Discrimination between strain and temperature by cascading single-mode thin-core diameter fibers

A simple fiber-optic sensor capable of discrimination between temperature and strain is proposed and experimentally demonstrated. The sensor head is formed by cascading two sections of single-mode thin-core diameter fibers (TCFs) that act as two different inter-modal interferometers (IMIs). Due to the different sensitivity responses of the two IMIs to strain and temperature, it is possible to discriminate temperature and strain by monitoring the resonant wavelength shifts. The experimental results indicate that the measured strain and temperature resolutions are 37.41 με and 0.732 °C within a strain range of 0-1333.3 με and a temperature range from 26.9 °C to 61.7 °C. The sensing sensitivities of strain and temperature are -1.03 pm/με and 30.74 pm/°C, respectively. The proposed sensor features the advantages of easy fabrication, low cost and high sensitivity, and it exhibits great potential in dual-parameter measurement.     

Simultaneous measurement of temperature and pressure by a single fiber Bragg grating with a broadened reflection spectrum

Simultaneous measurement of temperature and pressure with a single fiber Bragg grating (FBG) based on a broadened reflection spectrum is proposed and experimentally demonstrated. A novel double-hole structure of a cantilever beam is designed, and a FBG is affixed on the nonuniform strain area of the cantilever beam. The Bragg reflection bandwidth is sensitive to the spatially gradient strain but is free from the spatially uniform temperature. The wavelength peak shift and the bandwidth broadening of the FBG with a change of temperature and pressure allow for simultaneous discrimination between the temperature and the pressure effects. Standard deviation errors of 1.4 degrees C and 1.8 kPa were obtained with temperature and pressure ranges of 20 degrees C-100 degrees C and 0-80 kPa, respectively. This novel and low-cost sensor approach has considerable potential applications for temperature-insensitive strain measurement.     

Fiber-Bragg-grating force sensor based on a wavelength-switching actively mode-locked erbium-doped fiber laser

A fiber-Bragg-grating (FBG) transverse-force sensor based on a wavelength-switching actively mode-locked erbium-doped fiber laser is proposed, in which a FBG is used as both the sensing element and the wavelength-selection element of the laser. When a force is applied to the FBG, the induced birefringence in the FBG causes the laser to emit pulses at two close wavelengths, whose separation is proportional to the applied force. To suppress the interference between the two wavelengths, the laser is made to emit at the two wavelengths alternately by use of a polarization-switching technique. The wavelength separation is converted into a time difference by transmission of the laser pulses through a dispersive single-mode fiber, so the wavelength measurement is replaced by the less-expensive time measurement. The output of the sensor is insensitive to temperature and axial strain changes along the FBG. To interrogate similar FBG sensing elements connected in series it is necessary only to change the modulating frequency of an electro-optic modulator to select the corresponding laser cavity. The practicability of this approach was demonstrated experimentally with two multiplexed sensing elements.     

Optical fiber bundle displacement sensor using an ac-modulated light source with subnanometer resolution and low thermal drift

An optical fiber bundle displacement sensor with subnanometer order resolution and low thermal drift is proposed. The setup is based on a carrier amplifier system and involves techniques to eliminate fluctuation in the light power of the source. The achieved noise level of the sensor was 0.03nm/√Hz. The stability was estimated by comparing the outputs of two different sensors from the same target for 4 ks (67 min). The relative displacements between the fiber bundle ends of the two sensors and the target surface varied in the area of 400 nm depending on the ambient temperature variation at 2 °C. However, the difference in output between the two sensor systems is within 2 nm for more than 1 hour of measurement. It is expected that it would be reduced to within the area of 0.1 nm if the ambient temperature were controlled to within ±0.1 °C. It is concluded that the stability of the sensors is sufficiently good to be used with nanotechnological instruments.     

Temperature-insensitive fiber Bragg grating tilt sensor

A temperature-insensitive optical fiber tilt sensor is presented. The sensor scheme uses a prestrained fiber Bragg grating to sense the strain, which depends on the tilt angle. To compensate for the temperature effect, materials that have different linear thermal expansion behaviors are used for implementation of the sensor body. The differentiation in the linear thermal expansion would then cause a counter effect to the original temperature effect. Experimental tests show an accuracy of +/-0.167 degrees in tilt angle measurement. A temperature stability better than +/-0.33 degrees over the temperature range from 27 degrees C to 75 degrees C is demonstrated. The resolution 0.0067 degrees in tilt angle measurement is achieved by using our preliminary sensor with a dimension of 1 6 x 5 x 5 cm(3).     

Simultaneous measurement of strain and temperature by use of a single fiber Bragg grating written in an erbium:ytterbium-doped fiber

We demonstrate a fiber-optic sensor scheme, capable of the simultaneous measurement of strain and temperature with a single fiber Bragg grating written in an erbium:ytterbium-doped fiber. This compact fiber-grating-based sensor scheme, believed to be novel, can be used for synchronous measurement of strain and temperature over ranges of 1100 muepsilon and 50-180 degrees C with rms errors of 55.8 muepsilon and 3 degrees C, respectively. The simple and low-cost sensor approach has a considerable potential, particularly for wide-range strain-sensing applications in which high resolution is not required.     

Transistor RC Oscillator with Single-Element Tuning

RC oscillators based on two active phase shifters of the all-pass type prove to be tunable over a 10-to-1 frequency range by varying a single resistance. Harmonic distortion can be less than 1 percent over this range. Analysis is made of the variation of Q with tuning and the dependence of phase shift on detailed circuit parameters. Oscillators of this type can be used in telemetry to generate a subcarrier frequency which is a measure of transducer resistance. With temperature compensation, oscillator frequency stability is sufficient to permit the measurement of temperature to ±0.1°C over the range -5°C to 40°C using a thermistor sensor.     

ZrO2 thin-film-based sapphire fiber temperature sensor

A submicrometer-thick zirconium dioxide film was deposited on the tip of a polished C-plane sapphire fiber to fabricate a temperature sensor that can work to an extended temperature range. Zirconium dioxide was selected as the thin film material to fabricate the temperature sensor because it has relatively close thermal expansion to that of sapphire, but more importantly it does not react appreciably with sapphire up to 1800 °C. In order to study the properties of the deposited thin film, ZrO2 was also deposited on C-plane sapphire substrates and characterized by x-ray diffraction for phase analysis as well as by atomic force microscopy for analysis of surface morphology. Using low-coherence optical interferometry, the fabricated thin-film-based sapphire fiber sensor was tested in the lab up to 1200 °C and calibrated from 200° to 1000 °C. The temperature resolution is determined to be 5.8 °C when using an Ocean Optics USB4000 spectrometer to detect the reflection spectra from the ZrO2 thin-film temperature sensor.     

Performance analysis of a fiber Bragg grating filter-based strain/temperature sensing system based on a modified Gaussian function approximation method

This paper analyzes the performance of a fiber Bragg grating (FBG) filter-based strain and/or temperature sensing system based on a modified Gaussian function (MGF) approximation method. Instead of using a conventional Gaussian function, we propose the MGF, which can capture the characteristics of the sidelobes of the reflected spectrum, to model the FBG sensor and filter. We experimentally demonstrate that, by considering the contributions of the sidelobes with the MGF approximation method, behaviors of the FBG filter-based FBG displacement and/or temperature sensing system can be predicted more accurately. The predicted behaviors include the saturation, the sensitivity, the sensing range, and the optimal initial Bragg wavelengths of the FBG sensing system.     

光纤Bragg光栅应变传感器在霍普金森压杆上的冲击试验研究

利用复合材料封装光纤Bragg光栅(FBG)设计制作了用于测量高速碰撞或爆炸与冲击作用下混凝土内部动态应变的FBG应变传感器。在霍普金森压杆上对FBG在封装前的裸光栅和封装后的FBG传感器分别进行了高速冲击试验,试验表明：设计的FBG传感器的瞬态响应上升时间小于20μs,具有良好的动态响应特性,可以用于工程中混凝土结构内高速冲击下的动态应变测试     

基于双模LPFG折射率不敏感双参量传感器

环境折射率和环境温度变化是影响光纤应变测量误差的主要因素.本文利用双模光纤纤芯双模式(LP01和LP11)支持特性设计了一款环境折射率不敏感的双模光纤(DMF)长周期光纤光栅LPFG)应变传感器.设计了传感器模型结构,制作了最优化参数的传感器样品.实验测试了DMF-LPFG传感结构对外部环境中应变、温度和折射率的响应....     

Highly sensitive fiber loop ringdown strain sensor using photonic crystal fiber interferometer

A highly sensitive strain sensor is demonstrated by introducing a photonic crystal fiber (PCF) Mach-Zehnder interferometer (MZI) in a cavity ringdown fiber loop as a sensing element. The MZI is fabricated by splicing a short length of PCF between two single-mode fibers with collapsed air holes over a short region at two splicing points, which allows coupling between core and cladding modes inside the PCF. By measuring the decay constants of the fiber ringdown loop under different applied strains, a high strain sensitivity of ~0.21 μs?1/εm and a minimum detectable strain of ~3.6 με are obtained. As a benefit from the ultralow thermal dependence of PCF, the maximum temperature-induced measurement error could be reduced to ~0.24 με.     

基于内埋光纤Bragg光栅传感器的复合材料固化过程监测

为了全面了解复合材料的固化特性,在对碳纤维增强树脂基复合材料固化变形进行数值仿真分析的基础上,将自行设计的光纤Bragg光栅（FBG）传感器埋入复合材料中,实时在线监测复合材料固化过程中温度和应变的演变。预浸料铺层方式为[0₁₁/90₁₁],分别在层合板0°和45°方向的典型位置埋入FBG温度和应变传感器,采用热模压方式固化成型复合材料层合板,并对成型后的层合板进行连续2次降温处理,实时记录固化过程中FBG传感器中心波长的变化。结果表明:在相同的温度条件下,复合材料在第1次降温初始阶段的压应变绝对值明显小于在第2次降温初始阶段的压应变绝对值,表明复合材料在第1次降温过程中仍在进行FBG传感器可检的“后固化”反应;此外,层合板变形的FBG传感器监测数据与有限元模拟结果吻合良好。因此,采用内埋FBG传感器的方法能够实时监测复合材料固化过程,为更全面地分析复合材料固化特性提供了一种可靠有效的方法。      

Silicon Carbide-Based Extreme Environment Hybrid Design Temperature Sensor Using Optical Pyrometry and Laser Interferometry

To the best of the authors' knowledge, proposed and demonstrated is the first extreme environment temperature sensor using Blackbody (BB) radiation of a high-temperature material optical chip for coarse temperature measurement and classical Fabry-Perot (FP) laser interferometry via the same chip for fine temperature measurement. Such a hybrid design sensor can be used to accurately measure temperatures in excess of 750°C such as needed for gas turbines in power plants and aircraft engines. The proposed sensor is designed and demonstrated using an all-Silicon Carbide (SiC) probe for temperatures from 795°C to 1077°C with an estimated average measurement resolution of 0.1°C.     

Absolute strain measurements made with fiber bragg grating sensors

A strain sensor system based on optical fiber Bragg gratings (FBGs) is proposed with a new matched-filter design. The strain variation on the sensor FBG is continuously followed and matched by a filter FBG by use of a feedback control loop that produces an identical strain condition on the filter FBG. The matched strain on the filter FBG is then determined from the resonance vibration of the fiber piece embedding the filter FBG. The implementation and the performance of the proposed system are described. It is demonstrated that the proposed system can distinguish strain variation on the sensor FBG with resolution of one microstrain.     

A Low-Cost Digital Psychrometer and Humidity Controller

The digital psychrometer presented in this paper is a general type of humidity meter with an accuracy of ±1 percent with 8-bit resolution and the humidity controller has an accuracy of ±0.5 percent. It is optimized by using the fewest possible number of components in order to increase the reliability and to reduce the cost. The speed of operation of this circuit is on the order of 500 ns. This circuit is used for measurement and control of humidity in the temperature range of 0-31°C with an accuracy of ±1°C for temperature with 5-bit resolution and 1-kbyte memory space is used for storing humidity values. This circuit is provided with wide flexibility to change its measurement range according to the users' specifications. This circuit is used for measurement and control of humidity in cold-storage process applications, textile industrial applications, etc.     

Simple hybrid wire-wireless fiber laser sensor by direct photonic generation of beat signal

Based on direct photonic generation of a beat signal, a simple hybrid wire-wireless fiber laser sensor is proposed. In the sensor, an improved multilongitudinal modes fiber laser cavity is set up by only a fiber Bragg grating, a section of erbium-doped fiber, and a broadband reflector. A photodetector is used to detect the electrical beat signal. Next, the beat signal including the sensor information can access the wireless network through the wireless transmission. At last, a frequency spectrum analyzer is used to demodulate the sensing information. With this method, the long-distance real-time monitor of the fiber sensor can be realized. The proposed technique offers a simple and cheap way for sensing information of the fiber sensor to access the wireless sensor network. An experiment was implemented to measure the strain and the corresponding root mean square deviation is about -5.7 με at 916 MHz and -3.8 με at 1713 MHz after wireless transmission.     

Low-cost fiber Bragg grating vibroacoustic sensor for voice and heartbeat detection

A fiber Bragg grating (FBG) vibroacoustic sensor exploiting an intensity-based interrogation principle is presented. The optical system is complemented by signal processing techniques that allow disturbances to be mitigated and improve the spectral estimation. The sensor is capable of performing frequency analysis of sounds up to 3 kHz, with top sensitivity in the 100-500 Hz frequency range, and of dynamically tracking pulsed phenomena that induce a strain to the FBG. The sensor has been applied to the detection of voice, showing a great intelligibility of the speech despite the low-quality environment, and to the monitoring of the heartbeat rate from the wrist.     

Influence of high temperatures on a fiber-optic probe for temperature measurement

The use of optical fiber in a temperature probe or sensor for optical pyrometry in the 100-1000 °C range is affected by the low thermal stability of classical fibers. We have studied the different sources of perturbations induced by exposure to high temperature. Two specific fibers especially suited for a high-temperature environment were tested and compared. Low (100 °C/min) and very fast (100 °C/s) fiber heating was performed to evaluate its influence on the guided flux and the induced error on temperature measurement. The metallic-coated fiber shows a reproducible temperature error that can be predicted. This important result permits the development of an uncooled fiber probe for temperature monitoring in high-temperature environments such as aerospace engines.     

光纤Bragg光栅用于动态应变测试的研究进展

应变测量是光纤光栅的主要应用之一。概述了光纤Bragg光栅（FBG）在不同时期和领域用于动态应 变测试的研究进展;阐述了传感头、信号的解调方法和工程应用;评述了基于光纤Bragg光栅的动态应变测试方 法和解调技术;比较了各自的优缺点和目前所能达到的测试范围