Named after the fish’s remarkable abilities, suction cups with clingfish®-effect provide strong, but reversible attachment, not only to smooth surfaces, but also to rough, structured and uneven surfaces
The Northern Clingfish is a small fish that lives in the harsh environment of the surf zone. With the suction cup on its belly, the fish can hold on to the rough, structured, and even wet and slimy surfaces of the intertidal rocks. Using its suction cup this fish can hold up to 230 times of its own body weight, an ability that comes in handy when intertidal waves crush in. While working with Prof. Adam Summers at the University of Washington, researched Dr. Petra Ditsche (who is the founder of Clingtech Bionics) the biomechanics behind the function of the abdominal sucker of the Northern clingfish.
Key to the breakthrough was understanding how the clingfish’s natural suction works so effectively — especially on rough surfaces that normally cause a conventional suction cup to fail. The rim of the clingfish’s suction cup is covered with layers of micro-sized, hairlike structures, in many different hierarchical sizes. This layered effect allows not only perfect sealing on different roughness orders, but also creates more friction along the rim and helps the fish stick to rough surfaces. The entire disk is flexible and elastic, allowing it to adapt and hold on to coarse, uneven surfaces.
After investigating many years of how the clingfish suction cup works, Dr. Petra Ditsche began building a prototype, borrowing from the innovations of nature. The team discovered that combining different materials helped to give the artificial suction cups a rigid structure that was strong enough to hold tension, while also soft and flexible enough to conform and stick to rough surfaces. They also found a way to increase the friction on the rim of the cup. https://www.washington.edu/news/2019/10/02/inspired-by-northern-clingfish-researchers-make-a-better-suction-cup/. Back in Germany, Ditsche took the development of the bio-inspired suction cup further. After receiving an EXIST grant she and her team developed the first prototype to a product that can be manufactured in serial production for first applications.