Interrogation system for active monitoring of structural conditions
First Claim
1. A system for monitoring structural health conditions by use of a plurality of patch sensors to be attached to an object, each said patch sensor being capable of at least one of generating a wave upon receipt of an actuator signal and developing a sensor signal in response to said wave, said system comprising:
- a tree structured relay unit including;
a root node; and
at least one lower level node including at least one leaf node connected to said patch sensors, said lower level node including a plurality of switches;
wherein said plurality or switches are operated to establish a channel between said root node and a selected one of said patch sensors and wherein said actuator signal or sensor signal is transmitted through said channel.
0 Assignments
0 Petitions
Accused Products
Abstract
Systems for monitoring structural health conditions of objects. Each system includes patch sensors attached to an object, wherein each patch sensor is capable of generating a wave upon receipt of an actuator signal and developing a sensor signal in response to the wave. The system includes a tree structured relay unit that has a root node and at least one lower level node that includes at least one leaf node connected to the patch sensors. The lower level node includes switches, wherein the switches are operated to establish a channel between the root node and a selected one of the patch sensors and wherein actuator signal or sensor signal is transmitted through the channel. The sensor signals are analyzed to monitor health conditions thereby prevent catastrophic failure.
-
Citations
23 Claims
-
1. A system for monitoring structural health conditions by use of a plurality of patch sensors to be attached to an object, each said patch sensor being capable of at least one of generating a wave upon receipt of an actuator signal and developing a sensor signal in response to said wave, said system comprising:
-
a tree structured relay unit including; a root node; and at least one lower level node including at least one leaf node connected to said patch sensors, said lower level node including a plurality of switches; wherein said plurality or switches are operated to establish a channel between said root node and a selected one of said patch sensors and wherein said actuator signal or sensor signal is transmitted through said channel. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22)
-
-
23. A system for monitoring structural health conditions by use of a plurality of patch sensors to be attached to an object, each said patch sensor being capable of at least one of generating a wave upon receipt of an actuator signal and developing a sensor signal in response to a wave generated by one of said patch sensors, said system comprising:
-
a tree structured relay unit including; a root node; and at least one lower level node including at least one leaf node connected to said patch sensors, said lower level node including a plurality of switches; wherein said plurality of switches are operated to establish a channel between said root node and a particular one of said patch sensors and wherein said actuator signal or sensor signal is transmitted through said channel; a programmable memory unit operative to develop an address signal that causes said tree structured relay unit to select said particular patch sensor, a data acquisition control signal, and a wave generation control signal; at least one signal acquisition unit responsive to said sensor signal and said data acquisition control signal and operative to develop output data; a first data storage unit for storing said output data therein; a second data storage unit for storing waveform data therein; at least one wave generation unit responsive to said wave generation control signal and operative to develop said actuator signal using said waveform data; a wireless signal transmitting unit for communicating said output data to at least one remote wireless signal receiver; a wireless signal receiving unit responsive to wireless signals and operative to process and store said wireless signals in said second data storage unit; and a processing means for controlling the operation of said programmable memory unit, said first and second data storage units, said wireless signal transmitting unit, and said wirdless signal receiving unit.
-
Specification