Smart fastener
US5549803A · kind A · utility
Assignee
Inventors
Key dates
| Filing date | Jan 14, 1994 |
| Grant date | Aug 27, 1996 |
| Priority date | — |
| Expiry date | Jan 14, 2014 |
Classification
- Technology area (CPC G)Physics
- CPC primaryG01N17/02
- WIPO fieldMeasurement
- WIPO sectorInstruments
Abstract
A smart fastener having corrosion detection features. Within the fastener is a corrosion detecting array that receives an electrolyte that corrodes sacrificial materials formed on electrodes of the corrosion detecting array. The materials are the same as those materials which are secured, fastened, or attached by the fastener. There is parallel corrosion of the sacrificial materials and the attached materials since the electrolyte which is channeled via capillary tubes into the corrosion detecting array is the same electrolyte that is in the environment of the fastened materials. Other electrodes sense various properties of the electrolyte. Information sensed by the corrosion sensing electrodes of the array is in the form of very small electrical signals which are amplified and stored in an analog storage memory. A clock and addressing device time stamps and address the signals. An interface circuit enables a user to electronically access corrosion and related signals without removing or in any way dismantling the fastener.
Source: USPTO / EPO open patent data. Objective bibliographic and citation counts.