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.
Patent No.:
Date of Patent:
Apr. 07, 1998
Filed:
Apr. 18, 1996
Louis E Sansone, Brooklyn, CT (US);
The United States of America as represented by the Secretary of the Navy, Washington, DC (US);
Abstract
A length and elongation sensor includes an elastomeric optical wave guide d a time domain reflectometer. The elastomeric optical wave guide consists of a urethane outer cladding and an optical gel core. A transparent window is hermetically sealed to the first end of the optical wave guide and a reflective mirror is hermetically sealed to the second end of the optical wave guide. Both ends of the wave guide are then fixedly attached to the unit to be measured. The time domain reflectometer is operative for propagating a light pulse through the optical wave guide and for measuring the round-trip propagation time of the light pulse. Since the velocity of the light pulse is known, the length of the wave guide can easily be determined. The wave guide is stretchable up to 25% of its original length thereby allowing both static and dynamic length measurements of the unit to be measured.