Researchers from India have presented a new development. Thanks to it the scientists can find toxic mercury in drinking water. The whole system is based on FBG sensors.
Fiber Bragg grating (FBG) sensors are utilized widely in industrial and commercial applications with the addition of fiber optic solutions. FBGS sensors are especially effective in stabilizing the wavelength of semiconductor lasers and are useful in extracting a single wavelength from the fiber. Fiber Bragg grating sensors are popular in different spheres, including aerospace, robotics, the oil and gas industry, etc. Achievements in creating fiber optic sensors and their applications make the Fiber Bragg grating sensors appropriate for other spheres and developments.
That’s why scientists from India decided to apply Fiber Bragg grating sensors to the mercury detecting system. We can find mercury particles everywhere in the environment. They can be produced not only by human-made causes, like industrial wastes but also by natural ones, for example, combustion of fossil fuels and volcanic eruptions. That’s why the creation of the mercury detection system with the help of FBG sensors was a very important step.
According to medical studies, mercury particles can easily enter the human body. The most common ways are water bodies and marine life. In the human gut, some microorganisms can turn mercury into organic and alkyl forms. These forms of mercury in the human blood-vascular system can lead to diseases of kidneys, nerves, endocrine, and other systems. So the mercury detection system based on fiber Bragg grating sensors plays a crucial role in health care activities.
The developed by the research team FBG sensors are portable in comparison with other traditional techniques. These techniques are gas chromatography and liquid chromatography methods were tested by time. They are considered to be precise and complicated. And they are not portable like fiber Bragg grating sensors. Moreover, they need much time and get more expenses because are made in special laboratories by professionals.
Scientists think that fiber Bragg grating sensors are an ideal decision for the developing mercury detection system. Fiber Bragg grating principles help to make this system cost-expensive and highly effective in comparison with the others. However, they agree that there is still a lot of work to do and Fiber Bragg grating sensors can be updated in the future.
Optromix is a fast-growing vendor of fiber Bragg grating (FBG) product line such as fiber Bragg grating sensors, for example, FBG strain sensors, FBG interrogators and multiplexers, Distributed Acoustic Sensing (DAS) systems, Distributed Temperature Sensing (DTS) systems. The company creates and supplies a broad variety of fiber optic solutions for monitoring worldwide. If you are interested in structural health monitoring systems and want to learn more, please contact us at info@optromix.com