Thin Film Pressure Sensor - Square, 40x40mm

Although we all love to press buttons, especially if they’re those extra-clicky buttons that kick your finger back as they activate, sometimes projects call for more discrete methods of user interaction, allowing users to enjoy your project like magic, with the controls hidden away and simple gestures or carefully placed knocks activating various effects. This is when you need awesome discrete Buttons & Switches such as Thin Film Pressure Sensors like these, which are little 40x40mm Squares that can identify and measure force between 20g and 10kg. They are made in a similar way to how many Rain or Liquid Sensors are made, measuring the resistance between elements as the conductivity fluctuates, although instead of using liquids as the conducting element, the flexible sandwich PCB stretches, pushing the elements closer together or further apart, resulting in a change in resistance and being identified as pressure.

Although these sensors are quite small, being only 40mm wide and long, you may be surprised to find that these are some of the larger variants in the range, and are designed for general purpose applications in which you may not know how large the object applying the pressure might be. However, with this general purpose design, they can also be used simply as less precise Input Modules than the smaller variants, allowing for a press in a general area rather than a specific tiny location, making it great for hiding discrete controls beneath soft surfaces like tablecloths, mousepads or clothing. Whichever way you want to use them though, with a range between 20g and 10kg, they are useful for a very wide range of applications, so if you aren’t exactly sure how you want to use thin film pressure sensors yet, these are a great choice that allow for a lot of experimentation before settling on a more precise or specialised variant.

If you can see a lot of potential in these tiny, handy sensors, but are looking for versions with different shapes, sizes or tolerances, don’t forget to check out the entire Thin Film Pressure Sensor Range that we have to offer.

Typical Applications for Large Square Thin Film Pressure Sensors:

In a similar fashion to Piezo Sensors as well as many other discrete sensors, we particularly enjoy thin film pressure sensors because of the way that they can be hidden away beneath almost any soft materials, and this includes mousepads, soft bracelets, the hems in clothing and so many more unique locations in which typical buttons simply wouldn’t be convenient. This enables the creation of fun projects like e-textiles that change their patterns when you tug on your collar, discrete controls hidden beneath a mousepad or similar desktop surface, or even underneath the cushion of a chair to react when users take a seat. These are a few decent examples though, and when used with other modules like the Arduino LilyPad UNO or the ever-popular Electroluminescent Wire, these Thin Film Pressure Sensors can be used for so much more, while keeping the magic discretely hidden from all onlookers.

Additional Resources:

• If you really want to get in-depth with this sensor, as well as any other from this particular range, this DFRobot Thin Film Pressure Sensor Wiki is the place to get started, with formulas for measuring loads, sample code for Arduino, and handy insights from the experts who made them. (Code for this unit is SEN0296)

As self-proclaimed “Robo-holics”, DFRobot is a company comprised of over 100 staff members, of which 30% are engineers who love to build robots. It was started in 2008 with the goal of embracing and promoting open-source hardware, with a core focus on Arduino, Raspberry Pi and their very own LattePanda development boards. Since then, DFRobot have manufactured over 1300 unique modules, sensors and components that all work together and complement each other, allowing users like us to enjoy a full spectrum of cutting edge robotics and electronics without having to pay premium prices.

With the primary goal of developing and manufacturing great quality products, while making them accessible to as many people as possible, DFRobot are rapidly becoming one of the most common-place brands in the world of open-source robotics and electronics. With more than 1300 products developed in-house, and an impressive range of different categories and specialisations, there are few brands in the world who can compete in terms of quality, accessibility and genuine innovation.