Capacitive transducer for continuous measurement of vertical foot force

Abstract

A capacitive transducer is developed which continuously measures the vertical component of foot forces during walking. The transducer is shaped like an insole and consists of two subtransducer units, the front and rear. The outputs of the two units are summed to give the total force exerted by the foot. Each unit has a multilayered structure. The basic layer is a 2 mm Neoprene sponge sheet sandwiched by two 50 μm copper foils. They as a whole form a capacitor. The other two layers are a driving shield and static shield, which minimise the effect of stray capacitance and power-line noise, respectively. The transducer is thin (3·8 mm), light (90 g) and flexible and so does not hinder the natural gait pattern. It can be attached to the sale of the shoe easily by elastic bands and Velcro straps. The accuracy of the transducer is well within ±10 per cent of the full scale. An error analysis is made to clarify the change in sensitivity owing to a localised foad. The results are used to compensate for the inherent nonlinearity of the transducer units.