METHOD FOR MEASURING LOADING AND TEMPERATURE IN STRUCTURES AND MATERIALS BY MEASURING CHANGES IN NATURAL FREQUENCIES
First Claim
1. A method of measuring a load in an element comprising:
- placing at least one sensor on the element, the at least one sensor being capable of sensing at least one of resonant vibrational frequency changes and phase angle changes indicative of changes in load on the element, the at least one sensor also measuring changes in temperature;
applying a computer control unit to operate the at least one sensor so as to measure at least one of a change in a resonance frequency in the element and a change in phase angle sensed by the at least one sensor as a result of a change in load on the member;
applying the computer control unit to measure changes in temperature, and to apply a temperature calibration to calculate the load on the member.
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Accused Products
Abstract
“Resonance Force Sensor” has broad—and in some cases revolutionary—applications throughout aerospace, maritime, transportation, and industrial force sensing as a low cost, embedded, robust, self-calibrating strain-pressure sensor. Applications include but are not limited to structural load measurement, structural health monitoring, fluid and gas line pressure measurement, batch process manufacturing, and other force-sensing applications. When a complex structure, e.g. an aircraft or ground vehicle structure, is so instrumented, the present invention serves as the primary sensory component for a highly accurate, automatic, on-board vehicular weight and balance system. This sensor system can also be used in non-vehicular structures to measure axial, radial or flexural loading, and hence gravitational mass loading, of structural elements and structural systems.
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Citations
20 Claims
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1. A method of measuring a load in an element comprising:
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placing at least one sensor on the element, the at least one sensor being capable of sensing at least one of resonant vibrational frequency changes and phase angle changes indicative of changes in load on the element, the at least one sensor also measuring changes in temperature;
applying a computer control unit to operate the at least one sensor so as to measure at least one of a change in a resonance frequency in the element and a change in phase angle sensed by the at least one sensor as a result of a change in load on the member;
applying the computer control unit to measure changes in temperature, and to apply a temperature calibration to calculate the load on the member. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20)
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Specification