Metal fastener with embedded rfid tag and method of production
AssigneesPilgrim Screw Corporation, Rhode Island Council on Postsecondary Education
InventorsGeoffrey Grove, Tao Wei, Otto Gregory
Life of this patent
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Abstract
The present disclosure is generally directed to an RFID tag for use with a metal fastener where the fastener operates as the antenna of the RFID tag. The RFID tag includes a microchip for storing data. The chip is electrically coupled to the metal fastener in order to receive and transmit the RF signal, the metal fastener thereby operating as the antenna for the RFID tag.
Claims21
An RFID tag comprising a semiconductor chip and an antenna, wherein the antenna comprises a metal fastener including a proximal end and a distal end constructed and arranged to secure two or more objects together.
(canceled)
A method for determining antenna behavior of a metal fastener, the method comprising the steps of:
- Connecting the metal fastener to a Vector Network Analyzer;
- Determining reflection coefficients of the metal fastener across a frequency spectrum using the Vector Network Analyzer;
- Determining impedances from the reflection coefficients;
- Using the impedances to determine values of an inductor and a conductor;
- and
- Constructing a circuit using the determined values.
A method for determining an inductance of a matching network, the method comprising the steps of:
- a) Providing a metal fastener and a semiconductor chip;
- b) Constructing a printed circuit board;
- c) Connecting printed circuit board to the semiconductor chip;
- d) Connecting the semiconductor chip to the metal fastener using a wire;
- e) Twisting the wire into a loop formation having a diameter;
- f) Reading the semiconductor chip using an RFID reader at different distances from the semiconductor chip;
- g) Repeating steps e and f using different diameters to find a diameter at which the semiconductor chip can be read from a farthest distance;
- and
- h) Converting the diameter at which the semiconductor chip can be read from the farthest distance into a circuit model.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.