Witness material and method for monitoring the environmental history of an object

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-9970833-B2
Application number	US-201414259519-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Apr 23, 2014
Priority date	Apr 23, 2014
Publication date	May 15, 2018
Grant date	May 15, 2018

Abstract

A witness material for monitoring an environmental history of an object may include a material containing a dye of a type that fluoresces in response to actinic radiation in one or both of a shift in color and a change in intensity when subjected to a predetermined stress above a predetermined level; and the material forming a coating on one or more of an outer container for the object, an inner container for the object, a tape that is applied to an outer container for the object, a tape that is applied to an inner container for the object, a shrink wrap enclosing the object, an outer surface of the object, and an inner surface of the object.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A witness material for monitoring an environmental history of an object, packed within a container, in particular transportation of the object by a vehicle, the witness material comprising:
a material containing a dye of a type that fluoresces in response to actinic radiation in one or both of a shift in color and a change in intensity when subjected to a predetermined stress above a predetermined level, the predetermined stress including impact upon the object during the transportation; and
the material forming a spray coating on only on a corner or edge of the container.

2. The witness material of claim 1 , wherein the predetermined stress includes temperature.

3. The witness material of claim 1 , wherein the predetermined stress includes temperature, and the material contains a dye of a type that fluoresces in response to actinic radiation in one or both of a shift in color and a change in intensity when subjected to the predetermined stress above the predetermined level for a predetermined time interval.

4. The witness material of claim 1 , wherein the dye is of a type that fluoresces in response to actinic radiation other than visible light.

5. The witness material of claim 1 , wherein the actinic radiation is ultraviolet light.

6. The witness material of claim 1 , wherein the material includes a resin containing the dye.

7. The witness material of claim 1 , wherein the dye is selected from a mechanochromatic dye and a thermochromatic dye.

8. The witness material of claim 1 , further comprising a sprayer for spraying the coating on the interior surface of the container containing the object prior to the transportation.

9. The witness material of claim 8 , wherein the spray coating is applied to a selected portion or portions of the interior surface of the container containing the object.

10. The witness material of claim 8 , wherein the spray coating is applied only to one or both of edges and corners of the interior surface of the container containing the object.

11. The witness material of claim 1 , wherein the container containing the object is a shrink wrap enclosing the object, preferably a shrink-wrappable sheet.

12. The system of claim 1 , wherein the surface is an interior surface of the container.

13. A system using witness material for monitoring an environmental history of an object, in particular transportation of the object by a vehicle, the system comprising:
a material containing a dye of a type that fluoresces in response to actinic radiation in one or both of a shift in color and a change in intensity when subjected to a predetermined stress above a predetermined level occurring during the transportation of the object by the vehicle, the stress including an impact;
the material forming a spray coating on a surface of the object; and
a source of the actinic radiation, the source configured to direct the actinic radiation on the coating after the transportation of the object by the vehicle, in response to the predetermined event.

14. The system of claim 13 , wherein the source of actinic radiation is an ultraviolet light.

15. The system of claim 13 , wherein the predetermined event is selected from an impact above a predetermined level upon the object and a heating above a predetermined level of the object.

16. The system of claim 13 , wherein the surface is an interior surface of the object.

17. A method for monitoring an environmental history of an object, in particular transportation of the object by a vehicle, the method comprising:
packing the object within a container;
providing a material containing a dye of a type that fluoresces in response to actinic radiation in one or both of a shift in color and a change in intensity when subjected to a predetermined stress above a predetermined level;
spray coating the material on a surface of the container; and
examining the spray coating on the surface of the container after the transportation by the vehicle of the object within the container by applying the actinic radiation to determine whether the material fluoresces in response thereto to detect that the object has been subjected to the predetermined stress above the predetermined level during the transportation of the object by the vehicle.

18. The method of claim 17 , further comprising irradiating the spray coating of the material with the actinic radiation to determine whether one or both of the shift in color and the change in intensity has occurred.

19. The method of claim 18 , further comprising one or both of documenting and measuring the presence of the one or both of a shift in color and a change in intensity in the material after a predetermined event.

20. A system using witness material for monitoring an environmental history of an object, in particular transportation of the object by a vehicle, the system comprising:
a material containing a dye of a type that fluoresces in response to actinic radiation in one or both of a shift in color and a change in intensity when subjected to a predetermined stress above a predetermined level, the stress including an impact;
the material forming a coating on one or more of an inner container for the object enclosed within an outer container for the object, on an adhesive-backed tape that is applied to the inner container for the object, and an interior surface of the object;
a source of the actinic radiation, the source configured to direct the actinic radiation on the coating after the transportation of the object by the vehicle in response to a predetermined event occurring during the transportation of the object by the vehicle; and
a device for recording the one or both of the shift in color and the change in intensity when the material fluoresces in response to the actinic radiation after the transportation of the object by the vehicle in response to the predetermined event, the device for recording including one or both of a camera and a video camera.

21. The system of claim 20 , wherein the device for recording includes a component for measuring the one or both of shift in color and the change in intensity, the component selected from image analysis software and a fluorometer.

Assignees

• Boeing Co

Inventors

• Georgeson Gary E
• Safai Morteza

Classifications

• G01N2021/6497

  Miscellaneous applications · CPC title

• G01L1/24 Primary

  by measuring variations of optical properties of material when it is stressed, e.g. by photoelastic stress analysis {using infrared, visible light, ultraviolet} · CPC title

• G01N21/64

  Fluorescence; Phosphorescence · CPC title

• G01K11/12 Primary

  using changes in colour, translucency or reflectance · CPC title

• G01L1/248

  using infrared (G01L1/241, G01L1/242 take precedence) · CPC title