Description:
Reference #: 01497
The University of South Carolina is offering licensing opportunities for Non-contacting Temperature Measurement System for Automated Fiber Placement
Background:
Automated Fiber Placement research is plagued by the inability to accurately measure temperature of materials as they are being placed on a mold. Existing temperature measurement methods utilize thermocouples and infrared thermography. Neither of these methods can detect the temperature within the material. They can only measure surface temperature.
Invention Description:
A device wirelessly transmits an electrical signal to a carbon fiber material. This signal is carried along the conductive material and then is received by an antenna, and the measured signal strength from the receiving antenna is used to correlate to temperature of the media.
Potential Applications:
This novel invention without a doubt could be utilized on all Automated Fiber Placement machines around the world. In addition, any notable high-temperature composites process would be a potential target for this tool. This includes thermoplastic matrix composite processing techniques such as induction welding and hot-pressing. The advent of ceramic matrix composites and the need to monitor in-situ temperatures during the sintering for their manufacturing also becomes clear.
Advantages and Benefits:
This invention is the only device that offers an exact measurement of temperature of material during Automated Fiber Placement without contacting the material. This allows the potential for more accurate materials science and enhanced production quality of AFP manufactured components.