Diagnostic system for monitoring structural health conditions
First Claim
1. An interrogation system for monitoring structural health conditions, comprising:
- at least one wave generator coupled to a structure and operative to generate a wave signal that propagates through said structure;
a plurality of optical fiber sensors applied to the structure, each of said optical fiber sensors and said wave generator forming a communication path for transmitting the wave signal therebetween;
at least one electronic module operative to generate an input sensor signal and to send the input sensor signal to at least one of the optical fiber sensors, each of said optical fiber sensors being operative to impress the wave signal onto the input sensor signal to generate an output sensor signal that is frequency shifted from the input sensor signal by the wave signal, said electronic module being responsive to said output sensor signal and operative to generate an information signal;
a signal processing unit; and
a relay switch array module having a plurality of relay switches, one of said relay switches being operative to relay the information signal to said signal processing unit, said signal processing unit being responsive to said information signal and operative to generate a digital sensor signal and send the digital sensor signal to a computer means.
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Accused Products
Abstract
Interrogation systems for monitoring structural health conditions. An interrogation system includes at least one wave generator for generating a wave signal and optical fiber sensors applied to a structure. The interrogation system also includes at least one electronic module for generating an input sensor signal and sending the input sensor signal to the optical fiber sensors. Each optical fiber sensor impresses the wave signal onto the input sensor signal to generate an output sensor signal that is frequency shifted from the input sensor signal. The electronic module generates an information signal in response to the output sensor signal. The interrogation system also includes a signal processing unit and a relay switch array module that has relay switches. Each relay switch relays the information signal to the signal processing unit and the signal processing unit generates a digital sensor signal that is subsequently sent to a computer.
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Citations
44 Claims
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1. An interrogation system for monitoring structural health conditions, comprising:
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at least one wave generator coupled to a structure and operative to generate a wave signal that propagates through said structure; a plurality of optical fiber sensors applied to the structure, each of said optical fiber sensors and said wave generator forming a communication path for transmitting the wave signal therebetween; at least one electronic module operative to generate an input sensor signal and to send the input sensor signal to at least one of the optical fiber sensors, each of said optical fiber sensors being operative to impress the wave signal onto the input sensor signal to generate an output sensor signal that is frequency shifted from the input sensor signal by the wave signal, said electronic module being responsive to said output sensor signal and operative to generate an information signal; a signal processing unit; and a relay switch array module having a plurality of relay switches, one of said relay switches being operative to relay the information signal to said signal processing unit, said signal processing unit being responsive to said information signal and operative to generate a digital sensor signal and send the digital sensor signal to a computer means. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14)
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15. An interrogation system for monitoring structural health conditions, comprising:
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a waveform generating unit for receiving an actuator input signal from a computer means and operative to generate an actuator signal having a designed toneburst waveform; a plurality of diagnostic patches applied to a structure, each of the diagnostic patches including a dual mode device that operates as an actuator and a sensor; a relay switch array module having a plurality of relay switches and operative to relay said actuator signal to a first one of said diagnostic patches; said first diagnostic patch being responsive to said actuator signal and operative to generate a wave signal, a second one of said diagnostic patches forming a communication path for the wave signal with said first diagnostic patch and being responsive to the wave signal and operative to generate a sensor signal; and a signal processing unit; wherein one of said relay switches is operative to relay said sensor signal to said signal processing unit and wherein said signal processing unit is responsive to said sensor signal and operative to generate a digital sensor signal and to send the digital sensor signal to said computer means. - View Dependent Claims (16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28, 29, 30, 31, 32, 33, 34, 35, 36, 37, 38, 39, 40, 41, 42, 43, 44)
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Specification