嗅探通过控制传感器附近的气流来加快化学检测速度。

School of Mechanical Engineering, Georgia Institute of Technology, Atlanta, GA, USA.

B2SLab, Departament d'Enginyeria de Sistemes, Automàtica i Informàtica Industrial, Universitat Politècnica de Catalunya, 08028, Barcelona, Spain.

Nat Commun. 2021 Feb 23;12(1):1232. doi: 10.1038/s41467-021-21405-y.

Most mammals sniff to detect odors, but little is known how the periodic inhale and exhale that make up a sniff helps to improve odor detection. In this combined experimental and theoretical study, we use fluid mechanics and machine olfaction to rationalize the benefits of sniffing at different rates. We design and build a bellows and sensor system to detect the change in current as a function of odor concentration. A fast sniff enables quick odor recognition, but too fast a sniff makes the amplitude of the signal comparable to noise. A slow sniff increases signal amplitude but delays its transmission. This trade-off may inspire the design of future devices that can actively modulate their sniffing frequency according to different odors.

大多数哺乳动物通过嗅探来检测气味，但人们对构成嗅探的周期性吸气和呼气如何帮助提高气味检测能力知之甚少。在这项结合实验和理论的研究中，我们使用流体力学和机器嗅觉来合理化以不同速率嗅探的好处。我们设计并构建了一个风箱和传感器系统，以检测电流随气味浓度变化的情况。快速嗅探可以快速识别气味，但嗅探过快会使信号幅度与噪声相当。缓慢的嗅探会增加信号幅度，但会延迟信号传输。这种权衡可能会启发未来设备的设计，使其能够根据不同的气味主动调节嗅探频率。