Measurement and presentation of food texture focusing on tooth vibration

2016 Fiscal Year Final Research Report

• Project/Area Number: 15K12595
• Research Category: Grant-in-Aid for Challenging Exploratory Research
• Allocation Type: Multi-year Fund
• Research Field: Rehabilitation science/Welfare engineering
• Research Institution: The University of Tokyo
• Principal Investigator: Takei Yusuke 東京大学, 大学院情報理工学系研究科, 特任助教 (00513011)
• Project Period (FY): 2015-04-01 – 2017-03-31
• Keywords: 咀嚼音 / 食品テクスチャ / MEMS / 振動計測

Outline of Final Research Achievements

In this study, we measured food texture focusing on tooth vibration. When chewing foods, humans perceive the texture of food as vibrations on the periodontal ligament at the root of the tooth. Therefore, by measuring the vibration of the teeth when a human chews food, the chewing response felt by humans was directly measured.
In this study, MEMS vibration sensor based on silicon piezoresistive cantilever was fabricated as a tooth vibration sensor. The structure of the sensor is a cantilever type force sensor with a length of 200 μm, a width of 100 μm, and a thickness of 0.3 μm using a piezoresistance effect, which is made by MEMS technology, which is embedded at the liquid / air interface.

Free Research Field

MEMS