US Patent 7730547 - Nanotube strain sensor

http://www.freepatentsonline.com/7730547.html

This patent is from William Marsh Rice University and includes some basic claims to sensing strain with carbon nanotubes. Claim 1 reads:

1. A device for measuring mechanical conditions, wherein the device comprises:

a sensing element comprising a plurality of carbon nanotubes; and

an electrical probe in contact with the plurality of carbon nanotubes;

wherein the electrical probe is sensitive to an electrical property of the carbon nanotubes in a measureable way.