Year
2004
Abstract
An innovative sealing clamp has been developed at SILab (Sealing and Identification Techniques Laboratory). The system, based on multi transponder technology, is able to fulfill the following functions: - To confirm its correct installation - To detect an illegal opening - To store information in a permanent memory, inside the seal, when required - To have a good mechanical strength to prevent illegal opening - To have a unique identification of the seal. All the readings/writings can be done automatically through a proper antenna and stored in a database that can be made available on line and will give, in real time, information about the correct installation, the integrity of the seal and all the readings done in each check point. A typical application could be on containers to detect illegal opening and to follow the travel of the shipping from the shipment to the final delivery. Also innovative remote positioning tools are under development. A revised design of sealing bolt based on ultrasonic techniques has been also developed. The bolt design has been strongly simplified, also the reading head has been redesigned with the aim of reducing costs and weights. A low cost ISA Cardbox is used to interface the dedicated ultrasonic board allowing the use of a standard portable computer for reading and data acquisition. The new system is fully compatible with the old one. A remote monitoring system for commercial containers and innovative application of transponders and ultrasonic techniques to prevent watches forgery is also object of exploratory R&D at SILab.