Flexible Tracking Device for Cable Wrapping and Location Monitoring
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Solution Overview
Problem
Conventional tracking devices are cumbersome and inefficient for attaching to cables and objects with irregular shapes or non-planar geometries, as they require significant space and are difficult to secure, especially when multiple cables need to be tracked.
Innovation Solution
A flexible tracking device with a bendable form factor that can wrap around cables, featuring a flexible substrate, battery, device layer, and wireless communication components, allowing secure attachment and location tracking without overlapping sensitive components.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Volume of moving object
If conventional rigid tracking devices are used to track cables, then the tracking function is achieved, but the physical space required to store or house the cables increases and the devices are cumbersome to attach
Solution Approach 1:
The tracking device employs a flexible substrate that can be bent and wrapped around cables of various diameters and configurations. This flexible form factor eliminates the need for additional storage space while maintaining tracking functionality, directly resolving the contradiction between reducing physical space and ensuring ease of attachment.
Solution Approach 2:
The device is designed with a curved/bendable structure that conforms to the cylindrical shape of cables. This curvature allows the rigid electronic components to be mounted on a flexible carrier that can wrap around the cable, simultaneously achieving compact integration (reducing space) and secure attachment (improving ease of operation).
2Volume of moving object
If rigid tracking devices are used on cables that need to fit into small spaces or be stored together, then tracking is achieved, but the cables require more physical space and are harder to store
Solution Approach 1:
The flexible substrate allows the tracking device to conform to cables in tight bundles and confined spaces. Multiple cables with flexible tracking devices can be stored together without significant increase in required space, while the devices remain adaptable to different cable diameters and routing configurations.
Solution Approach 2:
The flexible nature of the substrate allows the device to dynamically adapt its shape to match the cable's configuration, whether straight, bent, or bundled with other cables. This dynamic adaptability enables efficient space utilization while maintaining tracking functionality across various cable arrangements.
Data Source
AI summary
A flexible tracking device for monitoring a cable is configured to be secured to the cable by bending around the cable at a bending region of the flexible tracking device. The flexible tracking device includes a flexible substrate, a battery, a device layer, a flexible circuit connecting components of the device layer and the battery, and a flexible cover layer on the substrate covering the flexible substrate, the battery, the device layer, and the flexible circuit. The device layer includes a processor, a memory coupled to the processor, and a first wireless communication antenna connected to a first wireless communication interface. The flexible tracking device is configured to undergo a bend in the bending region, wherein the bending region does not overlap with components of the device layer that cannot tolerate bending.