Impact detection apparatus

An acceleration event detector/recorder that can be contained within a housing, comprising:

• transducer means for sensing accelerations along at least one axis, and for producing digital signals quantifying the sensed physical quantities;
• clock means for producing a digital timer signal;
• memory means for storing program instructions and for storing data representing digital signals;
• communication means for communicating digital information with a separate device;
• and
• microprocessor means connected to the transducer means, the clock means, the memory means, and the communication means, and being adapted to read and execute the program instructions from the memory means, for causing the data representing both the digital signals produced by the transducer means during an interval of time of predetermined duration and the digital timer signal produced by the clock means at the beginning of the interval of time to be stored in the memory means, the interval of time beginning when at least one of the accelerations satisfies a predetermined criterion and for controlling the communication means to communicate digital information with the separate device.

An acceleration event detector/recorder that can be contained within a housing, comprising:

• three accelerometer means for sensing accelerations in three orthogonal directions and producing analog signals correspnding to the accelerations in each of the three directions;
• clock means for producing a digital timer signal;
• read-only memory means for storing program instructions;
• digital memory means adapted to receive digital signals and store data representing the digital signals;
• and
• microprocessor means, including analog-to-digital converter means for producing digital signals representing the analog signals produced by each of the three accelerometer means, arithmetic logic means adapted to receive, from the analog-to-digital converter means, the digital signals quantifying the acceleration in each of the three orthogonal directions, for processing the digital signals, and communication means for communicating digital information with an external device, the microprocessor being connected to the clock means, the read-only memory means, and the digital memory means and adapted to read the program instructions from the read-only memory means, for causing the data representing both the digital signals produced by the transducer means during an interval of time of predetermined duration and the digital timer signal produced by the clock means at the beginning of the interval of time to be stored in the memory means, the interval of time beginning when at least one of the accelerations satisfies a predetermined criterion, for controlling the reading of the stored data in the digital memory means, and for communicating the data stored in the digital memory means with the external device.

An event detector/recorder that can be contained within a housing, comprising:

• transducer means for sensing one or more physical quantities and for producing digital signals quantifying the sensed physical quantities;
• clock means for producing a digital timer signal;
• memory means for storing program instructions and for storing data representing digital signals;
• communication means for communicating digital information with a separate device;
• and
• microprocessor means connected to the transducer means, the clock means, the memory means, and the communication means, and being adapted to read and execute the program instructions from the memory means, for causing the data representing both the digital signals produced by the transducer means during an interval of time of predetermined duration and the digital timer signal produced by the clock means at the beginning of the interval of time to be stored in the memory means, the interval of time beginning when at least one of the physical quantities satisfies a predetermined criterion and for controlling the communication means to communicate digital information with the separate device.

The method of force or acceleration events experienced by a damageable item while it is subjected to handling operations such as packaging and shipping, and recording a portion of the time history of those acceleration events which meet predetermined criteria, comprising the steps of:

• (A) attaching to the item a housing containing force or acceleration detecting transducer means, clock means, memory means, communication means, microprocessor means, and power supply means, operable to sense and quantify accelerations and to record the quantified accelerations and their times of occurrence in the memory means under the control of a program comprising instructions to the microprocessor means, the housing being attached in a manner preventing any relative motion between the item and the housing;
• (B) causing the item to be subjected to the handling operations so that the housing is subjected to the same acceleration events as the item;
• (C) sensing the accelerations experienced by the housing;
• (D) storing intervals of the time history of the values of those acceleration events which meet predetermined criteria in the memory means, the intervals being of predetermined duration and beginning with the values of those acceleration events which first meet the predetermined criteria in each interval;
• and
• (E) reading the stored acceleration time histories from the memory means to a device external to the housing, whereby the magnitude of, and the time and frequency content of severe force or acceleration events, experienced while the damageable item is being handled, can be determined after the handling operations are performed on the damageable item.

An acceleration event detector/recorder, comprising:

• a housing constructed to approximate an article of commerce, such as a fruit, in size, shape, and mass, so that the acceleration events experienced by the housing can be correleated to those experienced by the article which the housing approximates;
• three accelerometer means for sensing accelerations in three orthogonal directions and producing analog signals corresponding to the accelerations in each of the three directions;
• clock means for producing a digital timer signal;
• read-only memory means for storing program instructions;
• digital memory means adapted to receive digital signals and store data representing the digital signals;
• and
• microprocessor means, including analog-to-digital converter means for producing digital signals representing the analog signals produced by each of the three accelerometer means, arithmetic logic means adapted to receive, from the analog-to-digital converter means, the digital signals quantifying the acceleration in each of three orthogonal directions, for processing the digital signals, and communication means for communicating digital information with an external device, the microprocessor being connected to the clock means, the read-only memory means, and the digital memory means and adapted to read the program instructions from the read-only memory means, for causing the data representing both the digital signals produced by the transducer means during an interval of time of predetermined duration and the digital timer signal produced by the clock means at the beginning of the interval of time to be stored in the memory means, the interval of time beginning when at least one of the accelerations satisfies a predetermined criterion, for controlling the reading of the stored data in the digital memory means, and for communicating the data stored in the digital memory means with the external device.