Early Warning System for Road, Runway, and Railway Failures

• US 20150219576A1
• Filed: 08/25/2014
• Published: 08/06/2015
• Est. Priority Date: 02/03/2014
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Goldin-Rudahl Systems, Inc.
• Original Assignee: Kurt Rudahl, Sally Goldin
• Inventors: Rudahl, Kurt, Goldin, Sally
• Granted Patent: US 10,866,227 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: G01N 33/24 Earth materials G01N33/42 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: G01N 33/42 Road-making materials G01N33/38 takes precedence

Abstract

Disclosed herein is a method of detecting faults beneath a construction supported by earth. The method comprises detecting the conditions of fabric built into the construction supported by earth. One condition of the fabric indicates a fault while a second condition indicates no fault. The detected condition is associated with the location of the fabric that was built into the construction. The detected condition of the fabric is reported. Also disclosed is a fabric that can be included when constructing a road or similar construction such as a highway, railway, runway or dike. The fabric is an array of electronic circuits such that stretching or tearing said fabric will damage electrical characteristics of the fabric. An apparatus for detecting faults beneath a road is also disclosed. The apparatus comprises a fabric built into the road, and a sensor apparatus configured to measure conditions of the fabric at multiple locations. A subset of the conditions of the fabric indicates faults beneath the road.

Claims

1. A method of detecting faults beneath a construction supported by earth, comprising:

detecting one of a plurality of conditions of a fabric built into the construction supported by earth wherein the plurality of conditions of the fabric includes a first condition indicating a fault and a second condition indicating no fault,

associating the detected condition with a location of the fabric built into the construction, and

reporting the detected condition of the fabric at associated locations.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the conditions are electrical characteristics of the fabric.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein the detecting comprises sending a radio-frequency inquiry from an RFID sensor.

4. The method of claim 3, wherein the first condition is a lack of response from an RFID tag in the fabric and the second condition is a response from the RFID tag at the associated location.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein the detecting comprises passing a radio-frequency transmitter along a surface of the construction.

6. The method of claim 5, wherein the first condition is a failure to absorb energy at a predetermined resonant frequency at the associated location and the second condition is absorption of energy at the predetermined resonant frequency at the associated location.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein the detecting comprises passing a sensor along an external surface of the construction.

8. The method of claim 1, wherein the construction supported by earth is a road.

9. A fabric included when constructing a road such that stretching or tearing said fabric will damage electrical characteristics of the fabric, said fabric comprising an array of electronic circuits.

10. The fabric of claim 9, wherein the array of electronic circuits comprises a regular array of RFID tags.

11. The fabric of claim 9, wherein the array of electronic circuits comprises loops with a predetermined resonant frequency.

12. The fabric of claim 9, wherein the damage to the electrical characteristics of the fabric prevents one or more of the electronic circuits from responding to a radio-frequency signal.

13. An apparatus for detecting faults beneath a road, comprising:

a fabric built into said road, and

a sensor apparatus configured to measure conditions of said fabric at multiple locations, wherein a subset of the conditions of said fabric indicates faults beneath said road.

14. The apparatus of claim 13, wherein the fabric comprises a regular array of electronic circuits.

15. The apparatus of claim 13, wherein the fabric can respond to a radio-frequency signal from the sensor apparatus.

16. The apparatus of claim 13, wherein the fabric includes a means for determining and reporting the conditions of the fabric at multiple locations.

17. The apparatus of claim 13, wherein the fabric includes RFID tags arranged in the fabric.

18. The apparatus of claim 13, wherein the fabric comprises wires arranged in a mesh and the wires are electrically connected at each intersection of the mesh.

19. The apparatus of claim 13, wherein the sensor apparatus is configured to measure conditions of the fabric by being passed along a surface of the road.

20. The apparatus of claim 13, wherein the fabric is located at a position selected from the group consisting of beneath all layers of the road or between adjacent layers of the road.