Details of Grant 

EPSRC Reference:	EP/N026799/1
Title:	START - Self-Tuning Advanced Rheology Tool
Principal Investigator:	Paoletti, Dr P
Other Investigators:
Researcher Co-Investigators:
Project Partners:	DSoFt Solutions MicruX Technologies University of Liverpool
Department:	Mech, Materials & Aerospace Engineering
Organisation:	University of Liverpool
Scheme:	First Grant - Revised 2009
Starts:	02 May 2016	Ends:	01 August 2017	Value (£):	97,812
EPSRC Research Topic Classifications:	Instrumentation Eng. & Dev. Microsystems Rheology
EPSRC Industrial Sector Classifications:	Manufacturing Environment Food and Drink Healthcare
Related Grants:
Panel History:	Panel Date Panel Name Outcome 09 Feb 2016 Engineering Prioritisation Panel Meeting 9 and 10 February 2016 Announced
Summary on Grant Application Form
Food industry, environmental monitoring, healthcare, diagnostic and micro-fluidic applications often require understanding the rheology of small volumes of simple and complex fluids. Although most of the processes affecting viscosity and density of fluids occur at microscopic length scales, traditional rheometers only allow investigating fluid properties in the bulk, leaving a gap of several order of magnitudes in length between what can be measured and what causes the observed changes in physical fluid properties. MEMS (Micro-Electro-Mechanical Systems) represent a really promising way to fill this gap, thanks to their ability of probing extremely small volumes of fluids. Traditionally, MEMS structures are excited using an external signal and their resonance frequency is used to track changes in fluid properties. However, the dynamics of such systems in a viscous fluid is not trivial and not fully controllable yet, often resulting in poor measurement signal-to-noise ratio that ultimately translates to poor accuracy and reliability. The research proposed here aims to overcome this limitation of MEMS sensors, by creating a nonlinear self-excitation mechanism capable of automatically tracking the oscillation frequency of a microcantilever immersed in a viscous fluid. Changes in fluid properties translates to oscillations frequency shifts that can be easily tracked in real time without performing the frequency sweeps that are the main cause for poor accuracy in traditional externally excited MEMS sensors. This will allow for unprecedented resolution, ease of use and reliability of viscosity and density measurements on extremely small volumes of fluid.
Key Findings
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Potential use in non-academic contexts
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Organisation Website:	http://www.liv.ac.uk