Advances in utilization of structurally integrated sensor networks for health monitoring in commercial applications

Structural health monitoring is a new technology that has been increasingly evaluated by the industry as a potential approach to improve the cost and ease of structural inspection. By improving structural inspection, structures can be made safer and more reliable, thus reducing the cost of structure ownership. Acellent Technologies is developing tools for structural health monitoring. The tools Acellent is offering are the SMART Layer and the SMART Suitcase. The SMART Layer is a flexible layer with a distributed array of piezoelectric transducers made using the printed circuit process that allows easy installation onto structures for in-situ sensing. The SMART Suitcase is an instrument that can interact with the SMART Layer and process the information collected from the structures. Acellent has been providing the system to researchers and companies to try out this new technique. Currently, this system is being evaluated by aircraft manufacturers for monitoring fatigue cracks from rivet holes, by an automotive company for inspecting flaws in composite/foam components, and by aerospace companies for detecting damages in composite/honeycomb sandwich structures. Other recent developments include the addition of fiber-optic sensors onto the SMART Layer and proving the SMART Layer for composite RTM process.