A light intensity modulation optical fiber sensor, which can measure deformation directly, has been developed. A light leakage zone is introduced on one side of fiber to increase the sensitivity of fiber under deformation. The machining process of sensor is considered. Hand carving, milling and embossing methods are introduced to produce the light leakage zone respectively, and the comparison between these methods is carried out. To obtain the static curve of sensor, cantilevered beam, simple support beam and cylinders are used respectively to measure little and large deformation. The static characters of sensor, such as sensitivity and measurement range, are analyzed from the static curve. The experimental results show that the sensor can distinguish the direction of deformation (positive bending and negative bending). Positive bending increases the throughput of light, and is distinguishable from negative bending, which decreases the throughput. The output of sensor is linear with curvature when the curvature radius is larger than 60mm. The response of sensor is a cosine function with the direction of deformation and there is a maximum sensitivity direction (perpendicular to the light leakage zone plane and passing through the axis of the fiber) and a minimum sensitivity direction (parallel to light leakage zone plane and pass through the axis of the fiber). The dynamic responds of attenuation vibration and sawtooth input signal are studied. Comparison between the optical fiber sensor, untreated fiber and strain gauge shows that the sensor is 400 times of untreated fiber in sensitivity and is more advantageous in measurement of thin structures. The sensor is easily made by multi-mode plastic optical fiber and the detection equipments are very simple, therefore it is small in size, simple in structure and low in cost, which make the sensor can be widely used in various fields.

Date Published: 11 October 2010
PDF: 7 pages
Proc. SPIE 7656, 5th International Symposium on Advanced Optical Manufacturing and Testing Technologies: Optical Test and Measurement Technology and Equipment, 76561C (11 October 2010); doi: 10.1117/12.863812

Published in SPIE Proceedings Vol. 7656:
5th International Symposium on Advanced Optical Manufacturing and Testing Technologies: Optical Test and Measurement Technology and Equipment
Yudong Zhang; Jose M. Sasian; Libin Xiang; Sandy To, Editor(s)