Low Cost Angular Displacement Sensors for Biomechanical Applications - A Review

Emőke Szelitzky^1, , Jogile Kuklyte², Dan Mândru¹ and Noel O’Connor²

¹CP 400641, B-dul Muncii, No. 103-105, A022, Faculty of Mechanical Engineering, Technical University of Cluj-Napoca, Cluj-Napoca, Romania

²Dublin 9, CLARITY: Centre for Sensor Web Technologies, Dublin City University, Ireland

Cite this paper:
Emőke Szelitzky, Jogile Kuklyte, Dan Mândru and Noel O’Connor. Low Cost Angular Displacement Sensors for Biomechanical Applications - A Review. Journal of Biomedical Engineering and Technology. 2014; 2(2):21-28. doi: 10.12691/jbet-2-2-3

Abstract

In the general scientific quest for increased quality of life a natural ambition is to know more about human body kinematics. Varied knowledge can be extracted from sensors placed on human body and through associated biomechanical parameter evaluation the causal connection between different biomechanical parameters and medical conditions can be inferred. From a biomechanical point of view, one of the most important parameters within the human body is the amplitude of angular movements of joints. Although many angular sensors are used in industry, particular characteristics such as small size, flexibility and appropriate attachment methods must be taken into consideration when estimating the amplitude of movement of human joints. This paper reviews the existing low cost easy to manipulate angular sensors listed in the scientific literature, which currently are or could be used in rehabilitation engineering, physiotherapy or biomechanical evaluations in sport. The review is carried out in terms of a classification based on the sensors’ working principles and includes resistive, capacitive, magnetic and piezoresistive sensors.

Keywords:
low cost sensor bend sensor flexible sensor angular displacement sensor resistive sensor

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