Seal strip wear monitoring systems and assemblies therefor

A seal strip monitoring system, comprising:

• a seal strip having an upper surface;
• a printed circuit board (PCB) having first and second fingers and a main panel;
• a wear monitoring system, comprising:
• a sensing portion comprising a plurality of electrical traces, each of the electrical traces including an uppermost portion that is generally parallel with and is positioned at a depth from the upper surface of the seal strip, wherein the depth of each trace uppermost portion differs from the depth of the uppermost portions of the other electrical traces;
• wherein the uppermost portions of the electrical traces are located on the first finger;
• a signal processing portion electrically connected with the electrical traces, the signal processing portion including circuitry mounted on the main panel of the PCB and configured to detect electrical signals from the traces and to determine when the uppermost portion of a trace has been damaged, wherein the signal processing portion comprises a plurality of capacitors, each connected with a respective electrical trace;
• and
• a temperature monitoring system at least partially mounted on the PCB.

A seal strip and wear monitoring system, comprising:

• a seal strip having an upper surface;
• and
• a wear monitoring system, comprising:
• a sensing portion comprising a plurality of electrical traces, each of the electrical traces including an uppermost portion that is positioned at a depth from the upper surface of the seal strip, wherein the depth of each trace uppermost portion differs from the depth of the uppermost portions of the other electrical traces;
• and
• a signal processing portion electrically connected with the electrical traces, the signal processing portion including circuitry configured to detect electrical signals from the traces and to determine when the uppermost portion of a trace has been damaged;
• wherein the sensing portion and the signal processing portion are disposed on a common printed circuit board (PCB).