Method and system for detecting moisture on a connector contact
AssigneeApple Inc.
InventorsEric S. Jol, Jason S. Sloey, Craig C. Birrell, Samuel B. Schaevitz, Ching Yu John Tam, Nagendra Bage Jayaraj
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Abstract
An electronic device comprising a connector including a plurality of contacts and a liquid detection module coupled to at least one contact in the plurality of contacts. The liquid detection module can be configured to generate and apply a time varying voltage or current to the at least one contact over a range of frequencies, measure complex impedance including phase and magnitude at the at least one contact, and determine whether liquid intrusion has occurred on the contacts based on previously measured signatures of phase and magnitude versus frequency.
Claims20
An electronic device comprising:
- a connector including a plurality of contacts;
- a liquid detection module, coupled to at least one contact in the plurality of contacts, the liquid detection module configured to:
- (i) generate and apply a time varying voltage or current to the at least one contact at a plurality of different frequencies;
- (ii) measure complex impedance including phase and magnitude at the at least one contact at each of the plurality of different frequencies;
- and (iii) determine whether liquid intrusion has occurred on the contacts based on previously measured signatures of phase and magnitude versus frequency.
An electronic device comprising:
- a connector including a plurality of contacts;
- a liquid detection module, coupled to at least one contact in the plurality of contacts, the liquid detection module configured to:
- (i) generate and apply a time varying voltage or current to the at least one contact over a range of frequencies;
- (ii) measure complex impedance includ-ing phase and magnitude at the at least one contact and (iii) determine whether liquid intrusion has occurred on the contacts based on previously measured signatures of phase and magnitude versus frequency;
- wherein the liquid detection module employs a test that includes detecting whether the measured impedance on the at least one contact is greater than a predetermined amount and whether the measured phase on the at least one contact is essentially zero at a predetermined frequency to determine whether liquid intrusion has occurred on the contacts based on previously measured signatures of phase and magnitude versus frequency.
An electronic device comprising:
- a connector comprising a plurality of contacts including at least a voltage contact and a signal contact;
- signal generating circuitry configured to generate a control signal or data signal;
- an analog-to-digital converter;
- a digital processor configured to generate a pulse density modulation (PDM) signal and to receive complex impedance measurements of the at least one contact including phase and magnitude from the analog-to-digital converter, the digital processor being further configured to determine whether liquid intrusion has occurred on one or more of the contacts based on previously measured signatures of phase and magnitude versus frequency;
- a low pass filter configured to receive the pulse density modulation (PDM) signal at an input and output a current sine wave at a frequency indicated by the PDM signal;
- a transimpedance amplifier coupled at an input to receive the current sinewave from the low pass filter and output a voltage sine wave;
- the analog-to-digital converter having a first input coupled to the output of the low pass filter and a second input coupled to the output of the transimpedance amplifier;
- and
- a multiplexor coupled to the signal generating circuitry, to the output of the transimpedance amplifier and to the signal contact, the multiplexor configured to switch the signal contact between the signal generating circuitry and the transimpedance amplifier.
A method for detecting a liquid on a contact of a connector, the method comprising:
- generating and apply a time varying voltage or current to the contact at a plurality of different frequencies;
- measuring complex impedance including phase and magnitude at the contact at each of the plurality of different frequencies;
- and
- determining whether liquid intrusion has occurred on the contacts based on previously measured signatures of phase and magnitude versus frequency.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.