Remote Health Monitoring for Asset Management

the array after the epoxy has been placed, showing a view from one end of the 18 ft. armored
channel.
A
C
B
D
Figure 5.3. Photographs of the array construction showing A) soldering connections in the armored
channel, B) mixing the epoxy, C) placing the epoxy in armored channel and D) completed array.
Laboratory testing of sensor array
The array of 64 temperature sensors was tested in the laboratory to ensure that all of the sensors
were functioning, to develop and test the supporting software, and to establish an estimate of the
delay time for the sensor array in its as-built condition. This section describes the laboratory
testing conducted and the results of that testing for the 64 sensor array in-place in the armored
channel, potted in epoxy.
An infrared lamp was utilized to impose a thermal gradient in the sensor array. The lamp
provides an intense heat source that performs consistently and can be easily moved to different
portions of the array to establish the operation of all 64 sensors. Numerous tests were conducted
during the development of the software needed to read and log the output of all 64 sensors. The
results of two tests are focused on here: first, the response time of the array was evaluated by
placing the lamp at one end of the pile and collecting sensor outputs over several hours, shown as
location 1 in Figure 5.4. Second, the lamp was placed at different locations along the test pile to
establish that all of the sensors were operational, and that the sensor locations were correctly
identified (locations 2 – 4). The test setup is shown schematically in Figure 5.4. The sensor
29