System and method for a surface strain gauge

Abstract

A system and method for a surface strain gauge is described which has direct application to wind turbine structures and wind turbine blades and wind turbine struts. The invention is equally applicable to other airfoil structures such as aircraft wings and aircraft fuselages. The strain gauge comprises an array of carbon fiber material integrated with one or more microcontroller modules wherein the entire array may be incorporated into the surface of the structure to be monitored during manufacture of the structure. The array comprises separate sheets of carbon fiber reinforced epoxy which are linked together and which each comprise a separately addressable element such as a microcontroller wherein the microcontrollers are connected to a power supply and to a central bus which itself links to a central system controller. Differential measurements of the resistance of separate carbon fiber reinforced epoxy sheets may be determined in real time as well as the resistance between two or more sheets. In this way real time dynamic load monitoring can be performed and compared with original values determined at time of manufacture to provide data on fatigue of the structure with time before damage and failure occurs.