EAPSI:Arrayed bristles reduce soiling on compound eye

Amador Guillermo J, Atlanta GA

Investigators

Abstract

Flying insects face a barrage of foreign particles such as dust and pollen, which threaten to coat the insect's eyes and antennae, thus limiting their sensing abilities. This project plans to elucidate a novel aerodynamic mechanism by which insects keep these sensory organs clean. This project will be performed in collaboration with Dr. Isao Shimoyama at the University of Tokyo. The innovative airflow measuring techniques developed by Dr. Shimoyama's lab will determine the optimal bristle array geometry for reducing airborne particle deposition. The findings could lead to bio-inspired designs for dust-controlling lenses, sensors, and solar panels. The compound eye of many species of insects is covered by an array of short bristles, or setae, evenly spaced between the eye's individual lenses. These setae are believed to resist incoming particle-laden flows to reduce deposition onto the ocular surface. Experiments will be conducted using an insect eye mimic with a micro-scale wind velocity probe to quantify the aerodynamics of various bristle array geometries and determine the most effective at minimizing airflow penetration. Preliminary experiments and numerical simulation have shown that arrayed setae can reduce airflow at the eye surface by upwards of 90 percent. While the presence of setae arrays on insect compound eyes has been known for quite some time, there hasn't been a study analyzing the effect of bristles on airborne particle deposition. The aim of this work is to identify setae as a new type of "filter," by which they guide airflows to reduce deposition into targeted areas. As a result they require little to no maintenance and are simple to install, making them ripe for applications. This NSF EAPSI award is funded in collaboration with the Japan Society for the Promotion of Science.