Patent ID: 11946891
Assignee: 3M INNOVATIVE PROPERTIES COMPANY
Field: Measurement (Instruments)
Classification: CPC G | IPC G

Claim 0:
1. A system for verifying structural integrity of a tested material that comprises at least one of an electrically conductive material or an electrically semiconductive material, the system comprising:
interface hardware; and
processing circuitry communicatively coupled to the interface hardware, the processing circuitry being configured to:
control, via the interface hardware, a switch network to designate one or more measurement electrical contacts from a plurality of electrical contacts, each of the one or more measurement electrical contacts being electrically coupled to the tested material and communicatively coupled to the computing device;
control, via the interface hardware, an electrical signal source to output an electrical signal through an inductor to the tested material, wherein the inductor is electrically coupled to the tested material;
receive, via the interface hardware and from the one or more measurement electrical contacts that are electrically coupled to the tested material, one or more electrical parameters of the tested material while the electrical signal output by the electrical signal source is conducted through the tested material;
determine a temperature-scaled control data set (Dts) based on a measurement temperature (Tm) associated with a measurement data set (Dm) that comprises a plurality of values representative of the one or more electrical parameters of the tested material at the measurement temperature (Tm) at least in part by:
determining the measurement temperature (Tm), a first control data set (Dc1) associated with a first control temperature, a second control data set (Dc2) associated with a second control temperature, the first control temperature (Tc1), and the second control temperature (Tc2); and
determining a weighted sum of the first control data set and the second control data set based on a scaling factor (F), the first control data set, and the second control data set; and wherein the scaling factor (F) is
(i) a linear combination based on the measurement temperature, the first control temperature, and the second control temperature according to, F
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(ii) a polynomial combination based on the measurement temperature according to

F=A*Tm2+B*Tm+C, 

where each of A, B, and C represents a respective experimentally derived constant determined by fitting a polynomial curve to experimental data of conductivity of the tested material versus temperature;

generate comparisons of respective values of the measurement data set to corresponding respective values of the temperature-scaled control data set (Dts);
determine whether the tested material includes a defect based on the comparisons; and
output, via the interface hardware, an indication of the determination of whether the tested material includes the defect.