Low-Cost EIS Corrosion Sensor for Ground Vehicles

Corrosion of Army ground vehicles is a significant problem in cost, reliability, readiness, and safety. In many cases, the design of the vehicle relies solely or extensively on the paint system for corrosion protection. The DACCO SCI team is developing a low-cost, wireless, miniature Coating Health Monitor (CHM). It can be permanently mounted on the structure and directly monitor the coating health at the motor-pool level. It will allow preventative maintenance to be scheduled to forestall serious structural damage due to corrosion. In particular, this elec-trochemical impedance-based sensor system will provide early warning that the coating per-formance is degrading in contrast to corrosivity sensors that merely judge the corrosivity of the environment. The sensor electronics, including battery, will be contained in a sealed 5-cm diameter, 2.5-cm high package with a metallic tape serving as the electrode. Communication is wireless to a PDA-like device.