Contact sensor, driver device, and care bed

摘要

The contact sensor (11) includes a conductive fabric (12), an insulative spacer (13) having multiple openings (22), and a conductive sheet (14) of a sheet-shaped conductor. The insulative spacer (13) is interposed between the conductive fabric (12) and the conductive sheet (14). Upon contact of a soft object (25) such as a human body portion on the conductive fabric (12) with force equal to or greater than a certain strength, the insulative spacer (13) sinks in the soft object (25) with the conductive fabric (12) interposed therebetween. The conductive fabric (12) is deformable in conformity with insulative pieces of the insulative spacer (13), such that touching of a portion of the conductive fabric (12) on the conductive sheet (14) provides detection of contact of the soft object (25).