The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document.

The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge covers the following: Patent number, Date patent was issued, Date patent was filed, Title of the patent, Applicant, Inventor, Assignee, Attorney firm, Primary examiner, Assistant examiner, CPCs, and Abstract. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document (in Adobe Acrobat format, aka pdf). To download or print any patent click here.

Date of Patent:
Feb. 19, 2019

Filed:

Dec. 11, 2017
Applicant:

International Business Machines Corporation, Armonk, NY (US);

Inventors:

Satsuo Kiyono, Yokohama, JP;

Eiji Ohno, Yamato, JP;

Masahiro Uemura, Kawasaki, JP;

Attorney:
Primary Examiner:
Assistant Examiner:
Int. Cl.
CPC ...
G01K 3/04 (2006.01); G01R 31/04 (2006.01); G01R 31/27 (2006.01); G01R 31/02 (2006.01);
U.S. Cl.
CPC ...
G01R 31/04 (2013.01); G01K 3/04 (2013.01); G01R 31/027 (2013.01);
Abstract

The service life of electrical equipment is predicted using a thermal history sensor mounted in the electrical equipment. At least one thermal history sensor is mounted inside or on an outer wall surface of electrical equipment. The thermal history sensor includes dissimilar metal joints, and the resistance values of the dissimilar metal joints change in response to the amount of intermetallic compound growing in the dissimilar metal joints due to the temperature inside the electrical equipment or of the outer wall thereof during operation. A determining mechanism periodically or irregularly monitors and stores in memory the resistance values of the dissimilar metal joints from the thermal history sensor, and uses the stored history of resistance values to predict the service life of the electrical equipment.


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