Patent ID: 8023269

Claim:
In a combustion turbine engine, a circuit assembly for receiving sensed information about the condition of a turbine blade in the turbine engine and for transmitting said sensed information to a receiver external to said turbine engine, said circuit assembly comprising: a printed circuit board affixed to the turbine blade and comprising an alumina substrate and having conductive traces formed of a thick film gold paste deposited thereon; active and passive components of said circuit assembly being attached to said printed circuit board by means of gold, wherein at least one of said passive components comprises a metal wire air core conductor affixed to said circuit traces of said printed circuit board for forming an inductive element of said circuit assembly; and, gold wire bonding between said circuit traces and said active components in order to complete said circuit assembly, said gold wire bonding having a longitudinal axis being oriented parallel to a longitudinal axis of the turbine blade; where said metal wire air core conductor comprises a coil of gold or silver wire covered along its length in an alumina-based potting material and exhibiting a quality factor Q of at least 5 at an operating temperature of the engine and an operating frequency of the circuit assembly.