Embedded Sensor Assembly for Building Panel Moisture Detection
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Solution Overview
Problem
Building construction panels and materials are often exposed to extreme environmental conditions, leading to moisture intrusion and degradation issues that go undetected until significant damage occurs, due to the lack of early detection systems.
Innovation Solution
Incorporating self-supporting environmental sensor assemblies with antennas, processing modules, and wireless communication modules into building panels and materials to detect conditions such as moisture, temperature, and pressure, allowing for wireless data communication to a reader, thereby enabling early detection of potential damage.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If traditional manual inspection methods are used to detect moisture intrusion and panel degradation, then the inspection process is simple and does not require additional components, but damage conditions go unnoticed for extended periods until visually observed
Solution Approach 1:
The patent combines multiple sensor types (moisture sensors, temperature sensors, pressure sensors) into an integrated sensor assembly that is embedded within the building panel structure. This merging of sensing functions into a single unified system enables comprehensive monitoring of environmental conditions while maintaining structural integrity, resolving the contradiction between detection reliability and system complexity.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent introduces wireless communication modules as an intermediary between the embedded sensors and external monitoring systems. This intermediary enables automatic data transmission of environmental conditions without requiring physical access to the panel or manual inspection, significantly improving detection reliability while keeping the overall system manageable through standardized wireless protocols.
2Loss of time
If sensor assemblies are embedded within panel cores during manufacturing, then early detection of moisture intrusion is enabled, but the manufacturing process becomes more complex and time-consuming
Solution Approach 1:
The patent implements preliminary action by embedding sensor assemblies into the panel core during the manufacturing process, specifically by placing sensors within the panel core slurry before the panel is fully formed. This preliminary integration ensures that sensors are positioned optimally for early detection of moisture intrusion from the outset, enabling immediate monitoring capability while the panel is being manufactured rather than requiring post-manufacturing installation.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent applies the nesting principle by integrating the sensor assembly within the nested structure of the panel core. The sensors are embedded within the slurry matrix that forms the panel core, creating a nested configuration where the sensing elements are contained within the structural material itself. This nesting enables early detection capability while maintaining the structural integrity and manufacturing flow of the panel production process.
3Ease of operation
If wireless communication modules are integrated into sensor assemblies, then real-time monitoring data can be transmitted without manual access, but the device complexity and power requirements increase
Solution Approach 1:
The patent implements self-service through the wireless communication module that automatically transmits environmental condition data from the embedded sensors to external monitoring systems without requiring manual access or intervention. The system autonomously performs data collection, processing, and transmission, enabling real-time monitoring while reducing the operational burden on maintenance personnel and eliminating the need for physical panel access.
Data Source
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AI summary
Construction panels and other materials, methods for their manufacture, and systems and methods for monitoring environmental conditions with such panels are provided herein. The panels include at least one environmental sensor assembly associated with a panel core and configured to detect an environmental condition of the panel comprising moisture, pressure, or both, and wirelessly communicate data on the environmental condition to a reader.