Overlayer intended to cover an object, in particular a cable, in order to detect and/or locate a defect on the surface of same

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-2016109394-A1
Application number	US-201414787746-A
Country	US
Kind code	A1
Filing date	Apr 24, 2014
Priority date	May 7, 2013
Publication date	Apr 21, 2016
Grant date	—

Abstract

An overlayer intended to cover an object in order to detect a defect on a surface of the object, comprises an assembly made up of a plurality of current-conducting wire elements of different mechanical resistances and a means for insulating the conducting wire elements, each conducting wire element being arranged such as to at least partially cover a surface of the object when the overlayer covers the object, each conducting wire element being arranged to allow the connection thereof to a test device for detecting a defect affecting the conducting element.

First claim

1 . An overlayer intended to cover an object in order to detect a defect on a surface of said object, comprising an assembly made up of a plurality of current-conducting wire elements of different mechanical resistances and a means for insulating said conducting wire elements, each conducting wire element being arranged such as to at least partially cover a surface of said object when the overlayer covers said object, each conducting wire element being arranged to allow the connection thereof to a test device for detecting a fault affecting said conducting element.

2 . The overlayer as claimed in claim 1 wherein said assembly comprises at least a pair of current-conducting wire elements which are connected at one of the ends thereof by a short circuit or an electric load, and are arranged such that a test signal can be injected at the other end of one of said elements of the pair.

3 . The overlayer as claimed in claim 2 wherein the accuracy for detecting a defect at the surface of the overlayer is configured according to the spacing between two adjacent spires of the pair of conducting wire elements.

4 . The overlayer as claimed in claim 1 wherein the mechanical resistance of a conducting wire element is configured according to the diameter of said element or to the thickness of the insulating means or to the type of material from which the conducting wire element is made up.

5 . The overlayer as claimed in claim 1 wherein a conducting wire element is made up of copper or aluminum.

6 . The overlayer as claimed in claim 1 wherein said current-conducting wire element is a nanowire.

7 . The overlayer as claimed in claim 1 wherein the insulating means is integrated into said conducting element.

8 . The overlayer as claimed in claim 1 wherein the insulating means is an insulating layer shaped to cover said object and wherein said conducting element is embedded.

9 . The overlayer as claimed in claim 1 further comprising an adhesive surface for adhering to said object.

10 . A test system for detecting a defect at the surface of an object comprising an overlayer as claimed in claim 1 , which overlayer is shaped to cover said object, and a test device configured to implement an electric test for detecting a fault affecting at least one conducting wire element of the overlayer.

11 . The test system as claimed in claim 10 wherein the test device is integrated into the overlayer.

12 . The test system as claimed in claim 10 wherein the test device is suitable for implementing a reflectometry test.

13 . The test system as claimed in claim 12 wherein the overlayer includes a plurality of pairs of conducting wire elements of different lengths and the test device is suitable for carrying out a spatial interpolation of the reflectograms measured on each pair of conducting wire elements.

14 . A use of a test system as claimed in claim 10 wherein the overlayer comprises at least three current-conducting wire elements connected together at one of the ends thereof by a short circuit or an electric load, consisting in successively carrying out a detection test on each pair of conducting wire elements, which pair is taken from said conducting wire elements, such as to assess the extent of the fault affecting an area of the surface of the overlayer.

15 . The use of a test system as claimed in claim 10 consisting in successively carrying out a detection test on a plurality of conducting wire elements of different mechanical resistances and in producing a detection warning level weighted according to the mechanical resistance of said conducting wire element on which a fault has been detected.

16 . The use of a test system as claimed in claim 10 used for a cable network wherein at least one different conducting wire element is positioned at the surface of each segment of the cable network, a detection successive test on each conducting wire element allowing the segment of the network affected by the detected fault to be identified.

17 . The use of a test system as claimed in claim 10 according to which said overlayer is used as a tactile interface by the detection of a rubbing fault at the surface thereof.

Assignees

• Commissariat Energie Atomique

Inventors

• Auzanneau Fabrice
• Bonhomme Yannick

Classifications

• H01B7/328 Primary

  comprising violation sensing means · CPC title

• G01N27/028 Primary

  Circuits therefor (measuring impedance per se G01R27/02) · CPC title

• H01B1/02

  mainly consisting of metals or alloys · CPC title

• H01B7/32

  with arrangements for indicating defects, e.g. breaks or leaks · CPC title