Fields of use

Numerous applications in the automotive industry, in wind power plants, in the mechanical and plant engineering, in sports equipment and in plastic components are possible.

Sensor technology

• substitution of conventional strain gauges (DMS)
   

Fibre-reinforce plastics / light weight construction

• pipelines, tubes, pressure vessels, sports equipment, orthoses, vehicles, springs, mechanical characterisation/mechanical testing
• application sample: strain sensor for rotor blade monitoring of wind power plant (8 mm x 10 mm, 120 Ohm, gauge factor 5.4)

Plastic / elastomer components

• membranes
• control elements / panels
  

Textile / wood / concrete applications

• slope stabilisations
• wooden beams
• concrete construtions

Sensoric GFRP bending beam

A SMA sensor was embedded into a bending beam made of glass fibre-reinforced plastic. Due to the excitation of the vibrational motor the bending beam oscillates in its eigenfrequency. The SMA sensor and its amplifier monitor the bending strain of the oscillation. When stopping the oscillation, the sensor signal amplitude is reduced. A manual bending of the beam changes the level of the sensor signal according to the bending strain

Pultrusion profile with embedded SMA strain sensor

A glass-fibre reinforced pultrusion profile (GFRPP) with an embedded strain sensor made of shape-memory alloy (SMA) wires is shown. The bending of the profile can be monitored by means of the SMA strain sensor. The SMA sensor is as fatigue resistant as the GFRPP, more elastic than the profile material and 3 time more sensitive compared to regular strain gauges. The continuous Integration of the SMA strain sensor in the pultrusion process is very cost efficient.