Integrating Carbon Fiber Based Piezoresistive Composites for Flow Characterization in In-vitro Cell Research Equipment

摘要

Mechanobiology aims to replicate in an experimental setting the mechanical stress living cells are experiencing in-vivo. One approach for achieving this is based on so called flow chambers, in which a forced flow of cell culture medium generates a controlled level of shear stress on the observed cells. Although simulations and analytical models allow approximations of the applied shear stress, sensory solutions that observe the internal flow of the chamber is needed to get the true value in experiments. This could be made possible by measuring the shear and strain deformation of soft wall-portions inside the chamber. To test this, we produced and integrated a provenly piezo resistive material made from chopped carbon fibers and silicone into an existing flow chamber. This served as a low cost and readily available way of prototyping embedded, deformation sensors, with high sensitivity, into a flow chamber. The performance of the internal sensor was tested by comparing its ability to characterize two flow scenarios applied with two differently constructed peristaltic pumps, to external pressure and flow sensors. The results lead us to conclude that the integrated piezo resistive sensor is able to characterize flows with similar features as that of the high-end external flow sensor. This enables further research into the application of integrated sensors in flow control loops.