Method and Apparatus to Detect Wire Pathologies Near Crimped Connector

NASA’s Langley Research Center has created a collection of innovations for rapid, precise, and verified crimps. Wiring crimp failures can be a threat to safety and may lead to a loss of critical functions in high-risk applications, such as aerospace. In addition to the safety concerns, diagnosing and repairing poor crimp connections can be costly. Langley’s crimping innovations increase quality and reduce risk by using ultrasound to provide real-time, nondestructive verification of wire-crimp integrity while the crimp is being formed. This technology can be applied to electromechanical crimping machines, where the appropriate force required to form a crimped connection is determined in real time. Such an application prevents over- or under-crimping, and prevents excessive tool wear. Langley has also created a means and method to calibrate and verify the mechanical and electrical settings for an ultrasonically enhanced crimp tool.