PPS has introduced AeroStrip, a low-profile pressure sensor designed to simplify vehicle aerodynamics testing. As featured in The Manufacturer, this innovative solution offers an affordable, real-world alternative for OEMs, motorsport engineers, and Formula Student teams seeking accurate aerodynamic pressure data without wind tunnel costs.

The ability to measure a wide range of spray impact pressure and distribution patterns has direct applicability across a variety of industry application areas including the design and manufacture of industrial spray nozzles, paint or polyurethane spray guns, shower heads, automotive windshield wiper fluid dispensers, pepper spray dispensers and medical devices.

Another promising application for capacitive tactile sensors is arterial line placement, a common, but difficult, procedure performed in a clinical setting. An arterial line is a thin catheter inserted into an artery. It is most commonly used in intensive care medicine and anesthesia to monitor blood pressure continuously and to obtain samples for blood gas analysis. 

PPS announces their innovative new wireless Finger Tactile Pressure Sensing system for immediate sale worldwide. FingerTPS sensors are soft, flexible sensors worn on the hand that transmit accurate, repeatable tactile force data to a PC via wireless Bluetooth connection.

It’s not surprising wearable devices are becoming popular with athletes and sports scientists to try and gain a performance advantage. Brandon Larson, a technologist with the Red Bull High Performance group has experience working within this field and has led a project to collect data and provide insight to several elite surfers.

Consumers are demanding more and more of their clothing, not just in terms of fit—which they expect to be precisely right—but in terms of functionality.  Comfort, after all, plays a role in determining whether someone will like a product or not.

The initial research was focused on determining how the pressure of a surfer’s feet is transferred to the surfboard to control it. To accomplish this, high resolution pressure mapping was used in conjunction with sensors within the insoles of ‘booties’. 

Extremely sensitive, thin, conformable tactile sensors will play a key role in the next generation of consumer wearable and clinical devices that measure blood pressure.

Design engineers interested in integrating miniature force sensors into product designs now have an option to evaluate and integrate a new breed of capacitive technology-based sensor that can accurately, and with high repeatability, measure forces as low as 1 gram.

Though it might not always be obvious to the casual observer, the clothing worn by Olympic and professional athletes can be as sophisticated and technologically advanced as anything else in their toolbox.