Fiber-optic systems for temperature and vibration measurements in industrial applications

Abstract Fiber-optic systems for temperature and vibration measurements have been developed. It is shown that using the principle of wavelength conversion in the sensor, measurement systems, in which only one fiber is used for the connection of the sensor to the instrument, can be realized. The measuring accuracy is practically independent of the properties of the fiber-optic system such as fiber length, fiber diameter and type of connectors used. These properties are very important, reducing installation problems and costs. The adoption of semiconductor technology allows batch fabrication of sensor elements. For the prototype temperature instrument an accuracy of 0·5° C was obtained in the temperature range 0 to +200° C. Fiber-optic accelerometers for vibration measurements with a resolution of 0·05 g and a dynamic range of 70 dB have been realized. The systems have been tested in different industrial environments and have properties that make them suitable for many industrial applications. Advantages of fiber-optic systems are their noise immunity, galvanic isolation and inherent intrinsic safety.