Photonic Sensors
Co-Editors-in-Chief
Yunjiang RAO
Tao ZHANG, Lijia MA, Hongbo BAI, Chengguo TONG, Qiang DAI, Chong KANG, and Libo YUAN

We designed a novel core-suspended capillary fiber that the core was suspended in the air hole and close to the inner surface of the capillary, and experimentally demonstrated its fabrication technology. In addition, a method for linking a single mode fiber and a core-suspended fiber was proposed based on splicing and tapering at the fusion point between the two fibers. By combining with the optical time domain reflectometer technology, we constructed a distributed gas sensor system to monitor greenhouse gas based on this novel fiber.

Jan. 01, 1900
  • Vol. 4 Issue 2 97 (2014)
  • Jing HAN, Wentao ZHANG*, Dongshan JIANG, Zhaogang WANG, and and Fang LI

    An all-metal 3-component optical fiber seismometer was proposed and experimentally demonstrated. The theoretical analysis was given based on the electro-mechanical theory. Calibration results showed that the axis sensitivity was about 41 dB (re: 0 dB=1 rad/g) with a fluctuation ±2 dB in the frequency bandwidth of 5 Hz - 400 Hz. A transverse sensitivity of about -40 dB was achieved. The fluctuation of the acceleration sensitivity for the three accelerometers in the seismometer was within ±2.5 dB. The minimum phase demodulation detection accuracy of the phase-generated carrier (PGC) was 10-5 rad/√Hz, and the minimum detectable acceleration was calculated to be 90 ng/√Hz.

    Jan. 01, 1900
  • Vol. 4 Issue 2 102 (2014)
  • Weibing GAN, and Youfa WANG

    In view of the high voltage, the strong magnetic field environment of the high-voltage switchgear, the system based on the optical wireless sensing technology, realizes the isolated contact temperature monitoring of the high-voltage switchgear. In this scheme, the good thermal conductivity and insulation ceramic materials were selected as the outer jacket material sensing probe, and the program had a good solution to the problem of high and low voltage isolation; The combination of the optical fiber composite insulators for wireless sensing, not only solves the problem of high voltage insulation, but also avoids the “creeping” phenomenon due to dust. The package of the structure and reasonable installation solves the cross sensitivity of strain. The application showed that the precision of temperature measurement of the system could reach ± 0.5 ℃ and could work in a variety of harsh environments. It could improve the reliability of the operation of the electrical equipment significantly and has considerable practical value for the whole power system.

    Jan. 01, 1900
  • Vol. 4 Issue 2 108 (2014)
  • Guangping LV, Jun CHANG*, Qingpu WANG, Qiang WANG, and Wei WEI

    n the field of near infrared H2O sensing, the acquisition of the absorption signal usually is from a noisy background, thus it is important to adopt an effective signal demodulation method. This study introduced the research progress in the field of trace water vapor detection, covering different individual gas detection techniques. On the basis of the conventional double-beam differential absorption, the division method in voltage and the dual-peak method based on the differential value of two adjacent absorption lines have been studied. Voltage division has an excellent stability to temperature variation, mechanical extrusion, and fiber bend loss. The dual-peak method proved a linear relation with the water vapor concentration, and this method provided a way to measure the concentration at high pressure. Furthermore, the so called balanced ratiometer detection (BRD) was introduced. It has an outstanding self-adjusting capability, and it can also avoid an excess phase difference caused by the current-to-voltage converting circuit, thus this method has a high sensitivity. In addition, the second harmonic technique applied to gas detection was introduced, and for the high-frequency modulation via driving current, 1/f was suppressed apparently; as a result, this technique realized a better sensitive detection by one to two orders of magnitude.

    Jan. 01, 1900
  • Vol. 4 Issue 2 113 (2014)
  • Jinyu WANG, Tongyu LIU, Guangdong SONG, Hongjing XIE, Lianqing LI, Xiaolin DENG, and Zhijie GONG

    The fiber Bragg grating (FBG) strain sensors were used for on-line monitoring of the stress variation of the lined wall in the gateway retained along the goaf of No. 3203 coal mining face in Dongtan Mine. The results showed that the FBG strain sensor with the wide measuring range could measure the stress variation accurately during the support process of the gateway retained along the goaf and could provide the basis to further optimize the support structure and to determine the support plan of the gateway retained along the goaf. The FBG micro-seismic sensors were used in Xinglong Mine to detect the micro-seismic signal. The signals were well received and analyzed to determine the location and energy level of the source of the micro-seismic event warning. The FBG sensors and detecting system show a significant potential for micro-seismic detection and geological disasters detection.

    Jan. 01, 1900
  • Vol. 4 Issue 2 120 (2014)
  • Haihu YU, Gengmin LI, Xiaofu LI, and Huiyong GUO

    The fiber Bragg grating (FBG) is a passive optical fiber component with the refractive index modulated along the fiber length and has been widely applied in fiber sensing systems. High-temperature stable fiber gratings are promising for uses at high temperatures and attract extensive attention. In this paper, FBGs were inscribed in hydrogen loaded standard single mode fibers with the 248-nm excimer laser, and regenerated gratings were obtained through heat treatment. The shift of the central wavelength of the regenerated FBG had a good linearity with temperature, and the reflectivity of the regenerated FBG could almost keep unchanged at 800 ℃.

    Jan. 01, 1900
  • Vol. 4 Issue 2 125 (2014)
  • Haihu YU, Yu ZHENG, Huiyong GUO, Beibei CAO, and Huifeng WEI

    An air-silica microstructure optical fiber based on the anti-resonant reflecting optical waveguide (ARROW) principle was used to develop a spectral absorption gas sensor. The ARROW fiber has an air core and an air cladding layer. An ARROW fiber with a length of 725 mm was used to construct a sensing system to detect acetylene gas. The gas was injected into the fiber from one end of the fiber. The transmission spectra were collected using an optical spectrum analyzer. The results indicate that the system can detect the gas of different concentrations and has the good system linearity. The response time of the system is about 200 s.

    Jan. 01, 1900
  • Vol. 4 Issue 2 128 (2014)
  • Ying SHANG, Xiaohui LIU, Chang WANG, and Wenan ZHAO

    In the field of oil well logging, real-time monitoring of the fluid flow parameter provides a scientific basis for oil and gas optimization exploration and increase in reservoir recovery, so a non-intrusive flow test method based on turbulent vibration was proposed. The specific length of the sensor fiber wound tightly around the outer wall of the pipe was connected with the optical fiber gratings at both ends, and the sensor fiber and the optical fiber gratings composed the flow sensing unit. The dynamic pressure was generated by the turbulence when fluid flows through the pipe, and the dynamic pressure resulted in the light phase shift of the sensor fiber. The phase information was demodulated by the fiber optic interferometer technology, time division multiplexing technology, and phase generated carrier modulation and demodulation techniques. The quadratic curve relationship between the phase change and flow rate was found by experimental data analysis, and the experiment confirmed the feasibility of the optical fiber flow test method with non-intrusion and achieved the real-time monitoring of the fluid flow.

    Jan. 01, 1900
  • Vol. 4 Issue 2 132 (2014)
  • Kun WANG, Xinglin TONG*, and and Xiaolong ZHU

    The power transformer is the most important equipment of the high voltage power grid, however, some traditional methods of online partial discharge monitoring have some limitations. Based on many advantages of the optical fiber sensing technology, we have done some research on fiber optics Fabry-Perot (FP) sensing which can be useful for the transformer on online partial discharge monitoring. This research aimed at improving the reliability of power system safety monitoring. We have done some work as follows: designing a set for fiber optics FP sensor preparation, according to the fabrication procedure strictly making out the sensors, building a reasonable signal demodulation system for fiber optics FP sensing, doing a preliminary analysis about online partial discharge signal monitoring, including the research on different discharge intensities with the same measuring distance and different measuring distances with the same discharge intensity, and then making a detailed analysis of the experimental results.

    Jan. 01, 1900
  • Vol. 4 Issue 2 137 (2014)
  • Zongliang WANG, Jun CHANG, Sasa ZHANG, Sha LUO, Cuanwu JIA, Boning SUN, Shuo JIANG, Yongning LIU, Xiaohui LIU, Guangping LV, and Zhi LIU

    We proposed and demonstrated a wavelet transform modulus maxima (WTMM) de-noising method to decrease the temperature error. In this scheme, the composition scale was determined simply by the WTMM amplitude variation with the growth of the decomposition scale at 30 ℃, and the signal WTMM was obtained by the wavelet decomposition modulus on every decomposition scale based on the modulus propagating difference between the signal and noise. Then, we reconstructed the signal using the signal WTMM. Experimental results show that the proposed method is effective for de-noising, allowing for a temperature error decrease of about 1 ℃ at 40 ℃ and 50 ℃comparing to the original data.

    Jan. 01, 1900
  • Vol. 4 Issue 2 142 (2014)
  • Dong ZHONG, and Xinglin TONG

    With the development of the optical fiber sensing technology, the acoustic emission sensor has become one of the focal research topics. On the basis of studying the traditional hydraulic coke cutting monitoring system, the optical fiber acoustic emission sensor has been applied in the hydraulic coke cutting monitoring system for the first time, researching the monitoring signal of the optical fiber acoustic emission sensor in the system. The actual test results show that using the acoustic emission sensor in the hydraulic coke cutting monitoring system can get the real-time and accurate hydraulic coke cutting state and the effective realization of hydraulic coke cutting automatic monitoring in the Wuhan Branch of Sinopec.

    Jan. 01, 1900
  • Vol. 4 Issue 2 147 (2014)
  • Zhongwei JIN, Mingshun JIANG, Qingmei SUI, Faye ZHANG, and Lei JIA

    An acoustic emission (AE) linear location system was proposed, which employed fiber Bragg gratings (FBGs) as AE sensors. It was demonstrated that the FBG wavelength could be modulated as the static case when the grating length was much shorter than the AE wavelength. In addition, an improved AE location method based on the Gabor wavelet transform (WT) and threshold analysis was represented. The method was testified through AE linear location experiments based on a tunable narrow-band laser interrogation system using ultra-short FBG sensors as AE sensors. Results of the experiments showed that 86% of the linear location errors were less than 10 mm.

    Jan. 01, 1900
  • Vol. 4 Issue 2 152 (2014)
  • Dian FAN, Hongjun DING, Dorothy Y. WANG, and Desheng JIANG

    This paper presents the testing results of three types of fire detectors: electrical heat sensing cable, optical fiber Raman temperature sensing detector, and optical fiber Bragg grating (FBG) temperature sensing detector, in two simulated fire scenes in a cable tunnel. In the small-scale fire with limited thermal radiation and no flame, the fire alarm only comes from the heat sensors which directly contact with the heat source. In the large-scale fire with about 5 ℃/min temperature rising speed within a 3-m span, the fire alarm response time of the fiber Raman sensor and FBG sensors was about 30 seconds. The test results can be further used for formulating regulation for early fire detection in cable tunnels.

    Jan. 01, 1900
  • Vol. 4 Issue 2 156 (2014)
  • Litong LI, Dongsheng ZHANG, Hui LIU, Yongxing GUO, and aFangdong ZHU

    The theoretical design method of enhanced sensitivity fiber grating (FBG) strain sensors was given, and moreover high qualified strain sensors were developed and fabricated, whose sensing properties were good for practical applications. The strain sensor with cylindrical shell encapsulation contained three tubular structures, due to the uneven surface structure, in the area of the strain concentration, improving the sensitivity. It could achieve the embedment strain measurement and surface measurement and had the advantages of the easy installation. The good agreement was obtained between the measurements and theoretical simulation results. After each calibration test, twenty-four FBG strain sensors and six FBG temperature compensation sensors have been installed on the undersurface of the box girder of Diaoshuiyan bridge in Yongtaiwen highway. Finally, we built up a long-term structure health system for the highway bridge.

    Jan. 01, 1900
  • Vol. 4 Issue 2 162 (2014)
  • Zhihui LUO, Hongqiao WEN, and Huiyong GUO

    An interrogation system based on two semiconductor optical amplifiers for weak fiber Bragg gratings (FBGs) was proposed. The first semiconductor optical amplifier (SOA) was used to modulate the light, and the second SOA separated the reflected signal from the different FBGs through delayed switching. The proposed system has lower insertion loss and higher spatial resolution, and can interrogate the time- and wavelength-division multiplexed FBG array. Up to 50 FBGs, with a reflectivity of 0.2% and a spatial resolution of 5 m along the optical fiber, were distinguished to demonstrate the interrogation system.

    Jan. 01, 1900
  • Vol. 4 Issue 2 168 (2014)
  • Weilai LI, Jin PANG, Xiaoshan LU, and Jie LIU

    The fiber Bragg grating (FBG) sensing technology was used to monitor the situation of a crevice of the continuous beam joint and rails near rail expansion devices on a viaduct of the urban railway. The monitoring items consisted of the rail temperature, rail displacement, viaduct beam displacement, and strain of sliding rail in the rail expansion device section. The strain sensor was a prefabricate FBG strain gauge, the displacement sensor with different scales used an FBG stress ring, and the FBG of the temperature sensor was pre-drawn and fixed in a metal tube. Compensation sensors were used to balance environmental temperature changes. All FBGs were suspended adhered, therefore the chirped phenomenon of the FBG reflection peak was avoided, and the measurement accuracy was improved. The monitoring results matched to the manual test and theoretical estimation.

    Jan. 01, 1900
  • Vol. 4 Issue 2 173 (2014)
  • Pengpeng WANG, Jun CHANG, Cunguang ZHU, Boning SUN, Guangping LV, Sasa ZHANG, Yanjie ZHAO, Zhihui SUN, Xiaolei ZHANG, and Gangding PENG

    A sensor array system formed by arranging four asymmetric distributed-feedback fiber lasers (DFB-FL) in ascending order according to their slope efficiencies was proposed. The output flatness could be effectively improved with the application of asymmetric DFB-FLs. The last element had almost the same output with the others although it obtained the smallest pump power. The relative intensity noise (RIN) and relaxation oscillation frequency of the sensor array were also analyzed. It is found that the relaxation oscillation frequency of a certain DFB-FL was relevant to its relative position in the array. And the RIN of a certain DFB-FL was always affected by the other elements in the array, which was not dependent on the order of their arrangement.

    Jan. 01, 1900
  • Vol. 4 Issue 2 180 (2014)
  • Fei WU, Lei LIANG, Junya XING, Lin WANG, and Lang JIA

    The ventilators have been vividly called “the lungs of mine”. The rotating blades are the core parts of a ventilator, they can influence the safety and reliability of the ventilator. This paper will use the tip-timing method based on the fiber Bragg grating magnetically coupling sensor to study and analyze the ventilator blade vibration, in order to realize long-distance and non-contact real-time online safety monitoring of blade vibration. Compared with the electronic sensorand fiber intensity reflective sensor, the fiber grating coupling magnetic sensor has such advantages as explosion-proof, working at harsh environment with humid air, dust and greasy dirt, capable of achieving long-distance signal transmission, and joining easily with other fiber Bragg grating sensors to form a network in order to achieve multi-parameter distributed online monitoring.

    Jan. 01, 1900
  • Vol. 4 Issue 2 188 (2014)
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