Abstract
Fish sense water motions with their lateral line. The lateral line is a sensory system that contains up to several thousand mechanoreceptors, called neuromasts. Neuromasts occur freestanding on the skin and in subepidermal canals. We developed arrays of flow sensors based on lateral line canal neuromasts using a biomimetic approach. Each flow sensor was equipped with a PDMS (polydimethylsiloxane) lamella integrated into a canal system by means of thick- and thin-film technology. Our artificial lateral line system can estimate bulk flow velocity from the spatio-temporal propagation of flow fluctuations. Based on the modular sensor design, we were able to detect flow rates in an industrial application of tap water flow metering. Our sensory system withstood water pressures of up to six bar. We used finite element modeling to study the fluid flow inside the canal system and how this flow depends on canal dimensions. In a second set of experiments, we separated the flow sensors from the main stream by means of a flexible membrane. Nevertheless, these biomimetic neuromasts were still able to sense flow fluctuations. Fluid separation is a prerequisite for flow measurements in medical and pharmaceutical applications.
Highlights
With the exception of the hot-wire array presented by Yang et al [28], biomimetic approaches picked up fluid motion by means of a flow-induced deflection of a cantilever-like or lamella-shaped structure, which was detected by piezo-electric [38], resistive [39,40,41,42,43], capacitive [44,45,46], ionic polymer-metal composite (IPMC)-based [29,47] or optical [48,49,50,51] read-out techniques
We estimated bulk flow velocity in a pipeline by means of a sensory array featuring eight mid-sized lamellae built in thick-film technology (Figure 4A) that were not covered by a membrane
We used two setups featuring bio-mimetic flow sensors to monitor the propagation of flow fluctuations in a pipeline
Summary
The mechanosensory lateral line of fish is sensitive to weak water motions and local pressure gradients [1,2,3,4,5,6,7]. Local water motions displace the cupula and, deflect the ciliary bundles This leads to an electrical response of the hair cells. The hair cells of a neuromast are oriented in two opposing directions [14,15,16]. This antagonistic arrangement is the reason for the directional sensitivity of lateral line neuromasts [17,18,19]. Due to the filter properties of lateral line canals, the CNs of fish do not respond to the directed current component of water flow, but to the small fluctuations superimposed on the flow [24]. Fish presumably estimate the direction of flow and the flow velocity from the spatial-temporal propagation of flow fluctuations [25]
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