WEAR SENSOR AND METHOD OF SENSING WEAR
A wear sensor, a method for sensing wear occurring to an object, and an equipment subject to wear. A wear sensing system that includes the wear sensor and a measuring device for measuring an amount of wear occurring to an object. The wear sensor includes an electrical circuit having a sequence of discrete elements, each discrete element being capable to temporarily hold a digital data value. The electrical circuit is configured to sequentially transfer the digital data value from a first discrete element on a first edge of the wear sensor to subsequent discrete elements toward a second edge of the wear sensor. Each discrete element is capable of being electrically decoupled from the electrical circuit, sequentially in a direction from the second edge by action of wear on the wear sensor. A number of discrete elements in the sequence is reduced when wear occurs on the wear sensor.
1 . A wear sensor, comprising:
an electrical circuit comprising a sequence of discrete elements, each discrete element being capable to temporarily hold a digital data value, wherein the electrical circuit is configured to sequentially transfer the digital data value from a first discrete element on a first side of the wear sensor to subsequent discrete elements toward a second side of the wear sensor,
each discrete element being capable of being electrically decoupled from the electrical circuit, sequentially in a direction from the second side by action of wear on the wear sensor, wherein a number of discrete elements in the sequence is reduced when wear occurs on the wear sensor.
2 . The wear sensor according to claim 1 , wherein the reduced number of discrete elements indicates an amount of wear.
3 . The wear sensor according to claim 1 , further comprising a substrate capable of being disposed along a path subject to wear,
wherein the electrical circuit is supported by the substrate.
4 . The wear sensor according to claim 3 ,
wherein the discrete elements are placed in series on the substrate and the discrete elements are sequentially decoupled from the substrate as a wear progresses along the path.
5 . The wear sensor according to claim 1 , wherein the discrete elements are equally spaced in the electrical circuit.
6 . The wear sensor according to claim 1 , wherein the discrete elements are flip-flop elements and the sequence of flip-flop elements is a flip-flop array or shift register.
7 . The wear sensor according to claim 6 , wherein flip-flop elements shift their digital data value forward at each clock cycle.
8 . The wear sensor according to claim 6 , wherein the electrical circuit comprises a specific amount of tracks, the specific amount of tracks being independent of the total number of flip-flop elements included in the sequence.
9 . The wear sensor according to claim 8 , wherein the electric circuit comprises five tracks, the five tracks being a track for a power signal, a track for a clock signal, a track for an input signal, a track for an output signal, and a track connected to ground.
10 . The wear sensor according to claim 6 , wherein the amount of wear is determined based on a number of clock transitions between the flip-flop elements in the sequence until the output over the sequence of flip-flop elements is a digital data value of zero, preferably over a specific number of clocks.
11 . The wear sensor according to claim 10 ,
wherein the wear sensor is configured to detect whether or not an error with regard to at least one flip-flop element of the sequence of flip-flop elements has occurred.
12 . The wear sensor according to claim 11 ,
wherein the wear sensor is further configured to detect a position within the electrical current at which the error has occurred.
13 . The wear sensor according to claim 1 , further comprising an additional electrical circuit such that the wear sensor comprises two electrical circuits, the two electrical circuits being independent of each other.
14 . The wear sensor according to claim 13 ,
wherein the two electrical circuits are connected in parallel.
15 . A method for sensing wear occurring to an object, the method comprising:
sequentially transferring a digital data value from a first discrete element on a first edge of a wear sensor to subsequent discrete elements toward a second edge of the wear sensor;
wherein the wear sensor comprises an electrical circuit,
the electrical circuit comprises a sequence of discrete elements, each discrete element temporarily holding the digital data value, and
a discrete element is electrically decoupled from the sequence of discrete elements, sequentially in a direction from the second edge, by action of wear on the wear sensor, wherein a number of discrete elements in the sequence is reduced when wear occurs on the wear sensor.
16 . A wear sensing system comprising:
one or more wear sensors according to claim 1 ; and
a measuring device configured to measure an amount of wear occurring to an object based on the one or more wear sensors.
17 . The wear sensing system of claim 16 ,
wherein the measuring device is a counter configured to count a number of clocks until an output of the one or more wear sensors is a digital data value of zero over a specific number of clocks.
18 . An equipment subject to wear, comprising:
a wear sensor according to claim 1 .