Engineers Examine Whales to Create a New Fluid Sensor

It turns out that a humpback whale may help engineers create a new fluid sensor. Borrowing from whales' biological structures, scientists have created a new device using piezoelectric principles to convert mechanical actions into electricity.

Humpback whales have rounded tubercles located on the leading edge of their fins. The whales use these structures for their unique maneuvers in the ocean.

"For anything under the action of fluid, two forces are created-a lift force and a drag force," said Felix Ewere, one of the researchers, in a news release. "For the humpback whale, these tubercles increase the lift and reduce the drag as it moves through the water. They are what enables it to breech the surface of the water."

The researchers borrowed from whales to create a new device that can be used to harvest energy, and can be employed as an airflow or fluid speed and direction-sensing device. In fact, the devices can be attached to an unmanned air vehicle (UAV) as harvesters to generate power and extend its battery range.

"This is a new kind of flow sensor," said Ewere. "A regular flow sensor will just tell you the magnitude of the wind, but this also shows you the direction."

The findings could be huge fore new applications. Placing the sensors arrays on a helicopter, as an example, could help engineers determine aerodynamics that could improve low speed and low altitude flight stability or reduce its acoustic signature.

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