초록 ▼

A probe for measuring the hardness of concrete includes a body adapted to receive a retainer such that the combined body and retainer can be held in an aperture extending through a wall of a mould for the hardenable material, with the body extending from the inside of the wall. A sensor circuit incl

A probe for measuring the hardness of concrete includes a body adapted to receive a retainer such that the combined body and retainer can be held in an aperture extending through a wall of a mould for the hardenable material, with the body extending from the inside of the wall. A sensor circuit includes detector elements supported by the body and disposed when in use in the concrete, and circuit terminals which face the exterior of the mould wall when in use, and are accessible through the retainer for connection to terminals of an external instrument. Preferably, the detector elements are conductive portions of a printed circuit board forming a resonator. The instrument can operate a switch in the probe which interconnects the terminals to indicate a good connection and measures resonator impedance at multiple frequencies.

대표청구항 ▼

We claim: 1. A system for measuring a characteristic of hardenable construction material, the system comprising: a probe comprising a sensor circuit having: detector elements arranged to be disposed, in use, in the hardenable construction material; circuit terminals; and a memory device, a measure

We claim: 1. A system for measuring a characteristic of hardenable construction material, the system comprising: a probe comprising a sensor circuit having: detector elements arranged to be disposed, in use, in the hardenable construction material; circuit terminals; and a memory device, a measurement instrument removably coupled to the probe and operative to read data from or write data to the memory device, the measurement instrument comprising: instrument terminals operative to couple with the circuit terminals of the probe; and a processor for controlling measurement operations, wherein the probe further comprises a body which is adapted to receive a retainer such that the combined body and retainer can be held in an aperture extending through a wall of a mould for the hardenable material, with the body extending from the inside of the wall, and wherein the detector elements of the sensor circuit are supported by the body for disposal, in use, in the hardenable material, and wherein the circuit terminals are arranged to face, in use, the exterior of the mould wall to be accessible through the retainer for connection to said instrument terminals. 2. The system as claimed in claim 1, wherein the measurement instrument is operative to generate a value representative of said characteristic of the hardenable material and to store said value representative of said characteristic of said hardenable material in the memory device. 3. The system as claimed in claim 1, wherein the sensor circuit further comprises a power source terminal. 4. The system as claimed in claim 1, wherein the body is threaded for attachment to a threaded retainer. 5. A system for measuring a characteristic of hardenable construction material, the system comprising: a probe comprising a sensor circuit having: detector elements arranged to be disposed, in use, in the hardenable construction material; circuit terminals; and a memory device, a measurement instrument removably coupled to the probe and operative to read data from or write data to the memory device, the measurement instrument comprising: instrument terminals operative to couple with the circuit terminals of the probe; and a processor for controlling measurement operations, wherein the detector elements form part of an electromagnetic resonator, and the detector elements are formed by conductive portions of a printed circuit board. 6. The system as claimed in claim 5, wherein the detector elements comprise first and second elements disposed on respective sides of the printed circuit board. 7. The system as claimed in claim 5, wherein, along at least one direction, the detector elements are divided into a plurality of sub-regions with gaps therebetween, the gaps extending through the printed circuit board to permit the hardenable material to be received therein. 8. The system as claimed in claim 7, wherein the gaps form elongate slots. 9. The system as claimed in claim 8, wherein the sensor circuit further comprises a switch connected between said terminals and closable by a signal from the measurement instrument so that correct coupling of the instrument terminals to the circuit terminals can be detected by the measurement instrument. 10. The system as claimed in claim 9, wherein the switch is closable by application of a DC voltage across the circuit terminals. 11. The system as claimed in claim 9, wherein the circuit terminals comprise a pair of input/output terminals connected to respective ones of the detector elements, at least one of the input/output terminals being connected to a respective detector element via a capacitor. 12. A system for measuring a characteristic of hardenable construction material, the system comprising: a probe comprising a sensor circuit having: detector elements arranged to be disposed, in use, in the hardenable construction material; circuit terminals; and a memory device, a measurement instrument removably coupled to the probe and operative to read data from or write data to the memory device, the measurement instrument comprising: instrument terminals operative to couple with the circuit terminals of the probe; and a processor for controlling measurement operations, wherein the detector elements form an electromagnetic resonator.