Harbor seal inspired MEMS artificial micro-whisker sensor

Author

Kottapalli, Ajay Giri Prakash ; Asadnia, Mohsen ; Hans, Hendrik ; Miao, J.M. ; Triantafyllou, Michael S.

Author_Institution

Sch. of Mech. & Aerosp. Eng., Nanyang Technol. Univ., Singapore, Singapore

fYear

2014

fDate

26-30 Jan. 2014

Firstpage

741

Lastpage

744

Abstract

Harbor seal whiskers possess a unique geometry along the length of the whisker which is believed to suppress vortex induced vibrations (VIV) in frontal flows. This paper presents the design, fabrication and experimental underwater characterization of a MEMS artificial whisker sensor. A bio-inspired artificial whisker fabricated by stereolithography is installed on a piezoelectric MEMS sensing membrane. Experimental results demonstrate that the whisker sensor is able to detect minute disturbances underwater with a velocity detection limit as low as 193μm/s.

Keywords

bio-inspired materials; membranes; microsensors; piezoelectric transducers; stereolithography; MEMS artificial whisker sensor; artificial microwhisker sensor; bio-inspired artificial whisker; frontal flows; harbor seal whiskers; inspired MEMS sensor; piezoelectric MEMS sensing membrane; stereolithography; unique geometry; velocity detection limit; vortex induced vibrations; Fabrication; Geometry; Marine animals; Micromechanical devices; Seals; Sensors; Vibrations;

fLanguage

English

Publisher

ieee

Conference_Titel

Micro Electro Mechanical Systems (MEMS), 2014 IEEE 27th International Conference on

Conference_Location

San Francisco, CA

Type

conf

DOI

10.1109/MEMSYS.2014.6765747

Filename

6765747