Acoustic monitoring for thermal spray processes
This technology uses microphones to listen to a thermal spray system — a manufacturing process that coats surfaces with molten or semi-molten materials — and automatically adjusts the system in real time to keep it running correctly. The sound the spray system makes carries information about what's happening inside the process; this system converts that sound into a frequency map, identifies which frequencies signal a problem, and then sends commands to fix it without human intervention. Think of it as a continuous quality-control loop that uses noise as its diagnostic sensor. The result is a self-correcting spray coating system that catches and corrects process drift before it produces defective parts.
What you could build
An acoustic monitoring and closed-loop control add-on for industrial thermal spray equipment, sold to aerospace, defense, and industrial coating job shops that need tight coating quality tolerances and want to reduce scrap and rework costs.
Who in Virginia should care
Virginia's defense and aerospace manufacturing base — including primes and suppliers around the Hampton Roads and Northern Virginia corridors — regularly uses thermal spray for turbine and structural component refurbishment and would be natural early adopters.
Readiness: Prototype likely
Concept — described but not yet demonstrated. Lab validated — supported by experimental results in the patent. Prototype likely — the text describes a built, working embodiment.
Readiness is inferred from the patent text, not from a lab visit.
The record
- Inventors
- —
- Granted
- June 30, 2020
- Status
- Granted patent
- Patent number
- 102795
Ready to talk?
Virginia Tech Intellectual Properties handles licensing for this technology.
Prosim summaries are generated from public patent text and are not legal advice.