Printed Sensor Tracks Tire Thickness

Jun-18-17 A printed sensor able to accurately measure tire wear in real time could one day send tire health information directly to a smartphone.

Designed by teams from Duke University in collaboration with the Fetch Automotive Design Group, the sensor is made up of a pair of carbon nanotube electrons printed closely together on a flexible film. The sensor attaches to the inside of the tire, where a small oscillating voltage applied to one of the electrodes creates an electric field. A bit of that field—called the fringing field—arcs over the electrodes and through the tire’s rubber, causing an interference that can be measured to determine the thickness the tread at any time.

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[NEWATLAS.COM]
[PRATT.DUKE.EDU]

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