A Low-Cost Accelerometer Developed by Inkjet Printing Technology

In this paper, an inkjet-printed sensor in the mesoscale is presented with the aim to investigate its behavior as an accelerometer in the low-frequency domain (up to 20 Hz), which properly fits with the need of typical applications in the field of human and seismic monitoring. The accelerometer consists of a Polyethylene terephthalate membrane clamped by four spring legs to a fixed support. The sensing readout strategy is implemented through four strain gauges directly printed onto the flexible substrate. The advantages of the approach proposed are mainly related to the adopted low-cost direct printing technology, which allows for the realization of cheap and customizable devices. The sensor behavior has been deeply investigated. The device responsivity and resolution are 9.4 mV/g and 0.126 g, respectively, at 10 Hz, and 41.0 mV/g and 0.003 g, respectively, at 35 Hz. The performances obtained encourage the development of the all-inkjet-printed sensor proposed, especially taking into account its low cost and disposable features.