Design and Fabrication of a Bio-inspired Acceleration Sensor Using Liquid Mass Blocks

A linear acceleration sensor,which is inspired by the human balance organ,is designed and prepared. It uses a liquid mass-block and a symmetrical-electrodes metal-core polyvinylidene fluoride fiber(SMPF)as the sensor element. The output signal of the sensor has an exponential relationship with the excitation amplitude of the impacting vibration. It is capable of detecting the amplitude and the correct frequency for sinusoidal excitations using an exponential correlation. The experiments indicate that both the output signal of the sensor and the resonance frequency increase substantially with increasing diameter of the metal core. The first-order resonance frequencies of the sensors with 40,60,and 80 μm diameter metal wires are below 10 Hz,which is near the range of human body motion frequencies.