Structure Envelope Impact Sensing for Accurate Damage Reporting
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Solution Overview
Problem
Insurance providers face inefficiencies due to delayed, inaccurate, or fraudulent reporting of property damage by insured parties, leading to inefficiencies in the insurance industry.
Innovation Solution
A sensor system comprising sensor nodes and hubs that detect impacts on structure envelopes, filter unwanted data, and identify events causing damage, providing real-time reporting to interested entities.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If insured parties report property damage manually, then they can control the reporting process, but delays, inaccuracies, and fraud occur leading to industry inefficiencies
Solution Approach 1:
The sensor system automatically detects impacts and generates reports without requiring manual intervention from insured parties. The system self-monitors the structure envelope, filters data locally, and communicates with insurance providers autonomously, eliminating the reliability issues caused by manual reporting while keeping the system relatively simple.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent replaces manual mechanical reporting processes with an automated sensor-based detection system. Impact sensors, accelerometers, and data processing algorithms substitute for human reporters, providing consistent and reliable data without the delays and errors inherent in manual processes.
2Productivity
If manual property damage reporting is used, then the system remains simple, but reporting delays and inefficiencies occur
Solution Approach 1:
The sensor system operates continuously to monitor the structure envelope for impacts. Data collection, filtering, and initial processing occur in real-time without interruption, ensuring that any impact event is immediately detected and reported, eliminating the delays associated with manual reporting cycles.
Solution Approach 2:
The system performs preliminary data filtering and event identification at the sensor node level before data transmission to insurance providers. This preliminary processing reduces the time needed for subsequent analysis and reporting, improving overall productivity while minimizing time loss.
3Measurement precision
If automated sensor detection is implemented, then real-time impact detection improves productivity, but device complexity increases
Solution Approach 1:
The sensor system is divided into distributed sensor nodes that each perform local data filtering and processing independently. This segmentation allows for high measurement precision at each node while distributing the complexity across multiple simple units rather than requiring a single complex centralized system.
Solution Approach 2:
Each sensor node is designed with specific local processing capabilities tailored to its function of filtering unwanted data and identifying impact events. This localized optimization improves detection accuracy without requiring the entire system to be overly complex, as each node only performs necessary processing for its specific monitoring location.
4Measurement precision
If comprehensive data filtering is performed, then unwanted data is removed improving measurement precision, but processing time increases
Solution Approach 1:
The sensor nodes perform preliminary data filtering operations locally and in real-time as data is collected. By conducting this filtering action at the source before data transmission, the system achieves high measurement precision while minimizing the time required for subsequent processing at central locations.
Solution Approach 2:
The system extracts and removes unwanted data at the sensor node level through filtering algorithms, separating relevant impact information from irrelevant background noise. This extraction process occurs efficiently in real-time, improving measurement precision without significant time penalty due to the simplicity of the filtering operations.
Applied Scientific Principles
This section explains which scientific principles are used to turn an abstract innovation direction into a practical engineering solution.
Function Achieved in This Case
Enhances damage detection accuracy and reporting efficiency, reducing insurance fraud and enabling timely inspections, thereby improving insurance processes and property management.
Implementation Method 1
a sensor node in force transmitting contact with an impact receiving surface of a structure envelope of the structure
Data Source
AI summary
A sensor system for a structure comprises a sensor node in force transmitting contact with an impact receiving surface of a structure envelope of the structure. The sensor node is configured to generate first sensor data associated with the structure envelope of the structure and perform a first set of operations to filter out unwanted data from the first sensor data to form a first filtered dataset. The sensor system includes a sensor hub in communication with the sensor node. The sensor hub is configured to receive the first filtered dataset from the sensor node and perform a second set of operations on the first filtered dataset to identify an event experienced by the structure envelope that caused the sensor node to produce the first sensor data.