Touch at a distance sensing: lateral-line inspired MEMS flow sensors

• Published in: Bioinspiration & biomimetics Vol. 9; no. 4; p. 046011
• Main Authors: Prakash Kottapalli, Ajay Giri, Asadnia, Mohsen, Miao, Jianmin, Triantafyllou, Michael
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: England IOP Publishing 07.11.2014
• Subjects: Animals; Arrays; biomimetic MEMS; Biomimetics; Biomimetics - instrumentation; canal neuromast; Canals; Computer Simulation; Computer-Aided Design; Detection; Equipment Design; Equipment Failure Analysis; Filtering; Lateral Line System - physiology; lateral-line; liquid crystal polymer; Mechanotransduction, Cellular - physiology; Micro-Electrical-Mechanical Systems - instrumentation; Models, Biological; polymer flow sensor; Rheology - instrumentation; Sensor arrays; Sensors; superficial neuromast; Transducers; Water flow
• ISSN: 1748-3182; 1748-3190; 1748-3190
• DOI: 10.1088/1748-3182/9/4/046011

Evolution bestowed the blind cavefish with a resourcefully designed lateral-line of sensors that play an essential role in many important tasks including object detection and avoidance, energy-efficient maneuvering, rheotaxis etc. Biologists identified the two types of vital sensors on the fish bodies called the superficial neuromasts and the canal neuromasts that are responsible for flow sensing and pressure-gradient sensing, respectively. In this work, we present the design, fabrication and experimental characterization of biomimetic polymer artificial superficial neuromast micro-sensor arrays. These biomimetic micro-sensors demonstrated a high sensitivity of 0.9 mV (m s−1) and 0.022 V (m s−1) and threshold velocity detection limits of 0.1 m s−1 and 0.015 m s−1 in determining air and water flows respectively. Experimental results demonstrate that the biological canal inspired polymer encapsulation on the array of artificial superficial neuromast sensors is capable of filtering steady-state flows that could otherwise significantly mask the relevant oscillatory flow signals of high importance.