Guide

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Bi-directional Bend Sensors
®
:
Flexpoint also makes Bi-directional Bend Sensors
®
. When bent in one direction one sensor increases in
resistance while the other decreases in resistance. This allows for deflection to be measured in either
direction. Bi-directional Bend Sensors
®
share one common pin. Therefore they can be measured
individually using many of the above methods as long as the common pin can be tied to VREF or ground.
The Bi-directional Bend Sensor
®
can also be used in a voltage divider circuit using each side as the top
and bottom resistor. This looks similar to a potentiometer schematic:
In this configuration the voltage that the ADC will measure will increase or decrease depending
on the direction the Bend Sensor
®
is bent. Because each individual Bend Sensor
®
cannot go to zero
ohms of resistance the response curve looks similar to a hyperbolic tangent function:
There is however a linear region near the center of the curve (VREF / 2).