Sensing fluid viscosity and density through mechanical impedance measurement using a whisker transducer

This paper presents a new technique for fluid viscosity and density sensing through measuring the mechanical impedance of the fluid load applied on a sphere. A piezoelectric whisker transducer (WT) is proposed which acts simultaneously as both the actuator to excite the sphere tip to oscillate in the fluid and the sensor to measure the force, velocity and mechanical impedance. The relationship between mechanical impedance of the fluid load and electrical impedance of the WT is derived based on a transduction matrix model which characterizes the electro-mechanical transduction process of the WT in both directions. The mechanical impedance is further related to the fluid viscosity and density using a theoretical model. The establishment of this fluid-mechanical–electrical relationship allows the WT to extract the fluid viscosity and density conveniently and accurately just from its electrical impedance. Experimental studies are carried out to calibrate the WT and test its performance using glycerol–water mixtures. It is concluded that the WT is capable of providing results comparable to those of standard viscometers within a wide measurement range due to its low working frequency and large vibration amplitude. Its unique self-actuation-and-sensing feature makes it a suitable solution for online fluid sensing.