Apparatuses and methods for detecting cracks
AssigneeAnalog Devices International Unlimited Company
InventorsYosef Stein, Haim Primo
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Abstract
Aspects of the present disclosure include a crack detection system having a crack detection sensor including a plurality of sectors disposed concentrically around a hole within the crack detection sensor, a plurality of contacts configured to electrically connect to one or more sectors of the plurality of sectors, and a crack detection circuit configured to measure resistances of the one or more sectors of the plurality of sectors via two or more of the plurality of contacts to detect a crack in the one or more sectors of the plurality of sectors.
Claims19
A fatigue sensing element, comprising:
- a plurality of sectors disposed symmetrically;
- a notch between two of the plurality of sectors;
- two or more current contacts configured to provide a source current to the plurality of sectors;
- and
- a plurality of contacts configured to electrically coupled with one or more sectors of the plurality of sectors;
- wherein at least one sector of the plurality of sectors is configured to detect a crack and remaining sectors of the plurality of sectors are configured to compensate for one or more of environmental factors, strain, or aging during the detection of the crack.
A fatigue sensing system, comprising:
- a fatigue sensing element including a plurality of sectors disposed concentrically around a hole within the fatigue sensing element and a notch between two of the plurality of sectors;
- two or more current contacts;
- a plurality of contacts configured to electrically connect to one or more sectors of the plurality of sectors;
- and
- a fatigue sensing circuit including:
- a current source configured to provide a source current to the fatigue sensing element via the two or more current contacts;
- a switch configured to select two or more of the plurality of contacts for providing the source current;
- and
- an analog-to-digital converter configured to:
- measure a voltage difference between the two or more of the plurality of contacts;
- and
- determine, based on the source current and the voltage difference, resistances of the one or more sectors of the plurality of sectors via the two or more of the plurality of contacts to detect a crack in the one or more sectors of the plurality of sectors.
A method of detecting fatigue, comprising:
- selecting two or more contacts of a plurality of contacts of a fatigue sensing element including a plurality of sectors disposed symmetrically, wherein the two or more contacts of the plurality of contacts include a notch disposed there between;
- providing a source current via two or current contacts different than the sectors contacts;
- measuring a first resistance of a sector of the plurality of sectors and a second resistance of a remaining subset of the plurality of sectors;
- and detecting a presence of a crack in the sector of the plurality of sectors based on the first resistance and the second resistance, or estimating a size of the crack based on the first resistance and the second resistance.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.