Did You Know...
...that the first rickshaw was invented in 1869 by an American Baptist minister, the Rev. E. Jonathan Scobie, to transport his invalid wife around the streets of Yokohama?
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| Number | Title | Issue Date |
| 6006163 | Active damage interrogation method for structural health monitoring An active damage interrogation (ADI) system (and method) which utilizes an array of piezoelectric transducers attached to or embedded within the structure for both actuation and sensing. The ADI system actively interrogates the structure through broadband... | 12/21/1999 |
| 5911158 | Piezoelectric strain sensor array An apparatus and method for determining the dynamic response of a physical structure is disclosed. A single sheet of a piezoelectric polymer film, preferably polyvinylidene fluoride, or PVDF, is coated on one side with a thin layer of conductive material ... | 06/08/1999 |
| 5841031 | Method and apparatus for evaluation and inspection of composite-repaired structures A method and apparatus for evaluation and inspection of a composite-repaired structure generates a frequency-varying electrical signal to test and evaluate the composite-repaired area. The electrical signal is converted into a mechanical signal and transm... | 11/24/1998 |
| 5741965 | Aircraft jet engine testing tool The present invention is directed towards an aircraft engine testing tool which facilitates the visual inspection of aircraft internal engine blades by permitting the automatic repositioning of the internal engine blades to an inspection orientation. The ... | 04/21/1998 |
| 5698787 | Portable laser/ultrasonic method for nondestructive inspection of complex structures A method and apparatus for non-destructive inspection of complex structures employs a portable laser based ultrasonic transducer 600 output to rapidly detect and size flaws in such structures, including the radii of composites, laminates, and complex skin... | 12/16/1997 |
| 5665913 | Method and apparatus for evaluation and inspection of composite-repaired structures A method and apparatus for evaluation and inspection of a composite-repaired structure generates a frequency-varying electrical signal to test and evaluate the composite-repaired area. The electrical signal is converted into a mechanical signal and transm... | 09/09/1997 |
| 5483833 | Method and apparatus for monitoring aircraft components Operability of aircraft mechanical components is monitored by analyzing the voltage output of an electrical generator of the aircraft. Alternative generators, for a turbine-driven rotor aircraft, include the gas producer turbine tachometer generator, the ... | 01/16/1996 |
| 5390543 | Method and apparatus for in-flight shake testing of an aircraft fuselage A force-generating actuator connected at or across points of a structure capable of relative motion at an exciting frequency is operated to input a predetermined load into the structure and the response of the structure is measured for analysis. In one fo... | 02/21/1995 |
| 5383133 | Integrated vibration reducing and health monitoring system for a helicopter This invention monitors data produced by a vibration reducing system relating to the vibration of a structure, compares the data against a predetermined value and provides a warning if the predetermined value is exceeded to provide an integrated vibration... | 01/17/1995 |
| 5293555 | System and method for locating material fatigue using multiple sensors A system for locating a fatigue point on a structure (10) employing a smart sensor patch (12) having three triangularly adjacent acoustic sensors (40 a,b,c). The smart sensor patch (12) has a local processor (34) associated therewith, which triangulates t... | 03/08/1994 |
| 5207100 | Method and device for measuring underwater vehicle hull vibration A method and device for measuring higher mode vibrational energy is provi. The device includes a plurality of sensors placed with uniform spacing around the circumference of a structure and a processing unit. The sensor placement may be either on the ins... | 05/04/1993 |
| 5195046 | Method and apparatus for structural integrity monitoring A system is disclosed for monitoring a structure and detecting disturbances and faults associated with such structure. The system includes an actuation device for mechanically exciting the structure, a sensing device for transducing vibrations experienced... | 03/16/1993 |
| 5069071 | Vibration monitoring in the frequency domain with a capacitive accelerometer A vibration monitoring system employing a capacitive accelerometer determines the energy associated with one or more frequency components within the frequency spectrum of the vibration signal. The capacitive accelerometer operates as a mixer due to its ti... | 12/03/1991 |
| 5067352 | Ultrasonic control head for parts whose shape evolves during production So as to control parts of any form, such as panels made of a composite material, a control head (10) is used comprising a small bar made of an elastic material, aligned ultrasonic transducers (18) being placed in said control head which functions by refle... | 11/26/1991 |
| 4908785 | Data compression method for telemetry of vibration data Vibrational data is compressed about 8.5 to 18 times by isolating a low frequency component from the signal, frequency analyzing the signal to obtain important frequency/amplitude data, and recombining the low frequency component with the analyzed informa... | 03/13/1990 |
| 4894787 | Automatic load monitoring system with remote sensing A novel system for determining the magnitudes of loads on rotating helicopter components from signals remotely measured on the helicopter fuselage is characterized by a processor which decomposes the measured signals into corresponding Fourier components ... | 01/16/1990 |
| 4811605 | Apparatus and method for inspecting the degradation of a gas nozzle The present disclosure describes an apparatus and a method for inspecting the degradation of a gas nozzle. The nozzle is of the type that can produce a whistle when a gas is blown through the nozzle. The method comprises the steps of detecting an acoustic... | 03/14/1989 |
| 4809553 | Flutter exciter A flutter exciter induces vibration either for actual aircraft flight testing or for wind tunnel model testing. The basic flutter exciter unit is a pair of rotatable concentric cylinders mounted on either a fixed vane or an aircraft wing or a tail surface... | 03/07/1989 |
| 4715228 | Inspection apparatus It is common practice to pass an ultrasonic probe over a workpiece so as to enable examining of the material for faults such as flaws within the material thickness. Known apparatus for achieving this has a drawback in that the probe supporting structure i... | 12/29/1987 |
| 4685966 | Surface tracking apparatus Apparatus for continuously orienting an ultrasonic transducer so that the emitted ultrasonic waves remain at a normal angle of incidence to the opposing surface of an object while the transducer is being moved laterally across the surface in order to insp... | 08/11/1987 |
| 4651566 | Portable impedance meter for non-destructive testing of sound absorbing panels A portable acoustic impedance measuring device 10 is provided for measuring the impedance properties of a panel 12. The device 10 includes a horn section 14 having a flexible plate 18. The plate 18 can assume the curvature of the duct panel 12. The horn s... | 03/24/1987 |
| 4644794 | Acoustic guide for noise-transmission testing of aircraft The invention is an apparatus which allows selective testing of aircraft or other vehicular components without requiring disassembly of the vehicle or components. The invention consists of a broad-band noise source 11, a guide 12 to direct the acoustic en... | 02/24/1987 |
| 4604896 | Rotor blade test apparatus A rotor blade test apparatus having a striking solenoid to strike a rotor blade to generate an audio signal. A microphone receives the audio signal and applies it to a spectrum analyzer wherein the predominant natural frequencies of the rotor blade are de... | 08/12/1986 |
| 4524620 | In-flight monitoring of composite structural components such as helicopter rotor blades The apparatus comprises one or more acoustical transducers associated with a particular interchangeable rotor blade for monitoring acoustic emissions emitted by the rotor blade under operating stress. The output of the transducers is connected to a comput... | 06/25/1985 |
| 4523473 | Magneto-elastic material defect detector A dark-field magneto-elastic non-destructive testing technique for detection of defects in a conductive material by inducing eddy currents or applying an electric current to the material along a path in such manner that the current will be diverted from t... | 06/18/1985 |
| 4488240 | Vibration monitoring system for aircraft engines A vibration monitoring system for aircraft engines includes a nonrecursive digital filter network controlled by a data processor. Digital techniques process tachometer signals to general sampling signals at a frequency which is an integral multiple of the... | 12/11/1984 |
| 4481817 | Workpiece loading apparatus Workpiece loading, particularly for dynamic testing of aircraft wings, is described. A double ended servo jack is drivably coupled to an upper drive lever which is pivotally mounted for movement relative to the workpiece. The follower end of the upper dri... | 11/13/1984 |
| 4470121 | Multi-frequency vibration controller using fluid-filled cantilever beam for vibration excitation & absorption A variable frequency vibration controller includes a cantilever beam supported from the vibration prone structure whose vibrations are to be controlled. The cantilever beam has selectively shaped hollow interior portions into which fluid can be selectivel... | 09/04/1984 |
| 4463453 | Acoustic intensity measurement apparatus and method including probe having ambient noise shield Acoustic intensity measuring apparatus for determining sound energy intensity utilizing a probe having a pair of microphones and an associated ambient noise shield.... | 07/31/1984 |
| 4389891 | System for measuring resonance frequencies in turbine and compressor vanes and propeller blades A system for measuring resonance frequencies in turbine and compressor vanes and propeller blades in which a vane or blade is excited at its base by a vibration generator and the phase of the excitation signal coming out of an acoustic transducer placed a... | 06/28/1983 |
| 4372157 | Aerodynamic data collection procedure An improved procedure for collecting experimental data reflecting the behavior of a time varying aerodynamic parameter at an airfoil in a cascade of airfoils vibrating harmonically in a fluid stream including the steps of vibrating the center airfoil of t... | 02/08/1983 |
| 4358882 | Manufacture and inspection of an article Some turbine blades are produced by casting, using the lost wax process. The blades may include cooling air passages and the wall thickness of these is tested ultrasonically i.e. by transmitting and receiving acoustic pulses from and to, a common transduc... | 11/16/1982 |
| 4342229 | Apparatus and method for the non-destructive testing of the physical integrity of a structural part A test procedure and test apparatus is described for measuring the degradation in the physical integrity of a structural part by measuring the rate of decay of the amplitude of vibration of the part after it has been set into vibration at its free resonan... | 08/03/1982 |
| 4178667 | Method of controlling turbomachine blade flutter A method for controlling the first torsional node line position in a rotatable blade of a turbomachine to improve its flutter stability including the steps of forming a first monolithic blade having a desired airfoil shape with convex and concave side wal... | 12/18/1979 |
| 4164149 | Method and system for monitoring the angular deformation of structural elements A method and system for monitoring the angular deformation of structural elements in a composite structure in response to imposed mechanical vibrations in which the structure is part of the monitoring system. A plurality of angular motion signal generating sen... | 08/14/1979 |
| 4084427 | Holographic recording instrument for structural integrity verification and other applications An improved holographic recording instrument for recording on a holographic recording medium two successive holograms of the structure under differing stress conditions to produce a holographic interferogram containing information defining a deformation f... | 04/18/1978 |
| 4041775 | Vibrometer A plurality of circular cross section elongated vibrometer reeds each having a predetermined frequency response to a vibration in a given plane are secured to a vibration transmission medium in predetermined orientations. The medium is secured in vibratin... | 08/16/1977 |
| 4031744 | Method and apparatus for analyzing a damped structural specimen A method and apparatus for analyzing a damped structural specimen permits undamped mobility values and modal accelerations to be determined. The specimen is excited by vibrations in conventional fashion, and both actual and modified mobility response curv... | 06/28/1977 |
| 4019375 | Means for inducing vibration in an airfoil An apparatus for inducing vibratory oscillations in an airfoil is provided to simulate the dynamic aeroelastic interaction between the airfoil and a gas flow field. The apparatus includes first means for supporting the airfoil during inducement of the vib... | 04/26/1977 |
