Packaging of Structural Health Monitoring Components

Structural Health Monitoring (SHM) technologies have the potential to realize economic benefits in a broad range of commercial and defense markets. Previous research conducted by Metis Design and MIT has demonstrated the ability of Lamb waves methods to provide reliable information regarding the presence, location and type of damage in composite specimens. The present NSF funded program was aimed to study manufacturing, packaging and interface concepts for critical SHM components. The intention is to be able to cheaply manufacture robust actuating/sensing devices, and isolate them from harsh operating environments including natural, mechanical, or electrical extremes. Currently the issues related to SHM system durability have remained undressed. During the course of this research several sets of test devices were fabricated and packaged to protect the piezoelectric component assemblies for robust operation. These assemblies were then tested in hot and wet conditions, as well as in electrically noisy environments. Future work will aim to package the other supporting components such as the battery and wireless chip, as well as integrating all of these components together for operation. SHM technology will enable the reduction or complete elimination of scheduled inspections, and will allow condition-based maintenance for increased reliability and reduced overall life-cycle costs.