I-Corps: Self-sustainable Water Leak Detection System for Buildings

这个I-Corps项目更广泛的影响/商业潜力涉及开发可打印的传感器和计算材料，以创建基础设施规模的传感表面。它将传感和计算从分立芯片和单个设备转移到大规模材料，这些材料可以在没有电池或外部电源的情况下进行传感，通信和计算。 这种方法解决了现代物联网设备的一个关键挑战，使其更容易监控物理和能源基础设施的健康状况。例如，能够感知泄漏或霉菌等问题的建筑包裹物可以加快并降低诊断和修复结构或美学问题的成本。这些材料将感知并报告物理结构的状况，如果某些区域需要维修，则主动提醒居民，并立即通知业主结构损坏。这种改进的反馈回路将减少维护价值4.5万亿美元的物理基础设施的负担，仅在美国，通过主动指导工程师和技术人员到结构中最脆弱的部分。同样，能够身临其境地感知水、油或一氧化碳等各种物质的存在，可以具有显着的安全、经济、健康和环境效益。I-Corps项目提出了可打印、制造和购买成本低廉且自我可持续的传感器。在能源和耐用性方面。我们的两种技术方法是主动的，在水等各种物质存在的情况下产生足够的能量，能够将泄漏事件无线传输到远程接收器。另一种方法是被动的，需要扫描以确定天线特性的变化，从而确定水的存在。所有这三种技术都使用无毒材料，价格低廉：传感和发电材料的价格为1.50美元/平方英尺或更低，发射器（无源）为0.01美元/发射器（有源）至5美元/发射器（有源，可连接到多个传感器）。其目标是设计一种可以与标准商业印刷技术一起使用的工艺，以每秒米的速度生产大型塑料或纸张（例如建筑包装）。 所得到的材料是薄的和柔性的，并且容易部署。 这种传感材料可以使用几十年，使其能够部署在难以进入的地方。该奖项反映了NSF的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的知识价值和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，被认为值得支持。

The broader impact/commercial potential of this I-Corps project involves developing printable sensors and computational materials to create infrastructure-scale sensing surfaces. It moves sensing and computation from discrete chips and individual devices to large-scale materials that can sense, communicate, and compute with no batteries or external power. This approach solves a key challenge in modern Internet-of-Things devices, making it easier to monitor the health of physical and energy infrastructure. For example, building wraps that sense problems like leaks or mold can speed and lessen the costs of diagnosing and repairing structural or aesthetic issues. Such materials would sense and report the condition of a physical structure, proactively alert residents if some area requires maintenance, and immediately notify the owners of structural damage. This improved feedback loop would reduce the burden of maintaining $4.5 trillion worth of physical infrastructure in the United States alone by proactively directing engineers and technicians to the most vulnerable parts of a structure. Similarly, being able to ambiently sense the presence of various substances like water, oil, or carbon monoxide can have significant safety, economic, health, and environmental benefits.This I-Corps project proposes sensors that are printable, inexpensive to manufacture and purchase, and self-sustainable in terms of energy and durability. Two of our technical approaches are active, producing enough energy in the presence of various substances like water to be able to communicate the event of a leak wirelessly to a remote receiver. Another approach is passive, requiring a scan to determine a change in antenna properties to determine the presence of water. All three techniques use non-toxic materials and are inexpensive: $1.50/sq foot and lower for the sensing and power generation material, and $0.01/transmitter (passive) to $5/transmitter (active, which can be connected to multiple sensors). The goal is to design a process that can be used with standard commercial printing techniques to produce large sheets of plastic or paper (such as with building wrap) at meters per second. The resulting material is thin and flexible and easily deployed. The sensing material should last for decades allowing it to be deployed in hard-to-access locations. Prototypes and proof-of-concept devices have been shown in the lab for each approach.This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.