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

这个i-Corps项目的更广泛的影响/商业潜力包括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。它将传感和计算从离散的芯片和单个设备转移到大规模材料上，这些材料可以在不需要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中的一个关键挑战，使监控物理和能源基础设施的运行状况变得更容易。例如，建造能够检测到泄漏或霉菌等问题的包装纸，可以加快诊断和修复结构或美学问题的成本，并降低成本。这种材料会检测和报告物理结构的状况，如果某个区域需要维护，会主动提醒居民，并立即通知结构损坏的业主。这种改进的反馈循环将通过主动引导工程师和技术人员前往结构中最脆弱的部分，减轻仅在美国维护价值4.5万亿美元的有形基础设施的负担。同样，能够在环境中感知到水、石油或一氧化碳等各种物质的存在，可以带来显著的安全、经济、健康和环境效益。这个i-Corps项目提出了可打印、制造和购买成本低、在能源和耐用性方面自我可持续的传感器。我们的两种技术方法是积极的，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送给远程接收器。另一种方法是被动的，需要扫描来确定天线属性的变化，以确定水的存在。这三种技术都使用无毒材料，而且价格便宜：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)到5美元(有源，可以连接多个传感器)的价格为0.01美元/平方英尺。我们的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，以每秒几米的速度生产大片塑料或纸张(如建筑包装)。由此产生的材料薄而灵活，易于展开。这种传感材料应该可以使用几十年，从而能够部署在难以接近的地方。每种方法的原型和概念验证设备都在实验室中展示。这一奖项反映了NSF的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的智力优势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.