SENSING WITH LIGHT WITHIN THE BLIND SPOTS OF YOUR OPERATION
SENSING WITH LIGHT WITHIN THE BLIND SPOTS OF YOUR OPERATION
Fiber optical sensing - designed for harsh environments
Sensing360 makes use of optical monitoring systems including interrogator and analysis software. Our sensing platform is based on Fiber Bragg Grating (FBG) technology and can improve efficiency, enhance performance, productivity and safety for rotating equipment. These optical systems allow for high sensor density, resolution and sample rate and any environmental challenge can be tackled; low or high temperature, liquids, electrical or magnetic fields and remote locations. These features combined will provide you with insights and optimization solutions you never seen before. Take the opportunity to optimize your application.
Fiber Bragg Grating
Optical fiber sensing provides solutions in challenging environments, based on the fact that light can travel inside the fiber and the sensing is integrated in the fiber. These sensors are FBGs; a periodic pattern of increased refractive index of the fiber’s core. At each refraction change a small amount of light is reflected and all the reflected light signals combine into one large reflection at a particular wavelength when the grating period satisfies the Bragg condition. The FBG is transparent for light at wavelengths other than the grating wavelength. The Bragg relation is λrefl.=2nΛ, with n the index of refraction and Λ the period of the index of refraction of the FBG. The parameters n and Λ are temperature and strain dependant, therefore the wavelength of the reflected light will change as function of temperature and/or strain. This is what allows determining the temperature or strain from the reflected FBG wavelength.
Fiber Bragg Grating
Optical fiber sensing provide solutions in challenging environments, based on the fact that light can travel inside the fiber and the sensing is integrated in the fiber. These sensors are FBGs; a periodic pattern of increased refractive index of the fiber’s core. At each refraction change a small amount of light is reflected and all the reflected light signals combine into one large reflection at a particular wavelength when the grating period satisfies the Bragg condition. The FBG is transparent for light at wavelengths other than the grating wavelength. The Bragg relation is λrefl.=2nΛ, with n the index of refraction and Λ the period of the index of refraction of the FBG. The parameters n and Λ are temperature and strain dependant, therefore the wavelength of the reflected light will change as function of temperature and/or strain. This is what allows determining the temperature or strain from the reflected FBG wavelength.
Advantages
Optical sensors have numerous significant advantages compared to electrical sensor technologies both on sensing capabilities as on environmental conditions were they can be applied;
sensing
The signal to noise ratio of optical sensors is a factor of 10 higher compared to conventional sensors. Besides this optical sensors are passive and have no drift. A diameter of <0.15 mm of the fiber means that many sensors can be applied into an application with little adjustments, making it ideal to integrate around the rotating shaft. Combine this with the ability that tens of sensors can be written into a fiber, several hundred can be simultaneously measured. Allowing for the accure measuring of operating parameters like load and temperature around the rotating shaft.
This provides a very low-cost mechanism for instrumenting crucial applications, compared with technologies where every sensor has a dedicated channel. Furthermore, the optical fiber is smaller and lighter than normal wires and complex sensor installations can be made for much les plus it allows to sense new key performance parameters like shaft and bearing loads and condition.
environment
Optical sensors are passive and use no electronics, therefore they can operate in extreme temperatures from cryogenic to several hundred degrees and within extreme (chemical) environments where electronic sensors and gauges are unable to operate. Another benefit is that these sensors are immune to interference from electrostatic, electromagnetic or radio frequency sources, allowing them to be installed in locations with severe electrical noise. Furthermore, they are intrinsically safe and can be used in hazardous explosive environments.
The optical fiber with the sensors incooperated is an efficient signal carrier, this allows the data analysis unit to be positioned tens of kilometers away from the sensing location. The measured feature in our optical sensing system is wavelength, which is unaffected by signal attenuation, therefore the value is not corrupted whilst being transmitted along a long fiber.
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