Vacuum Regeneration in Whale Tag Suction Cups.

Harvard Microrobotics Laboratory - Master thesis and research fellowship

February-August 2023 & January-November 2024

Project CETI aims to decode whale communication using non-invasive tags attached to whales to record their vocalizations. The suction cups used for attachment are safe but limit attachment time, which directly constrains the amount of data that can be collected.

Approach

Use the whale's dive and the resulting pressure difference to regenerate vacuum in the suction cups and increase tag attachment time.

Modeling and optimization

Thermodynamic model of the pump.
Design optimization with a genetic algorithm.

Thermodynamic model and schematic of the whale-tag pump

Design and fabrication

Robust design to withstand deep-sea pressures.
Silicone and epoxy casting.

Fabricated whale-tag vacuum regeneration prototype

Measurements in deep-sea conditions

Built a custom waterproof and pressure-proof pressure logger.
Tested the system in a pressure tank up to 800 PSI.

Custom waterproof pressure logger for whale-tag tests

Results

Vacuum regeneration up to 881% of the starting pressure after five cycles.
Integration of the regeneration system into the whale tag body.

First-author paper in IEEE Journal of Oceanic Engineering, 2025 - DOI: 10.1109/JOE.2025.3595607