3D Waterflow Sensor with Three-Dimensionally Arrayed Absolute Pressure Sensors on a Polyhedral Origami Circuit

Abstract

This paper reports on a three-dimensional waterflow sensor that utilizes multiple absolute pressure sensors arranged on a polyhedral origami circuit. The distribution of pressure on a sphere is influenced by and correlates complexly with both the speed and direction of flow. Consequently, we developed a spherical sensor on which multiple sensor elements are arranged three-dimensionally using a folded origami circuit. Subsequently, we immersed the fabricated device in a water tunnel and conducted experiments to assess its response as well as collect ground truth. We adopted neural network model to predict different speeds and angles, and then evaluated the predictive capabilities of the model. The results demonstrated that the proposed device was distinctly able to predict different velocities and confirmed its scalability for 3D waterflow sensing.