Composite panel with a wireless, self-powered or remotely powered sensing assembly

A composite panel for a vehicle, comprising:

• a plurality of layers bonded together by resin;
• and
• a sensing assembly, arranged between at least two of the plurality of layers, comprising:
• a radio frequency identification (RFID) circuit configured to receive power from a remote transmitter;
• an energy storage device;
• an energy harvesting circuit configured to harvest the power from the RFID circuit and to store the power in the energy storage device;
• at least one of a piezoelectric layer and a thermopile;
• a controller in communication with the energy storage device and the at least one of the piezoelectric layer and the thermopile and configured to compare an output of the at least one of the piezoelectric layer and the thermopile to one or more predetermined thresholds;
• and
• a transmitter in communication with the controller and the energy harvesting circuit and configured to selectively transmit a message to the vehicle in response to the comparison;
• L conductive loops arranged between at least two of the plurality of layers and in communication with the controller, where L is an integer greater than zero;
• and
• a loop sensor configured to send a digital code on one end of each conductive loop, sense a signal received at the other end of the conductive loop, compare the received signal to the digital code, and determine a state of the conductive loop based on the comparison to selectively identify damage to at least one of the L conductive loops.

A composite panel for a vehicle, comprising:

• a plurality of layers bonded together by resin;
• and
• a sensing assembly, arranged between at least two of the plurality of layers, comprising:
• a radio frequency identification (RFID) circuit configured to receive power from a remote transmitter;
• an energy storage device;
• an energy harvesting circuit configured to harvest the power from the RFD circuit and to store the power in the energy storage device;
• at least one of a piezoelectric layer and a thermopile;
• a controller in communication with the energy storage device and the at least one of the piezoelectric layer and the thermopile and configured to compare an output of the at least one of the piezoelectric layer and the thermopile to one or more predetermined thresholds;
• L conductive loops arranged between at least two of the plurality of layers and in communication with the controller, where L is an integer greater than zero;
• and
• a transmitter in communication with the controller and the energy harvesting circuit and configured to selectively transmit a message to the vehicle in response to the comparison,
• wherein the controller further comprises a time domain reflectometry (TDR) circuit configured to determine a distance from the controller to damage to at least one of the L conductive loops.