SYSTEM AND METHOD FOR DETECTING AND MONITORING SHELL CRACKS ON FREIGHT CONTAINERS

• US 20070040675A1
• Filed: 08/15/2006
• Published: 02/22/2007
• Est. Priority Date: 08/17/2005
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Nantong Cimc-Special Transportation Equipment Manufacturing Company Limited (China International Marine Containers Company Limited), China International Marine Containers (Group) Co., Ltd.
• Original Assignee: Nantong Cimc-Special Transportation Equipment Manufacturing Company Limited (China International Marine Containers Company Limited), China International Marine Containers (Group) Co., Ltd.
• Inventors: Chenguang, Zhou, Rong, Liu, Shouqin, Zhou, Xiaochun, Chen, Jianbin, Zhu, Wenqing, Yuan
• Granted Patent: US 7,688,217 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 340/540
• CPC Class Codes: G08B 13/126 for a housing, e.g. a box, a safe, or a room

Abstract

A device system and method for detecting shell cracks on a container. The device has a plurality of sensing units, an interface circuit, a receiver module, a CPU and alarm unit. A signal is generated from the sensing unit and transmitted to the CPU via an interface circuit and receiver module. An output signal from the CPU is transmitted to the alarm unit. The plurality of sensing units is distributed in an internal surface of the container. In addition, each sensing unit corresponds to an identification code. The present invention incorporates mechanical and electron information technology together. It can perform a real-time monitoring and rapid detection for container security.

Claims

1. A device for detecting shell cracks or a freight container, the device comprising:

a plurality of sensing units, the plurality of sensing units being distributed in an internal surface of the container, each sensing unit corresponding to an identification code;

an interface circuit;

a receiver module;

a computer processing unit (CPU), and

an alarm unit;

whereby a signal generated from one of the sensing unit is transmitted to the CPU via the interface circuit and receiver module and an output signal from the CPU is transmitted to the alarm unit.

2. The device of claim 1, wherein the sensing unit comprises:

an induction board, a detection circuit and a back-end processing control circuit;

wherein the induction board includes a plurality of mesh electrical circuits embedded in an insulated baseboard, the mesh electrical circuits being linked with the detection circuit, and the detection circuit is linked with the back-end processing control unit.

3. The device of claim 2, wherein the interface circuit comprises a wire or wireless link:

wherein the wire link includes a separate wired link or a relay wired link, and the wireless link comprises a separate wireless link or a relay wireless link.

4. The device of claim 1 wherein:

the sensing unit comprises;

a plurality of mesh electrical circuits embedded in an insulated baseboard;

a first resistor and a second resistor set in the mesh electrical circuits;

a first end of the second resistor is connected with the first resistor and a second end of the second resistor is grounded;

the number of the sensing units in the device is N, the first resistors in each of the sensing units are linked together in series via the mesh electrical circuits to form series and parallel circuits containing N first resistors and N second resistors;

the selection of the resistance of the resistors in the sensing unit is based on maximizing the variation of resistance between ends of the series and parallel circuits formed by N first resistors and N second resistors and the ground when a break occurs in the mesh electrical circuits.

5. The device of claim 4 wherein the resistance of each first resistor is different from each other and the resistance of each second resistor is different from each other.

6. The device of claim 5 wherein the resistance of the first resistor and the second resistor in the same sensing unit are equal.

7. The device of claim 1 wherein the alarm unit includes an aural or visible signal warning device.

8. The device of claim 7 wherein the signal warning device includes a warning device which generates an irretrievable, visible alarm signal.

9. The device of claim 2 wherein the insulated baseboard is composed of a material from the group of wood, PVC, plastic, rubber or composite material, and

the mesh electrical circuits are composed of a material from the group of conductive lacquer, conductive film, wire, enameled wire or a metal strip of foil.

10. A system for detecting and monitoring for a shell crack of a freight container the system comprising:

a device adapted to detect shell cracks of a freight container;

a memory adapted to store processed detecting signal data;

a radio frequency (RF) transmitter module adapted to transmit the stored data;

a receiver unit adapted to receive the transmitted data;

wherein the device comprises a plurality of sensing units distributed in an internal surface of the container, an interface circuit, a receiver module, a computer processing unit (CPU) and an alarm unit, each sensing unit corresponds to an identification code;

whereby a signal is generated from the sensing unit and transmitted to the CPU via the interface circuit and receiver module and an output signal from the CPU is transmitted to the alarm unit.

11. The system of claim 10 wherein the receiver unit includes a data reader.

12. The system of claim 11 wherein the data reader is a fixed reader or a portable reader.

13. The system according to claim 11 wherein the data reader is coupled to a local control terminal via Internet, an RS232 interface or a wireless local area network (WLAN).

14. The system of claim 10 wherein the receiver unit includes a remote control terminal communication coupled to the RF transmitter module via a communication network.

15. The system of claim 14 wherein the communication network is a general packet radio service (GPRS), an universal mobile telecommunication system (UMTS) or a wireless local area network (WLAN).

16. A method for detecting and monitoring for shell cracks or freight container, the method comprising the steps of:

generating an inductive signal;

transmitting the inductive signal to a computer processing unit (CPU);

analyzing and processing the inductive signal;

generating an alarm signal based on the result of processing the inductive signal;

wherein the conductive signal is transmitted to the CPU, the conductive signal providing information of a shell crack of the container and location of the shell crack on the container.

17. The method of claim 16 wherein the inductive signal includes information about when a door of the container is opened.

18. The method of claim 16 further comprising the steps of:

storing the processed data of the inductive signal;

transmitting the stored data; and

receiving the stored data.

19. The method of claim 18 wherein the stored data is transmitted to a reader.

20. The method of claim 19 further comprising the step of transmitting the received data to a local control terminal by the reader via Internet, an RS 232 interface or a wireless local area network (WLAN).

21. The method of claim 18 wherein the steps of transmitting and receiving the stored data includes transmitting and receiving the stored data to a remote control terminal via a general packet radio service (GPRS), an universal mobile telecommunication system (UMTS) or a wireless local area network (WLAN).

22. The method of claim 17 wherein the information includes information on opening/closing times of the door and duration of the door being opened.

23. The method of claim 16 wherein the step of generating an inductive signal includes generating an inductive signal where the crack in the container shell is more than 4 square centimeters large or 20 centimeters long.

24. The method of claim 16 wherein the step of transmitting an inductive signal to the CPU includes transmitting the signal by a wired or a wireless link, wherein the wired link comprises a relay wired link and a separate wired link, and the wireless link comprises a relay wireless link and a wireless separate link.

25. The method of claim 16, wherein the step of generating the alarm signal includes generating an aural or visible alarm signal.

26. The method of claim 25 wherein alarm signal includes an irretrievable, visible alarm signal.