Development of three-axis inkjet printer for gear sensors: (Property evaluation of patterns by conductive ink printed on polyimide layer)

摘要

The long-term objective of our research is to develop sensor systems for detection of gear failure signs. As a very first step, this paper proposes a new method to create sensors directly printed on gears by a printer and conductive ink, and shows the printing system configuration and the procedure of sensor development. The developing printer system consists of an inkjet head and CNC machinery. The head is able to print out micro conductive patterns, and introduced to the CNC machinery as a tool. In order to print sensors on gears, we first design the micro-circuit pattern on a gear through the use of 3D-CAD, and create a program for the CNC machinery by CAM. By using the program, the CNC machinery can be driven to print the sensor on the gear. This new method proposed here may provide a new manufacturing process for mechanical parts, which have an additional functionality to detect failure, and possible improvements include creating more economical and sustainable systems.