I-Corps: Surface-wave-based sensing of strength and stiffness of soft materials

I-Corps：基于表面波的软材料强度和刚度传感

• 批准号: 2327142
• 负责人: Melih Eriten
• 金额: $ 5万
• 依托单位: University of Wisconsin-Madison
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Standard Grant
• 财政年份: 2023
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2023-05-15 至 2024-06-30
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2327142&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: Corps; Surface; wave; based; sensing

The broader impact/commercial potential of this I-Corps project is the development of a robust and easily installed sensor module that delivers mechanical properties of soft materials in industrial processing lines. Materials that can deform visibly under small forces are classified as soft. Natural and synthetic soft materials such as rubber, foams, gels and biological tissues are ubiquitous in food production, structures, robots, 3D-printing, agriculture, pharmaceutical processing, and biomedical applications. Hence, the mechanical properties of soft materials are of primary interest to many industries. The development and deployment of the proposed sensor is immediately feasible for the soft food processing industry. When integrated to food processing lines, this sensor will provide high throughput real-time data to the production line managers and operators about strength, stiffness, texture, and consistency of the food being processed. This feedback will enable optimization of the processing settings and environment and thus will facilitate reduction of trim losses and online quality control of the processed food. Therefore, the proposed technology will help food waste reduction efforts of the food processors and manufacturers. Natural expansion to biomedical, agricultural and polymer processing industries is possible as the innovation is scalable and adaptable to various soft materials and processing lines. This I-Corps project is based on the development of a surface-wave-based sensing method that delivers elastic and failure properties of soft materials. The sensing method is based on correlations between surface wave and mechanical properties: surface waves emitted during processing of soft materials are measured and analyzed, and estimated wave amplitude, energy and frequencies are correlated to the elastic and failure properties of soft materials. Measured properties (strength, stiffness, and toughness) deliver essential information on microstructure, texture, and consistency of soft materials. Therefore, this innovative sensing technique is broadly applicable to soft material processing industries. Initially, the sensing module will be adapted to the food processing industry. In this module, surface-waves emitted during cutting, slicing, peeling, and shredding of fruits, vegetables, cheese, meat, and meat substitutes will be monitored by non-contact optical sensors, and the elasticity and fracture properties of the products will be extracted from the surface-wave analyses. Those properties will provide online monitoring of product quality, processing conditions and operations. Such a monitoring system is currently missing in the food processing industry.This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.

该I-Corps项目的更广泛的影响/商业潜力是开发坚固且易于安装的传感器模块，该模块在工业加工线中提供了软材料的机械性能。在小部队下可以明显变形的材料被归类为软。天然和合成的软材料，例如橡胶，泡沫，凝胶和生物组织在食品生产，结构，机器人，3D印刷，农业，药物加工和生物医学应用中无处不在。因此，软材料的机械性能是许多行业的主要兴趣。拟议的传感器的开发和部署对于软食品加工行业立即可行。当整合到食品加工管线时，该传感器将为生产线经理和运营商提供高吞吐量的实时数据，涉及强度，僵硬，质地和所处理食品的一致性。该反馈将实现处理设置和环境的优化，因此将有助于减少装饰损失和对处理食品的在线质量控制。因此，拟议的技术将有助于减少食品加工商和制造商的浪费工作。 由于创新可扩展并适应各种软材料和加工线，因此可以自然扩展到生物医学，农业和聚合物加工行业。该I-Corps项目基于一种基于表面波的传感方法的开发，该方法提供了软材料的弹性和故障特性。传感方法基于表面波和机械性能之间的相关性：测量和分析软材料处理过程中发出的表面波，并且估计的波幅度，能量和频率与软材料的弹性和故障特性相关。测量的特性（强度，刚度和韧性）提供了有关软材料的微结构，纹理和一致性的重要信息。因此，这种创新的传感技术广泛适用于软材料加工行业。最初，传感模块将适应食品加工行业。在此模块中，将通过非接触光学传感器来监测水果，蔬菜，奶酪，肉类和肉类替代物在切割，切片，剥离和切碎过程中发出的地表波，并且将从地表波分析中提取产品的弹性和裂缝特性。这些属性将在线监视产品质量，处理条件和操作。食品加工行业目前缺少这种监测系统。该奖项反映了NSF的法定任务，并被认为是值得通过基金会的知识分子优点和更广泛影响的评论标准来评估的。