I’m trying to increase the reliability/consistency of this piezoelectric sensor (https://cdn.sparkfun.com/datasheets/Sensors/ForceFlex/LDT_Series.pdf) from TE connectivity in my circuit (we have the one without the mass). The sensor is connected to a micro Arduino with a 1M ohm resistor. The sensor best reports voltages corresponding to changes in pressure when it’s placed in a very particular position on its side, which doesn’t really make sense. How do we increase the consistency of the sensor’s output voltages wherever its placed.
The post didn’t let me include all of the details so I thought I would put them here:
initially, i thought we should use an FSR but this study used a piezoelectric sensor - same one we’re using and were able to get good results. can anyone tell me how I can do the same? The study section on the sensor is copy and pasted below, but you can find the complete details https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0010482515000086
The piezoelectric sensor was integrated into our system by connecting the positive terminal to the microcontroller board’s GPIO pin, which is internally connected to a 12-bit analog/ digital converter. The other terminal of the sensor is connected directly to ground on the microcontroller board. Amplification of the piezoelectric signal was not required due to the relatively high voltages produced by the sensor.
Continued:
The piezoelectric sensor used is the LDT0-028 K, which consists of a 28 μm PDVDF polymer film laminated to a 0.125 mm substrate.
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The code I’m currently using is below:
// Read Piezo ADC value in, and convert it to a voltage
int piezoADC = analogRead(PIEZO_PIN);
float piezoV = piezoADC/ 1023.0 * 5.0;
Serial.println(piezoV); // Print the voltage.
delay(250);
