring micro-force are limited by the sensing elements, which are fixed on the manipulator and not well decoupled from other axes. In this paper, a unique 1-D force sensor with different sensing elements is first proposed as a micro-manipulator for 1-D force sensing applications in biological cell injection. The goal is to fabricate a compliant sensor using piezoresistive and PVDF (polyvinylidene fluoride) elements for cell injection with sufficient accuracy. The designed sensor is manufactured and calibrated with a commercial GSO gram sensor. Experimental results show a good linearity between the applied force and output voltage signals, which demonstrates the feasibility of the concept design of a force sensor acting as the cell holder. The performances of the force sensor employing piezoresistive and PVDF elements are compared by conducting experimental studies.