Polymer optical fibers (POF) have higher strain limits, fracture toughness and flexibility in bend if compared to glass optical fibers. These characteristics enable the application of POFs as curvature sensors. However, the polymer is a viscoelastic material, which does not have a constant response with stress or strain. For this reason, a curvature sensor based on POF may present high hysteresis. This paper proposes a dynamic compensation technique based on the angular velocity of the sensor. Results show a hysteresis up to 10 times lower. Furthermore, it results on a simple calibration equation, which can be applied in real-time measurements.

Date Published: 23 April 2017
PDF: 4 pages
Proc. SPIE 10323, 25th International Conference on Optical Fiber Sensors, 103232U (23 April 2017); doi: 10.1117/12.2263528

Published in SPIE Proceedings Vol. 10323:
25th International Conference on Optical Fiber Sensors
Youngjoo Chung; Wei Jin; Byoungho Lee; John Canning; Kentaro Nakamura; Libo Yuan, Editor(s)