TY - JOUR
T1 - Fiber optic load cells with enhanced sensitivity by optical vernier effect
AU - Paixão, Tiago
AU - Ferreira, Ricardo
AU - Domingues, M. Fátima
AU - Antunes, Paulo
N1 - Funding Information:
Funding: This research was funded by national funds through the Fundação para a Ciência e a Tecnologia (FCT)/MEC and FCT/MCTES) and, when applicable, co-funded by EU funds and FEDER—PT2020, within the scope of the projects I3N UIDB/50025/2020, UIDP/50025/2020, and UID/EEA/50008/2019.
Funding Information:
This research was funded by national funds through the Funda??o para a Ci?ncia e a Tecnologia (FCT)/MEC and FCT/MCTES) and, when applicable, co-funded by EU funds and FEDER?PT2020, within the scope of the projects I3N UIDB/50025/2020, UIDP/50025/2020, and UID/EEA/50008/2019.
Publisher Copyright:
© 2021 by the authors. Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland.
PY - 2021/11/1
Y1 - 2021/11/1
N2 - Developing technologies capable of constantly assessing and optimizing day-to-day activities has been a research priority for several years. A key factor in such technologies is the use of highly sensitive sensors to monitor in real-time numerous parameters, such as temperature and load. Due to their unique features, optical fiber sensors became one of the most interesting and viable solutions for applications dependent on those parameters. In this work, we present an optical fiber load sensor, called load cell, based on Fabry–Pérot hollow cavities embedded in a polymeric material. By using the load cells in a parallel configuration with a non-embedded hollow cavity, the optical Vernier effect was generated, allowing maximum sensitivity values of 0.433 nm N−1 and 0.66 nm °C−1 to be attained for vertical load and temperature, respectively. The proposed sensor’s performance, allied with the proposed configuration, makes it a viable and suitable device for a wide range of applications, namely those requiring high thermal and load sensitivities.
AB - Developing technologies capable of constantly assessing and optimizing day-to-day activities has been a research priority for several years. A key factor in such technologies is the use of highly sensitive sensors to monitor in real-time numerous parameters, such as temperature and load. Due to their unique features, optical fiber sensors became one of the most interesting and viable solutions for applications dependent on those parameters. In this work, we present an optical fiber load sensor, called load cell, based on Fabry–Pérot hollow cavities embedded in a polymeric material. By using the load cells in a parallel configuration with a non-embedded hollow cavity, the optical Vernier effect was generated, allowing maximum sensitivity values of 0.433 nm N−1 and 0.66 nm °C−1 to be attained for vertical load and temperature, respectively. The proposed sensor’s performance, allied with the proposed configuration, makes it a viable and suitable device for a wide range of applications, namely those requiring high thermal and load sensitivities.
KW - Fabry–Pérot interferometer
KW - Load sensing
KW - Optical fiber sensors
KW - Optical Vernier effect
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85119335543&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.3390/s21227737
DO - 10.3390/s21227737
M3 - Article
C2 - 34833811
AN - SCOPUS:85119335543
SN - 1424-8220
VL - 21
JO - Sensors (Switzerland)
JF - Sensors (Switzerland)
IS - 22
M1 - 7737
ER -