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How do I build a force sensor?

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sconno05

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Jun 6, 2005
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I am having trouble with an independent project of mine. I am trying to design a force sensor that can measure the force of a person pushing against something. I am having difficulty with figuring out what sensors I should use and how I can use those sensors along with some sort of logic device to convert measurements into psi on an LED or LCD display.

Any help on this would be most appreciated.
 
Easiest way of doing it to use a strain gauge a low offset opamp, a micro-processor with built-in A/D (Pic, for instance) and a display of your choice. A parallel interface display if you have many I/O pins available or a serial interface display if there is a UART on the micro.

One alternative is to use a spring with a potentiometer and connect to the joy-stick port on an ordinary computer. That will make things a lot easier, but not exactly portable or easy to handle.

I must warn you that if you have to ask the question you ask, then it will be no easy task for you. There is a lot to be mastered before you come anywhere close to your goal.

Gunnar Englund
 
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