A simple and highly sensitive Force Sensor based on modified plastic optical fibers and cantilevers

In this work, a force sensor based on plastic optical fibers (POFs) is realized and tested. More specifically, the optical sensor system is composed of a cantilever obtained by a spring-steel beam and a modified POF glued on the underside of the cantilever. One end of the cantilever is fixed to the optical desk using a developed support, while on the other end, a weight is applied to realize an applied force. The POF is modified by notches in order to improve the optical performance of the force sensor. An analysis is carried out to characterize the sensor system. In particular, it has a linear behaviour ranging from 50 mN to 300 mN with a sensitivity of 53.43 mV/N and a resolution of 0.01 N.