S. Baglio

A Ferrofluidic Inertial Sensor Exploiting the Rosensweig Effect

In this paper, a novel device for sensing perturbations imposed to liquid media contained in a disposable housing is addressed. The device consists of a glass beaker filled with deionized water surrounding a small volume of ferrofluid; a permanent magnet is used to fix the position of the ferrofluidic mass in a compliant position and to generate spikes due to the Rosensweig effect. The effect of external stimuli on the beaker can be estimated by measuring the perturbation produced on the ferrofluidic mass. The latter strategy allows reducing drawbacks related to static friction of conventional inertial devices. The ferrofluid perturbations are monitored by two external planar coils in a differential configuration. The main features of the proposed strategy are structural decoupling between the electric read-out system and beaker housing, which allows both implementing noninvasive measurement in liquid media and making the architecture partially disposable, of low cost, and suitable for real applications.

Innovative ferrofluidic inertial sensor exploiting the Rosensweig effect

In this work a novel inertial sensor is presented, which can be used as a low band accelerometer, a vibration sensor or an inclinometer. The device consists of a glass plate filled with deionized water surrounding a small volume of ferrofluid; a permanent magnet is used to fix the position of the ferrofluidic mass in a compliant position. The effect of an external stimulus can be estimated by measuring the perturbation produced on the ferrofluidic mass. The static friction effect is overcame by exploiting the Rosensweig effect, caused by the magnetic field acting on the ferrofluid and producing spikes whose position is linked to the quantity to be measured. The action of the forcing quantity on the spike position is monitored by the use of two external planar coils. In the proposed device the electric read-out system is decoupled from the mechanical transducer; this makes the prototype low cost and suitable for real applications.

A inertial sensor exploiting a spike shaped ferrofluid

In this paper an inertial sensor based on the effect of an unknown perturbation on the movement of a ferrofluid spike is presented. The device consists of a glass beaker filled with deionized water and a spike shaped mass of ferrofluid. A suitable magnetic field configuration is exploited to force a spike shape to the ferrofluid. The movement of the spike free-end is sensed via an InfraRed readout strategy. A description of the adopted experimental set-up is given along with some experimental results.

Magnetic Fluids for Bio-medical Application

The use of magnetic fluids in the bio-medical field is becoming quite appealing due to the amusing properties and potentialities of these materials as bio-compatible markers to localize target molecules and to transport functional entities. Moreover, the use of magnetic fluids in integrated devices is very promising to implement lab-on-chip systems. Although this strong efforts towards bio-applications, magnetic fluids reveals interesting properties and peculiarities for the realization of inertial sensors and actuators with very performing performances and characteristic.