Sai Punith Kolla(18BSW0063)

WEARABLE DEVICES AND ITS APPLICATIONS - LAB

Introduction:
A flex sensor or bend sensor is a sensor that measures
the amount of deflection or bending. Usually, the
sensor is stuck to the surface, and resistance of sensor
element is varied by bending the surface. Since the
resistance is directly proportional to the amount of
bend it is used as goniometer, and often called flexible
potentiometer.

Materials Used:
1) NodeMCU x 1 (or) ESP32 Module
2) 2.2 inch SparkFun Flex Sensor
3) Velcro Straps x2
4) LiPo Battery BZ 232357 210mAh flexible battery
5) Male/Female Headers & Connecting Wires x10.
Sai Punith Kolla(18BSW0063)

Working Principle:
Sparkfun 2.2 inch Flex Sensor:
We are using resistive flex sensor which has a layer of conductive ink on one
side. When the sensor bends the conductive particles in the special
ink are placed further apart which increases the resistance proportional to
amount of bending.
The following image from the datasheet shows the working of the sensor and
the relationship between degree of bending and change in resistance.

Flex sensor when normal and bent.

Resistance measured when sensor is flat

Sai Punith Kolla(18BSW0063)

Resistance Measurement Tabulation:

Sensor State Resistance

Measured
32 K Ohms
Flat (no bend)
90-degree Bend 55 K Ohms
(Approximately)

Circuit Design:
When bent, the conductive particles go further apart and the
resistance value is increased. The more its bent the further apart
the particles move, and the higher resistance it gives. If bent the
opposite direction, nothing happens to the particles. This means
that the sensor only works in one direction.
But experimenting with the sensor, we found that bending in the
other direction actually decreases the resistance of the sensor
and thus enables us to connect the sensor directly to the
microcontroller like NodeMCU via the digital pins, as decrease
in resistance leads to increase in voltage as per the following
equation:

VOUT= VIN * R / (R+RS)

Where Rs is the sensor resistance.

Sai Punith Kolla(18BSW0063)

Circuit Diagram:

Flex sensor connection circuit diagram

Flex sensor Working.

Sai Punith Kolla(18BSW0063)

System Flowchart:
Sai Punith Kolla(18BSW0063)

Functional block diagram:

Sai Punith Kolla(18BSW0063)

Overall system architecture:

Block diagram wearable gesture control system using SparkFun 2.2 inch Flex Sensor
Sai Punith Kolla(18BSW0063)

Present State: