Patent ID: 7123028

Claim:
A force detector having a function for detecting a strength of an applied external force, comprising: a substrate, an upper surface of said substrate being included in an XY-plane of an XYZ three-dimensional coordinate system having an X-axis, a Y-axis and a Z-axis; an elastic deformable body disposed at a position opposed to the substrate and displacing with respect to the substrate due to an elastic deformation caused by the applied external force; a first force detecting element disposed between said substrate and said elastic deformable body at a position on an X-axis positive region and changes in a predetermined electrical characteristic due to a displacement of said elastic deformable body; a first switching element located on said X-axis positive region, said first switching element normally taking an OFF state and when an external force with more than a predetermined strength with respect to said X-axis positive region is applied to said elastic deformable body, said first switching element turning to an ON state caused by a deformation of said elastic deformable body; a second force detecting element disposed between said substrate and said elastic deformable body at a position on an X-axis negative region and changes in a predetermined electrical characteristic due to a displacement of said elastic deformable body; and a second switching element located on said X-axis negative region, said second switching element normally taking an OFF state and when an external force with more than a predetermined strength with respect to said X-axis negative region is applied to said elastic deformable body, said second switching element turning to an ON state caused by a deformation of said elastic deformable body; wherein an electrical characteristic of said first and second force detecting elements is detected as an electric signal, when an ON state is obtained on at least one of said first and second switching elements.