The force transducer measures a stress applied by the user or an object and transmits it to the arduino board in the form of a voltage. It consists of a force cell. The force cell is a strain gauge used to measure force.
The force transducer measures a stress applied by the user or an object and transmits it to the arduino board in the form of a voltage. It consists of a force cell. The force cell is a strain gauge used to measure force.
The force sensor can read a value ranging from 0 newtons to 10 newtons, which corresponds to 1kg. You can find sensors up to 2-3 kg on arduino.
Depending on what you need for your project, there are force transducers of different sizes and precision.
Some sensors also have a conversion module to amplify the signal and convert it into a digital value. These sensors are plugged into a digital terminal on the Arduino board.
Here is a kit of different pressure sensors using a conversion module:
We’ll now see how to display the force values on the serial monitor in Newton-metres:
#define force_sensor A0 // force sensor pin
void setup() {
Serial.begin(9600); // initialise serial monitor
}
void loop() {
int reading_value = analogRead(force_sensor); // we read the value coming from the force sensor
// display the value on the serial monitor
Serial.print("Loadcell value: ’);
Serial.print(reading_value);
Serial.println("milli Newton meter");
delay(100); // pause to wait for next value
}We’re now going to look at how to light up LEDs as a function of force in Newton-metres.
#define force_sensor A0 // force sensor pin
// define leds
#define led_white 2
#define led_blue 3
#define led_green 4
#define led_yellow 5
#define led_orange 6
#define led_red 7
void setup() {
// define output leds
pinMode(led_white, OUTPUT);
pinMode(led_blue, OUTPUT);
pinMode(led_green, OUTPUT);
pinMode(led_yellow, OUTPUT);
pinMode(led_orange, OUTPUT);
pinMode(led_red, OUTPUT);
}
void loop() {
int reading_value = analogRead(force_sensor); // we read the value coming from the force sensor
// if the value is greater than 2 newton-metres, we turn on the white LED
if (reading_value > 200) {
digitalWrite(led_white, HIGH);
}
else digitalWrite(led_white, LOW); // Turn off the LED if this is not the case
// Turn on the blue LED if the value is greater than 4.5 Newton metres
if (reading_value > 450) {
digitalWrite(led_blue, HIGH);
}
else digitalWrite(led_blue, LOW);
// the green LED is lit if the value is greater than 5.5 Newton-metres
if (reading_value > 550) {
digitalWrite(led_green, HIGH);
}
else digitalWrite(led_green, LOW);
// The yellow LED is lit if the value is greater than 6.5 Newton-metres
if (reading_value > 650) {
digitalWrite(led_yellow, HIGH);
}
else digitalWrite(led_yellow, LOW);
// The orange LED is lit if the value is greater than 8 Newton-metres
if (reading_value > 800) {
digitalWrite(led_orange, HIGH);
}
else digitalWrite(led_orange, LOW);
// The red LED is lit if the value is greater than 9 Newton-metres
if (reading_value > 900) {
digitalWrite(led_red, HIGH);
}
else digitalWrite(led_red, LOW);
}