Patent application number | Description | Published |
20130064622 | SMART LID FOR SMART BOLTS AND PROBES - The smart lid for smart bolts and probes is an electronic sensor for use with a smart bolt or probe having a color indicator for indicating tension. The smart lid includes a color sensor that provides electrical data corresponding to light received from the color indicator of the smart bolt or probe, a microcontroller that receives electrical data from the color sensor and converts that data to a digital form and compares the data against at least one limit, and provides a digital indication wirelessly to a remote monitor if the at least one limit has been exceeded. In this fashion a warning or emergency condition can be indicated when the tension experienced by the smart bolt is too low or too high. The smart lid may include an electrical power source that scavenges electrical power from ambient electromagnetic fields (EMF) and stores the electrical power in a battery. | 03-14-2013 |
20130139604 | BOLT TENSION MONITORING SYSTEM - The bolt tension monitoring system provides remote monitoring of the tension of a bolt, thus allowing for remote monitoring of general structural health and integrity of the fastener. The bolt tension monitoring system includes a housing adapted for being retained on a head of a bolt to be monitored. The system further includes a force transducer positioned between the head of the bolt and a workpiece surface in which the bolt is fastened and measures tension between the head of the bolt and the surface. A controller circuit disposed within the housing calculates a difference between a currently measured tension between the head of the bolt and the workpiece surface and an initially measured tension. A wireless transponder mounted in the housing transmits an alert signal if the calculated difference exceeds a pre-defined threshold value. Actuation and power are provided through radio frequency power harvesting. | 06-06-2013 |
20140190267 | FASTENER TENSION MONITORING SYSTEM - The fastener tension monitoring system provides for automatic notification when a structural tensile fastener, such as a bolt, is loosened. The system incorporates piezoelectric material in the core of the fastener shank or deposited around the shank. The piezoelectric material communicates electrically with an electrical storage device, a microprocessor, and a transmitter installed on the fastener head. Vibration or other changes in the tensile force developed by the fastener result in electrical impulses being generated by the piezoelectric material, generating electrical energy that is stored in the storage device and used to operate the microprocessor. In the event that an out of tolerance condition is sensed by the microprocessor, the transmitter is activated to send a signal to that effect. A receiver and computer are provided to monitor any such signals. The piezoelectric material may include pyroelectric material as well for the generation of electrical energy due to temperature changes. | 07-10-2014 |
20140325257 | WSAN SIMULTANEOUS FAILURES RECOVERY METHOD - The WSAN simultaneous failures recovery method ranks each node based on the number of hops to a pre-designated root node in the network. The method identifies some nodes as cluster heads based on the number of their children in the recovery tree. The method assigns a recovery weight and a nearby cluster node to each node. Nearby cluster nodes serve as gateways to other nodes that belong to that cluster. The recovery weight is used to decide which node is better to move in order to achieve lower recovery cost. The recovery method uses the same on-going set of actors to restore connectivity. Simulation results have demonstrated that the recovery method can achieve low recovery cost per failed node in small and large networks. The results have also shown that clustering leads to lower recovery cost if the sub-network needs to re-establish links with the rest of the network. | 10-30-2014 |