Mask for the manufacture of corrosion sensor

Abstract

A method of manufacturing a sensor (), such as a corrosion sensor, a mask including a series of masking elements () for masking a corresponding series of sensing elements (), a sensing element having such a mask and a sensor are provided. The sensor () includes a number of metallic strips () mounted on a non-conducting substrate () and a module () for forming electrical connections to the strips whereby to enable communication between the strips () and monitoring equipment for the sensor (). The module includes a number of wire connections () and the method includes the steps of encapsulating the wire connections within a flexible chemical and heat resistant sealing compound and subsequently encapsulating the flexible sealing compound within a second sealing compound by an injection molding process. The sensing elements () are covered by the masking elements () prior painting the sensor () with a corrosion-inhibiting paint. The masking elements () are made of a material allowing only weak adherence of paint in order to have sharp paint edges around the sensing elements (). Sharp edges allow the corrosion-inhibiting agents to leach onto the sensing elements ().