Material Damage System and Method for Determining Same
AssigneeThe United States of America as represented by the Administrator of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration
InventorRobert S. Okojie
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Abstract
A system and method for determining a change in a thickness and temperature of a surface of a material are disclosed herein. The system and the method are usable in a thermal protection system of a space vehicle, such as an aeroshell of a space vehicle. The system and method may incorporate micro electric sensors arranged in a ladder network and capacitor strip sensors. Corrosion or ablation causes a change in an electrical property of the sensors. An amount of or rate of the corrosion or the ablation and a temperature of the material is determined based on the change of the electrical property of the sensors.
Claims1
A system comprising:
- a material susceptible to corrosion or ablation and having a thickness defined between a first end and a second end;
- a first sensor and a second sensor on the material and extending along the thickness adjacent the first end and toward the second end, the first sensor having an electrical component that changes an electrical property of the sensor as temperature of the material changes, and wherein the second sensor has an electrical property that is substantially constant with respect to changes in temperature of the material,
- an electrical circuit coupled to the first sensor and the second sensor to determine the change in the electrical property of each of the first sensor and the second sensor;
- and
- a processor determining a thickness and a temperature of the material based on the change of the electrical property of the first sensor and the second sensor.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.