IP Library Granted Patent US 11,511,922
Granted Patent B1
US 11,511,922 · App. 16/509,443 · Granted Nov 29, 2022

Additively manufactured tamper evident container

Inventors: John D. Bernardin (Los Alamos, NM); Alexandria N. Marchi (Los Alamos, NM); David D. L. Mascarenas (Los Alamos, NM); Alessandro Cattaneo (Los Alamos, NM); Jack Gioia (Los Alamos, NM)
Assignee: Triad National Security, LLC
B65D55/028G06K19/07798G06Q10/0833B33Y80/00B65D2203/10B65D2401/00
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Quick Facts
Patent No.
US 11,511,922
App. No.
16/509,443
Granted
Nov 29, 2022
Kind
B1
Abstract

A tamper evident container includes a container body having walls surrounding a cavity. The walls are composed of a non-electrically conductive material and at least one integrity sensor that is embedded in the non-electrically conductive material. A monitoring circuit is configured to monitor the tamper evident container using the at least one integrity sensor and determine a state-of-health of the tamper evident container.

Claims (17)

1. A tamper evident container comprising:

a container body having a bottom, a sidewall, and a top, that surround a cavity, wherein the container body comprises a non-electrically conductive material and at least one integrity sensor embedded in the non-electrically conductive material, wherein the at least one integrity sensor comprises a path generated using a space-filling, self-avoiding, random walk algorithm; and

a monitoring circuit configured to monitor the tamper evident container by measuring a resistance of each of the at least one integrity sensor and determine a state-of-health of the tamper evident container based on each resistance.

2. The tamper evident container of claim 1 , further comprising a first contact pad on the sidewall and a second contact pad on the top, wherein the first contact pad and the second contact pad are configured to electrically connect a first integrity sensor located in the sidewall to a second integrity sensor located in the top.

3. The tamper evident container of claim 2 , wherein the first integrity sensor comprises a first length and the second integrity sensor comprises a second length that is different than the first length.

4. The tamper evident container of claim 2 , wherein the first integrity sensor comprises a first thickness and the second integrity sensor comprises a second thickness that is different from the first thickness.

5. The tamper evident container of claim 2 wherein the first integrity sensor comprises at least one of a variable thickness and a variable material composition.

6. The tamper evident container of claim 1 , wherein the monitoring circuit comprises a resistance monitoring circuit connected to the at least one integrity sensor and is configured to measure the resistance of each of the at least one integrity sensor to determine the state-of-health.

7. The tamper evident container of claim 6 , wherein the monitoring circuit further comprises:

an accelerometer and a global positioning system circuit, wherein an output the accelerometer and an output of global positioning system circuit are used to determine the state-of-health; and

at least one countermeasure and the monitoring circuit is configured to activate the countermeasure based upon the state-of-health.

8. The tamper evident container of claim 1 , wherein the monitoring circuit comprises at least one anti-probing sensor configured to determine a probing attack on the tamper evident container, and wherein the monitoring circuit is configured to update the state-of-health according to an occurrence of the probing attack.

9. A method of manufacturing a tamper evident container comprising:

receiving a tamper evident container shape;

generating at least one conductive trace pattern for placement in a wall of the tamper evident container shape using a space-filling, self-avoiding, random walk algorithm; and

building the tamper evident container based on the tamper evident container shape using an additive layer technique that integrates the at least one conductive trace pattern into a wall of the tamper evident container shape as at least one conductive trace.

10. The method of claim 9 , further comprising programming a monitoring circuit of the tamper evident container with a resistance of each of the at least one conductive trace.

Assignments (2)
CONFIRMATORY LICENSE Recorded May 28, 2020
From: TRIAD NATIONAL SECURITY, LLC
To: U.S. DEPARTMENT OF ENERGY
Reel/Frame 052779/0179 →
CONFIRMATORY ASSIGNMENT Recorded Jul 12, 2019
From: BERNARDIN, JOHN D; MARCHI, ALEXANDRIA N; MASCARENAS, DAVID D.L.; CATTANEO, ALESSANDRO; GIOIA, JACK
To: TRIAD NATIONAL SECURITY, LLC
Reel/Frame 049740/0670 →
Continuity (1)
Provisional Application 62696790 · Jul 11, 2018