The 3D flexible sensor
Original article date: May 1999
Introduced recently to a UK audience at the MTEC (Measuring Technology) Conference and Exhibition Shape Tape is set to change the way shapes and surfaces are measured. Alan Quinn reports
Imagine an array of fibre optic sensors embedded along a flexible ribbon of tape? The result of innovative research from the Canadian Space Agency from which it is produced under licence the remarkable Shape Tape sensor has knowledge of its position in three-dimensional space. As a result it can be used for demanding measuring tasks replacing the need for a plethora of sensors and transducers.
Output signals from the tape array are used to construct a three-dimensional real-time model of the shape on a monitor for instant observation and analysis. The tape design allows six degrees of freedom measurement at any point along the ribbon which can be a metre or more in length. The sensor array knows its position relative to a fixed origin point on the tape and can measure static or dynamic shapes including curves and twists.
Developed by Measurand Inc and marketed in Europe by RDP Electronics the simple rugged yet innovative construction means that one tape can replace large numbers of discrete sensors such as load cells accelerometers pressure and displacement transducers. Experiments can be set up more quickly and a test structure can be changed in minutes.
Shape Tape is suitable for tasks in biomechanics image capture film animation 3 CAD transport crash testing virtual reality and marine design for example.
The standard bandwidth is 1.6kHz but systems up to 10kHz have been developed. Resolution of conversion is 0.01% of range limited by the A-D conversion process.
- RDP Electronics
- Tel: 01902 457512
- Fred Thorneycroft
May 1999