Biomimetic Soft Airflow Sensor with Printed Ionogel Conductor

This work demonstrates a soft airflow sensor that is able to detect the direction and the magnitude of airflow, taking advantage of additive manufacturing for fast prototyping. The sensor is comprised of a printed conductive ionogel array with four channels embedded in a elastomeric film: three channels for individual sensor signals and the other for common ground. The film consists of two different types of highly compliant elastomers to maximize the deflection of the artificial hair. the design of the artificial hair was proposed to maximize the moments at the lower end of the hair resulting from the airflow. A compact readout circuit to simultaneously acquire data from the impedances of the three channels was designed and its functionality was experimentally verified. The experimental results from unidirectional static and cyclic loads show a linear and repeatable response of the sensors and a clear relationship between the response and applied airflow.