Pyzoflex (R): A Printed Piezoelectric Pressure Sensing Foil For Human Machine Interfaces

Ferroelectric material supports both pyro- and piezoelectric effects that can be used for sensing pressures on large, bended surfaces. We present PyzoFlex (R), a pressure-sensing input device that is based on a ferroelectric material (PVDF: TrFE). It is constructed by a sandwich structure of four layers that can easily be printed on any substrate. The PyzoFlex (R) foil is sensitive to pressure-and temperature changes, bendable, energy-efficient, and it can easily be produced by a screen-printing routine. Even a hovering input-mode is feasible due to its pyroelectric effect. In this paper, we introduce this novel, fully printed input technology and discuss its benefits and limitations.