US 6,578,438 B2Granted

Taut wire sensor

AssigneeIntegrated Detection Systems

InventorsEmanuel Steinberg, Haim Perry

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Abstract

A taut wire sensor includes an actuator that is movably coupled to a housing. The actuator includes a taut wire terminal. The actuator has two contacts that are maintained in a spaced apart orientation by the mating of parts, which are held in place by a spring element. The actuator deforms when force is applied to the taut wire terminal of the sensor. When the actuator deform, an electrical connection is made between the two contacts to produce an alarm indication by the sensor. The orientation of the actuator is maintained by the mating of parts which are also held by a spring element. One of the contacts in the actuator is a flexible contact pin that is adapted to bend when high force is applied to the taut wire terminal. The sensor housing also includes a movement limiter that overcomes a weakness in prior sensors which employ compensating flowable materials to adjust sensor position.

Claims16

Dependent claims

A sensor for a taut wire fence comprising a plurality of generally parallel taut wires and a plurality of supporting posts with sensors mounted thereon, the sensor comprising:

a housing, the housing including an internal cavity with an opening at a first longitudinal end, the housing including land portions around the opening, the housing including seat portions inside the cavity;
an actuator, the actuator including a taut wire terminal disposed on a first longitudinal end of the actuator, the actuator having a first electrical terminal and a second electrical terminal, the actuator adapted to produce an electrical connection between the first electrical terminal and the second electrical terminal in response to skewing of the longitudinal axis of the actuator beyond a threshold angular displacement, the actuator including flange portions extending substantially perpendicular from the outer surface of the actuator, the actuator flange portions mate against the housing seat portions;
a first spring element disposed between the actuator flange portions and the housing land portions to movably couple the actuator to the housing, the actuator second longitudinal end is within the housing cavity such that the housing limits the movement range of the actuator second longitudinal end to produce a skewing of the actuator when the first longitudinal end is displaced beyond a threshold angle.

Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.