Sensor infrastructure

• US 7,627,439 B1
• Filed: 05/18/2006
• Issued: 12/01/2009
• Est. Priority Date: 03/03/2004
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Metis Design Corporation
• Original Assignee: Metis Design Corporation
• Inventors: Kessler, Seth S., Jugenheimer, Kristin A., Size, Aaron B.
• Primary Examiner(s): Nghiem; Michael P
• Application Number:
  US11/437,539
• Time in Patent Office: 1,293 Days
• Field of Search: 702 33- 36, 702 38- 43, 702/47, 702/49, 702/54, 702/56, 702/130, 702/138, 702/150, 735/87, 735/88, 735/92, 732/94, 324/238, 324/456
• US Class Current: 702/35
• CPC Class Codes: G01B 5/30 for measuring the deformation in a solid, e.g. mechanical strain gauge
• CPC Class Codes: G01L 1/16 using properties of piezoelectric devices
• CPC Class Codes: G01M 5/0033 by determining damage, crack or wear
• CPC Class Codes: G01M 5/0075 by means of external apparatus, e.g. test benches or portable test systems G01M5/005 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: G01N 2291/0258 Structural degradation, e.g. fatigue of composites, ageing of oils
• CPC Class Codes: G01N 2291/02827 Elastic parameters, strength or force
• CPC Class Codes: G01N 2291/02845 Humidity, wetness
• CPC Class Codes: G01N 2291/0422 Shear waves, transverse waves, horizontally polarised waves
• CPC Class Codes: G01N 2291/0427 Flexural waves, plate waves, e.g. Lamb waves, tuning fork, cantilever
• CPC Class Codes: G01N 2291/106 one or more transducer arrays
• CPC Class Codes: G01N 2291/2694 Wings or other aircraft parts
• CPC Class Codes: G01N 29/045 by imparting shocks to the workpiece and detecting the vibrations or the acoustic waves caused by the shocks measuring resonant frequency G01H13/00; measuring strength properties by application of mechanical stress G01N3/00
• CPC Class Codes: G01N 29/12 by measuring frequency or resonance of acoustic waves measuring frequency or resonant frequency of mechanical vibrations or acoustic waves in general G01H1/06, G01H3/04, G01H13/00; acoustic resonators G10K11/04; vibration or shock testing of structures G01M7/00
• CPC Class Codes: G01N 29/2475 Embedded probes, i.e. probes incorporated in objects to be inspected
• CPC Class Codes: G01N 29/2481 Wireless probes, e.g. with transponders or radio links

Abstract

A device for use in detecting an event in a structure includes a sensor encapsulation, the encapsulation containing a sensor, an actuator positioned substantially in-plane to the sensor within the housing and a printed circuit board in communication with at least one of the sensor and the actuator. The printed circuit board includes a microprocessor constructed and arranged to collect data from at least one of the sensor and the actuator, a signal generator constructed and arranged to provide excitation to at least one of the sensor and the actuator, and an amplifier to condition the excitation.

Claims

1. A method of detecting an occurrence in a material, the method comprising:

distributing a plurality of sensor nodes in a structure, wherein each of the sensor nodes includes an internal analog-to-digital conversion element;

passively collecting data related to the structure from at least one of the plurality of nodes;

analyzing the data to identify a structural occurrence in the structure by comparing the data to a baseline measurement of the structure;

triggering an active damage detection operation in response to an identified structural occurrence to determine a location and a degree of the structural occurrence, wherein the active damage detection operation includes at least one of the plurality of nodes supplying excitation energy to the structure;

collecting data related to the structure using at least one of the plurality of nodes during the active damage detection operation;

passing at least one of i) the data collected at a first of the plurality of nodes, and ii) data derived from the data collected at the first of the plurality of nodes to a second node;

combining the data from the first node with data collected at the second node; and

determining a position of a structural occurrence based on the data from the first node and the data from the second node.

2. The method of claim 1 further comprising digitizing data collected from at least one of the plurality of nodes.

3. The method of claim 1 further comprising collecting data at a node proximal to the at least one of the plurality of nodes before analyzing the data to identify a structural occurrence.

4. The method of claim 1 further comprising passing the data to a central processor for analysis of the data to identify a structural occurrence.

5. The method of claim 1 further comprising iteratively collecting data at the at least one of the plurality of nodes and passing the data to at least one of a second node and a central processing unit.