System for diagnosing and monitoring structural health conditions

• US 20090157358A1
• Filed: 06/23/2008
• Published: 06/18/2009
• Est. Priority Date: 09/22/2003
• Status: Abandoned Application

• Current Assignee: Hyeung-Yun Kim
• Original Assignee: Hyeung-Yun Kim
• Inventors: Kim, Hyeung-Yun
• Application Number:
  US12/214,896
• Publication Number:
  US 20090157358A1
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 702/185
• CPC Class Codes: G01L 1/16 using properties of piezoelectric devices
• CPC Class Codes: G01L 1/243 using means for applying force perpendicular to the fibre axis
• CPC Class Codes: G01M 11/085 the optical fiber being on or near the surface of the DUT
• CPC Class Codes: G01M 5/0033 by determining damage, crack or wear
• CPC Class Codes: G01M 5/0066 by exciting or detecting vibration or acceleration vibration testing of structures G01M7/00
• CPC Class Codes: G01M 5/0091 by using electromagnetic excitation or detection

Abstract

Systems for diagnosing/monitoring structural health conditions of objects. The system, which monitors structural health conditions by use of a plurality of patch sensors attached to an object, includes at least one bridge box and at least one relay switch array module having a plurality of switches. Each of the patch sensors is adapted to perform at least one of generating a wave upon receipt of an actuator signal and developing a sensor signal. The bridge box includes an analogue-to-digital converter (ADC) for converting the sensor signal to a digital signal. The switches are adapted to establish a channel between a selected one of the patch sensors and the ADC.

Claims

1. A diagnostic system for monitoring structural health conditions by use of a plurality of patch sensors attached to an object, each of the patch sensors being adapted to perform at least one of generating a wave upon receipt of an actuator signal and developing a sensor signal, the system comprising:

at least one bridge box including;

at least one analog-to-digital converter(ADC) for converting the sensor signal to a digital signal; and

at least one relay switch array module that has a plurality of switches,

wherein the switches are adapted to establish a channel between a selected one of the patch sensors and the ADC.

2. A diagnostic system as recited in claim 1, wherein the bridge box further includes a signal conditioner adapted to perform at least one of amplifying the sensor signal, adjusting a DC offset of the sensor signal, and filtering the sensor signal.

3. A diagnostic system as recited in claim 1, wherein the bridge box further includes a waveform generator for generating the actuator signal and wherein the switches are adapted to establish a channel between a selected one of the patch sensors and the waveform generator.

4. A diagnostic system as recited in claim 3, wherein the bridge box further includes a miniature transducer having the ADC and the waveform generator.

5. A diagnostic system as recited in claim 1, wherein the bridge box further includes an amplifier for amplifying the actuator signal.

6. A diagnostic system as recited in claim 1, wherein the bridge box further includes a pulse generator for generating a bipolar pulse train.

7. A diagnostic system as recited in claim 1, wherein the relay switch array module is disposed inside the bridge box.

8. A diagnostic system as recited in claim 1, wherein the bridge box further includes a selection address memory for storing port addresses corresponding to the patch sensors and a switch selector for fetching one or more of the port addresses from the selection address memory.

9. A diagnostic system as recited in claim 1, wherein the bridge box further includes a processor for handling input/output requests transmitted from one or more components of the bridge box.

10. A diagnostic system as recited in claim 1, wherein the bridge box further includes at least one of a field-programmable-gate-array and a complex-programmable-logic-device.

11. A diagnostic system as recited in claim 1, wherein the system comprises a first switch array module coupled to at least one active sensor and a second switch array module coupled to at least one passive sensor.

12. A diagnostic system as recited in claim 1, wherein the bridge box further includes a digital signal processing (DSP) processor for processing the sensor signal.

13. A diagnostic system as recited in claim 1, wherein the bridge box includes at least one SoC chip comprising a switch array module, an analog-to-digital converter, a digital-to-analog converter, a signal conditioner, a field-programmable-gate-array, and a processor.

14. A diagnostic system as recited in claim 1, further comprising:

a data acquisition system coupled to the bridge box via at least one of a cable link and a wireless link and operative to generate oscillation signal data associated with the actuator signal and to receive the sensor signal.

15. A diagnostic system as recited in claim 14, further comprising:

a computer connected to the data acquisition system and adapted to operate the patch sensors.

16. A diagnostic system as recited in claim 14, wherein the bridge box further includes a bus interface controller for interfacing the data acquisition system.

17. A diagnostic system as recited in claim 14, wherein the bridge box further includes a wireless network controller for communicating with the data acquisition system via the wireless link.

18. A diagnostic system as recited in claim 17, wherein the wireless network controller includes an RF transducer, a baseband core, a communication engine, and an audio application.

19. A diagnostic system as recited in claim 14, wherein the wireless link is established by use of a conformal load-bearing antenna.

20. A diagnostic system as recited in claim 1, further comprising:

a mobile internet toolkit adapted to communicate with the bridge box via a wireless link.

21. A diagnostic system as recited in claim 1, wherein the bridge box further includes a global-positioning-system (GPS) reader for communicating with a GPS-TRACK satellite via a wireless link.

22. A diagnostic system as recited in claim 1, wherein the system includes a plurality of bridge boxes forming a wireless personal area network.

23. A diagnostic system as recited in claim 22, wherein each of the bridge boxes is one of a full-function device (FFD), an FFD/personal-area-network (PAN) device, and a reduced-function device (RFD).

24. A diagnostic system as recited in claim 22, further comprising a data acquisition system,

wherein each of the bridge boxes is one of a master bridge box, a slave bridge box, and a gateway bridge box and wherein the gateway bridge box communicates with the data acquisition system via at least one of a wireless link and a cable link.

25. A diagnostic system as recited in claim 24, wherein the gateway bridge box includes a remote communication module selected from a group consisting of a CDMA module, a GSM module, a Wireless LAN communication module.