Tag: fiber optic sensors

Magnetic Sensors Based on Fiber Optic Products Detect Very Weak Magnetic Fields

A light-based technique for measuring very weak magnetic fields was recently developed by researchers at the University of Arizona. A portable, low-cost brain imaging system based on fiber optic products can operate at room temperature in unshielded environments. This fiber optic system would allow real-time brain activity mapping after potential concussions on the sports field and in conflict zones where the effect of explosives on the brain can be catastrophic.

Speaking specifically, scientists and engineers fabricated the magnetic sensors using optical fibers and a polymer-nanoparticle composite that is sensitive to magnetic fields. The researchers selected for their project nanoparticles based on magnetite and cobalt. These materials exhibit very high magnetic sensitivity. The aforementioned magnetic sensors can detect the brain’s magnetic field, which is 100 million times weaker than the magnetic field of Earth. Also, the researchers showed that new magnetic sensors can catch the weak magnetic pattern of a human heartbeat and has the capability to detect magnetic fluctuations that change every microsecond from an area as small as 100 square microns. Multiple seasons could then be used together to provide high spatial resolution brain mapping.

During work, the polarization rotation using an optical interferometer was detected. This works by splitting laser light into two paths, one of which passes through the highly-sensitive material while the other does not.

Indeed, further development of the researchers will be aimed at the long-term stability of magnetic sensors. Scientists plan to study how well sensors withstand environmental changes. Plus they want to fabricate several hundred sensors to make a special fiber optic system for evaluating and imaging the entire magnetic field of a human brain.

The newly developed magnetic sensors could help scientists better understand the activity of the brain and diseases of the brain such as dementia and Alzheimer’s. They might also be used to predict volcanic eruptions and earthquakes, identify oil and minerals for excavation, and detect military submarines. In addition to this, such magnetic sensors could offer an alternative to the magnetic reasonable imaging (MRI) systems currently used to map brain activity without the expensive cooling or electromagnetic shielding required by MRI machines.

Optromix is a fast-growing seller of such products from the fiber Bragg grating (FBG) line of products: fiber Bragg grating sensors, FBG interrogators, and multiplexers and, of course, Distributed Temperature, Acoustic, and Strain Sensing systems (DTS). Our major goal is to deliver the best quality of fiber optic sensors to our clients. Optromix creates and supplies a broad variety of excellent fiber-optic solutions for the monitoring of various facilities all over the world.

If you are interested in Optromix fiber optic products, please contact us at info@optromix.com

New Types of In-Body Fiber Bragg Grating Sensors for Biomedical Research and Treatments

FBG sensors for biomedical research This year, for the first time ever, scientists have fabricated sensing elements known as fiber Bragg gratings (FBGs) inside fiber optic products designed to dissolve completely inside the body. Such bioresorbable fiber Bragg gratings could be used for in-body monitoring of bone fracture healing and for safer exploration of sensitive organs such as the brain. FBGs are optical elements which inscribed in optical fibers. Fiber Bragg gratings are commonly used for applications such as structural health monitoring of bridges or tracking the integrity of airplane wings. FBGs didn’t exhibit characteristics preferred for use in the body until now. According to the researchers, such new fibers should be safe for patient’s health even if they accidentally break, because these fibers have a design that allows them to break down similarly to dissolvable stitches. These fiber Bragg grating sensors don’t need to be removed after use and would enable new ways to perform efficient treatments and diagnoses in the body. New fibers have a diameter twice as that of human hair. They have the ability to dissolve into solutions with temperature and pH resembling those of the human body, within typical times that span between several hours and a few days.

The new bioresorbable optical fiber Bragg gratings could be used to sense pressure at joints or act as tiny probes that can safely reach and assess the heart and other delicate organs. In addition to this, these fiber Bragg grating sensors could simultaneously deliver the laser beam and provide the accurate real-time temperature sensing necessary to monitor the laser ablation process. In other words, this new ability can be used for improving the laser-based techniques for removing tumors. On the basis of the new aforementioned applications of fiber Bragg gratings, a variety of types of interconnected structures in or on bioresorbable optical fibers can be created over the next years. It will allow a wide range of sensing and biochemical analysis techniques to be performed inside the body.

The researchers developed a special type of glass made of phosphorous oxide combined with oxides of calcium, magnesium, sodium, and silicon to create optical fiber Bragg grating sensors that could be safely used in the body. Such glass combines excellent optical properties with biocompatibility and water solubility. The properties of the optical fibers can be tuned by properly changing the glass composition.

A type of grating known as tilted optical fiber Bragg grating allows some of the reflected light to escape from the fiber core and enter into the surrounding cladding. Tilted gratings are often used for sensing because changes on the fiber cylindrical surface modify the back-reflected light in a way that can be monitored. Scientists and engineers created both tilted and standard optical fiber Bragg gratings to understand how the parameters used for inscription affected the grating sensing characteristics. Nowadays the researchers are performing systematic experiments to better understand how the fiber composition and ultraviolet laser irradiation conditions affect the speed at which the fiber Bragg grating dissolves. The dissolving and sensing properties of the fiber Bragg gratings will need to be studied in animals before being used in people.

Optromix, Inc. is a U.S. manufacturer of innovative fiber optic products for the global market, based in Cambridge, MA. Our team always strives to provide the most technologically advanced fiber optic solutions for our clients. Our main goal is to deliver the best quality fiber optic products to our clients. We produce a wide range of fiber optic devices, including our cutting-edge customized fiber optic Bragg grating product line and fiber Bragg grating sensor systems. Optromix, Inc. is a top choice among the manufacturers of fiber optic devices.

If you have any questions, please contact us at info@optromix.com

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Advances in Manufacturing Fiber Optic Gyroscopes

FBG sensors for gyroscopes Measurement of angular velocity is useful in many different applications, from missile navigation to motion control. There are three broad categories of possible sensors for angular velocity: Ring Laser Gyroscopes (RLG), Fiber Optic Gyroscopes (FOG), and MEMs-based Gyroscopes. The former two utilize the Sagnac effect to measure velocity and are much more sensitive compared to MEMs gyroscopes. A fiber optic gyroscope (FOG) is a device that senses changes in orientation using the Sagnac effect. Such a fiber optic device performs the function of a mechanical gyroscope. However, it should be noted, its fiber optic solution is instead based on the interference of light which has passed through a coil of optical fiber that can be as long as 5 km.

What is the principle of the fiber optic gyroscope? Two laser beams are injected into the same optical fiber but in opposite directions. The beam that moves against the rotation experiences a slightly shorter path delay than the other beam due to the Sagnac effect. The resulting differential phase shift is measured through interferometry. This phase shift translates one component of the angular velocity into a shift of the interference pattern which is measured photometrically. The strength of the Sagnac effect is dependent on the effective area of the closed optical path: this is not simply the geometric area of the loop but is enhanced by the member of turns in the coil.

Victor Vali and Richard Shorthill demonstrated an operational fiber optic gyroscope for the first time in 1976. In that same year, McDonnell Douglas Astronautics Co. in Huntington Beach, CA, completed a project to redesign a new, lower-cost inertial measurement unit for the Delta rocket based on dry-tuned mechanical gyros. The technology supporting early efforts in the field of fiber optic gyroscopes were fiber optic products derived from the Sagnac interferometer. The first sensor of this type was the Sagnac acoustic sensor. Another derivative sensor is the Sagnac strain sensor. Nowadays, the Sagnac interferometer continues to be a useful tool for a variety of sensing and communication applications. One principal advantage of the Sagnac acoustic and distributed sensors is that they can be supported by very low-cost single-mode optical fiber. This opens up a number of interesting applications, including identifying leaks in pressurized pipes and containers, identifying the location of insects in grain storage facilities, and locating termites in wood.

Fiber optic gyroscopes are robust apparatus for measuring angular velocity. It is interesting that fiber optic gyroscopes are instruments where merely improving the processing of the incoming sensor signal can yield more stability, linearity, and sensitivity.

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Pipeline Monitoring with Fiber Optic Sensors

FBG sensors for pipeline monitoring Fiber optic products were invented to carry big amounts of voice data over long distances very efficiently. Improvements in fiber optic pipeline monitoring have led to the fact that now we know fiber optic cables as an actual sensor. This fbg sensor is equipped with the ability to measure parameters such as acoustic energy, temperature, strain, vibration, and suchlike. The capability of continuously gathering data about these parameters over several kilometers of fiber simultaneously is called distributed monitoring. Fiber pipeline leak detection and prevention, asset and perimeter security, and precise fluid flow measurements.

Pipelines are very efficient and safe means of transportation. The number of leaks could be reduced since the early ’70s of the last century due to improved design and maintenance procedures as well as improved materials, but leaks still appear. Most of these are originated by external causes such as digging excavators or slope movements despite intensive pipeline right of way surveillance by foot, car, and out of the air. These events are a clear sign for a monitoring gap. The technical evolution of fiber optic products allows closing large parts of this monitoring gap.

Pipelines are part of the backbone of modern communities’ lifestyles and are absolutely indispensable for the transportation of water, gas, oil, and all kinds of products. Fiber optic devices are standard equipment for the transmission of voice, video, and other data. Fiber optic systems are frequently installed along pipelines and often used to enable communication between and remote control of the individual station of the system. The same standard optical fibers are suitable to measure several physical effects with high absolute and local accuracy.

Fiber optic products are almost ideal for many types of fiber optic pipeline monitoring applications and several of these applications have been implemented during recent years all over the industry. So here are some examples:

Leak detection
Ground movement detection and Structural health monitoring
Third-party activities
Fire detection
Power cable and Transformer monitoring
Status monitoring of water mains
Pig position detection

In other words, many different applications have already been implemented in the industry and constantly ideas for new applications are being created.

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Fiber Bragg grating sensors: present and future applications in smart cities

FBG sensors in smart cities The so-called “smart cities” are increasingly becoming the subject of media discussion: nowadays the phenomenon of “smart cities” is the focus of attention of technology companies and entrepreneurs, local governments, and civil society. The primary task in creating and equipping “smart cities” is to improve the quality of life for citizens: such cities promise to be more modern and hi-tech.

Structural integration of fiber Bragg grating sensors and fiber optic sensor systems represents a new branch of engineering and is a major breakthrough in creating smart city infrastructures. Nowadays fiber Bragg grating sensors are a fundamental and indispensable component of any intelligent control fiber optic system. A well-functioning control system is generally equipped with an FBG array of sensors that allows this system to collect and process the required data about its environment. After data collection, the fiber optic system is able to fully characterize its environment and adjust its operations accordingly. The comprehensive capabilities of the fiber Bragg grating products present many opportunities that were unavailable in the past due to high costs and limited accessibility. It is necessary to emphasize that fiber optic systems and associated equipment provide the essential processing power for small-scale devices through which the coordination of the FBG sensors will be easy to implement at a relatively low cost.

Fiber Deployments and the Internet of Things

In itself, the fiber Bragg grating sensor is a converter that converts parameters of a physical nature to an electronic signal, which can be fed into an autonomous system or can be interpreted by humans. These FBG sensors can transmit information about light, pressure, temperature, humidity, moisture, and a variety of other parameters. More sophisticated fiber Bragg grating sensors include accelerometers for measuring acceleration and vibration. An even later generation of FBG sensors is based on semiconductor physics, nanotechnology, and intelligent sensing devices which include smartphones amongst others. Nanotechnology is a key enabling technology for fiber Bragg grating sensor development because advances in nanotechnology will undoubtedly drive development in MEMS (MicroElectroMechanical Systems) and photonics, inevitably leading to the development of highly sophisticated but low-cost sensors. Nowadays smartphones are fitted with a variety of sensors such as GPS, gyroscopes, accelerometers, and compasses, enabling a variety of crowdsourcing applications, which will eventually be augmented by the Internet of Things. In the context of the Internet of Things, the communication between sensors nodes has to be wireless because the costs of cabling millions of sensors are impractical and extremely expensive.

Fiber Bragg grating sensor systems can be compared to and are capable of being the nervous system of infrastructure as they are extremely sensitive to outside and environmental interference. A large variety of FBG sensors allows for extensive measurements of multiple parameters of many different buildings and facilities.

Advantages of Bragg sensors

One of the main advantages of FBG sensors is that they provide reliable data that allow for well-informed decision-making based on reliable evidence. Fiber optic systems allow for the assessment of thousands of sensors in real-time on a single cable. FBG sensor systems are well-suited for the detection and recording of critical structural response characteristics as well as environmental indicators that lead to degradation.

An alternative for Challenging Strain and Temperature Measurements

Optic sensing becomes one of the noticeable aspects, across multiple business sectors such as civil&energy, medical, automotive, aerospace, and manufacturing industries. The worldwide distributed optic temperature sensing market is majorly driven by the growing optics technology-based installation. Based on applications, the market has been segmented into temperature sensing, acoustic/vibration sensing, strain sensing, and others. The distributed temperature sensing segment is anticipated to dominate the distributed fiber optic products application arena (in the term by size) by 2025. There are already examples of the implementation of FBG sensors into smart city infrastructures.

Fiber Bragg gratings are often used in strain sensing especially in such places where the environment is harsh (for instance, high-EMI, high-temperature, or highly-corrosive). Strain measurement is imperative during prototype design and testing. Strain measurements ensure that materials perform as they should and that the equipment is safe and durable. Measuring strain is crucial for testing complex structures, like aircraft, turbines, etc. There various ways in which stress can be measured, but it is widely accepted that FBG sensors are the most efficient way of strain measurement.

The ability to disconnect your monitoring instrumentation and return for results after a large amount of time such as months or even years is a great advantage of fiber Bragg grating sensors. For instance, in the case of bridges, it is common for engineers to visit the bridge and conduct impact testing using an impact hammer on the different parts of the bridge. This is time-consuming and even hazardous because of the height of some bridge structures. The distribution of a number of FBG sensors throughout the bridge and the attachment of the instrumentation to this bridge on a periodic basis is a much more efficient solution. This is only one of the good examples to demonstrate the effectiveness of the fiber Bragg grating strain sensors. Besides bridges, other examples of using FBG for long-term static strain testing are buildings, piers, and structures in high earthquake-prone areas.

The different structures may have very-low-frequency modes, and they may also have higher modes due to the effects of wind and tide. Most earthquakes and other earth tremors are low-frequency events. Fiber Bragg gratings can be attached to the structures and monitored for the vibrations during earth tremors and earthquakes. The low-frequency dynamic strain testing can help in determining the reaction of high-rise buildings to the wind. In addition to this, FBG sensors create connections with peers and other shore structures to determine their vibrations during the ebb and flow of tides. Dynamic strain testing can also be performed on transportation vehicles like automobiles, trains, and airplanes. In addition to civil structures and vehicles, there are a number of other applications for dynamic strain testing and vibration stress testing using fiber Bragg gratings. FBG sensors can be attached to industrial machinery to determine the frequency and amplitude of the stress vibrations.

More specifically, FBG strain sensors have been used in the following applications: performance monitoring of deep shafts and retaining walls; monitoring of deep diaphragm walls; assessment of tunnel lining behavior during tunnel construction; the FBG strain sensors are embedded in the precast concrete lining segments when being made in the factory; in-the-field testing of large diameter piles by integrating FBG strain sensors; monitoring of old tunnels during construction that happens nearby.

FBG temperature sensors are used for field testing of thermal piles in order to evaluate the thermo-mechanical response of piles during heating and cooling; monitoring the power lines to detect overstressed areas.

Where to buy the best fiber optic products?

Optromix is a fast-growing vendor of fiber Bragg grating (FBG) products line: fiber Bragg grating sensors, FBG interrogators, and multiplexers, Distributed Temperature Sensing (DTS) systems. We create and supply a broad variety of top-notch fiber optic solutions for the monitoring of various facilities all over the world.

Our main goal is to deliver the best quality fiber optic products to our clients. We produce a wide range of fiber optic devices, including our cutting-edge customized fiber optic Bragg grating product line and fiber Bragg grating sensor systems.

We are dedicated to delivering the best products and supports to all our customers, our engineers have extensive experience and strong technical expertise in creating fiber Bragg grating products.

If you are interested in Optromix FBG sensor systems, Optromix distributed acoustic sensing system, or any other fiber optic products, please contact us at info@optromix.com

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Optical fiber temperature sensors and their applications

FBG temperature sensors FBG sensors give the opportunity to measure a variety of parameters in conditions where other sensor technologies fail or simply cannot operate. Such FBG sensors have intrinsic advantages, including resistance to electromagnetic interference, non-electrical conductivity, passive measurements, small size and small weight, and the option of multipoint measurements. the reflection wavelength of the FBG (Bragg wavelength) depends on the grating characteristics (period, modulation) and is influenced by the ambient conditions such as strain and temperature. The development of fiber optic devices based on fiber optic sensors for operation in harsh environments (such as for temperatures of up to 1000°С) is becoming an increasingly important field. In the case of temperature sensing the Bragg wavelength is a function of the temperature. This temperature dependence results from changes in the refractive index of the fiber as well as from thermal expansion of the glass material. Many material properties show strong temperature dependence. Examples of such temperature dependencies are dew point, density, electrical conductivity, refractive index, rigidity, and diffusion. Temperature measurement also plays an important role in the health monitoring of electric circuits or civil structures.

The main advantages of FBG sensors are their measurement of reflected light, wavelength-encoded sensing, and multiplexing capability. Nowadays there are many types of FBG sensors used for measuring temperature: intrinsic and extrinsic.

Three major types exist:

The intensity-modulated sensors

Intensity-modulated FBG sensors are based on the principle of letting a physical disturbance such as temperature cause a change in the received light through an optical fiber;

The phase-modulated sensors

The phase-modulated FBG sensors are based on the principle of comparing the phase of light in the sensing fiber with a reference fiber in an interferometer;

The wavelength modulated sensors

Wavelength modulated FBG sensors are based on the principle that a physical disturbance such as temperature or strain changes the reflected wavelength of the light.

In general, it should be noted, phase modulated and wave modulated FBG sensors are providing much more accurate measurements than intensity-modulated sensors but at the cost of much more expensive interrogators.

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Pressure measurement with fiber Bragg grating sensors

FBG sensors for pressure measurement The pressure is one of the most physical parameters in a process industry, but traditional pressure sensors, mostly based on electrical strain gauge, vibration wire, mechanics, and suchlike are unable to adapt to the harsh environment and online monitoring at a long distance. Due to fiber Bragg grating sensors have become an important researching direction. An increasing interest in global industries towards the application of optical fiber sensor has brought to the rapid development in the monitoring of temperature and strain. Fiber Bragg grating products have a number of advantages such as relatively small size and long lifespan. Also, fbgs are inexpensive to manufacture, multiplexing ability, self-referencing with a liman response, ease of installation, durability, lightweight, and immune to electromagnetic interference. Sensing processes in extremely harsh environments such as explosive gas exposure setting, high-temperature combustion chamber, and environment which contains high electromagnetic interference are feasible by using fiber Bragg grating sensors due to their passive nature. Naked fiber Bragg grating sensors are fragile, but an approach to encapsulate them could solve the problem by adding carbon fiber for reinforcement and solidified by epoxy resin with encapsulation technique. Such encapsulation technology protects the fiber from the severe environment in mounting processing without influencing the transmission of the strain applied to the fbg.

The fbg pressure sensor presents a key optical fiber sensor technology for the safe operation of different technical products, systems, and technologies. These fbg pressure sensors are widely used in medicine as well as in different experimental, developmental, and diagnostic processes. Designing an intelligent fbg pressure sensor has been a burgeoning trend. Special fbg pressure sensors exist for explosive environments, which present very strict requirements for pressure sensor capsules, electronic systems, and communication interfaces.

The fbg pressure sensor is mainly based on a Bourdon tube with two fbgs bonded on its outside and inside surfaces. The wavelength shift difference of the two fbg is utilized as a pressure sensing signal: the sensitivity is enhanced, and the temperature cross-sensitivity is compensated. The experimental results demonstrate that the fiber Bragg grating pressure sensor possesses good linearity and repeatability with the measurement sensitivity of 1,414 pm/kPa, which is 465 times higher than a bare FBG. Compared to other pressure optical fiber sensor technology, the cost of the fiber Bragg grating sensors is still too high, even though it reduced significantly over the past decade. Such technology performs well, on a lost-per-measurement basis, only when several measurements are multiplexed on the same fiber.

If you are interested in Optromix FBG sensors, please contact us at info@optromix.com

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The Growth and Development Prospects of Worldwide Fiber Optic Sensor Market

Optical fiber sensors have seen increased acceptance and widespread use in the scientific world in the last few decades. Against the background of other sensor types, fiber Bragg grating sensors have become widely known and popular. Such FBG sensors are able to measure the various parameters of the substances studied in the research of scientists and engineers. These are such parameters as chemical and biological agents, temperature, strain, pressure, and many others. In addition to this, the optical fiber sensor technology and fiber Bragg grating sensors, in general, have the increased flexibility of design to be used as a single point or multipoint arrays. Also, fiber optic systems and devices based on them have their own relatively low cost that makes them available for use in the different fields and industries. However, it is necessary to actively engage with the problems of increasing the FBG sensors’ attractiveness for business.

Nowadays fiber optic sensors markets are in a relatively early development stage so it is difficult to access and forecast with accuracy. Furthermore, the market segments are fragmented due to the variety of sensing applications and industries where they are applied. The global market of the fiber Bragg grating products is primarily composed of three key segments:

sensing devices (bare FBGs for sensing applications, packed FBG sensors, and FBG arrays)
instrumentation (fiber Bragg grating interrogating instruments and related components: multiplexers, switches, data acquisition systems, software, and graphical user interfaces)
system integration and installation (implementation tools for the fiber optic solutions and fiber optic system installations like design, planning, system integration, customer training, service, etc.)

According to the latest data, the worldwide demand for bare and packaged FBGs is more than 10, 000 pieces per year. And besides that, the worldwide demand for FBG arrays is estimated to be between 100s to 1, 000 arrays per year. The combined present global market size of this segment is between $15M to $35M USD a year with an annual growth rate of 15% to 25%. The total market size of all products in the FBGs product line is estimated to be in excess of $50M USD.

Future applications of FBG sensors will possibly develop over time depending on cost reduction and development of specialized and application-specific packaging. It is expected that more conventional and popular applications such as discrete strain and temperature sensing will continue to evolve and acquire greater market shares. Newer applications in chemical, biological, and medical sensing will lead to the creation of a new generation of fiber optic products that will perform specific agent or parameter sensing functions.

In order for fiber optic products to penetrate into mainstream industrial processes, appropriate transducers must be developed. FBGs must meet such criteria as ecological strength, appropriate sensitivity, and the correct dynamic range. Also, they need to be early replaceable without a description of the FBGs network and adhere to engineering standards, either existing now. One of the most important conditions for the development of the global market of fiber optic products is seamless integration with existing control system architectures.

Optromix, Inc. is a U.S. manufacturer of innovative fiber optic products for the global market, based in Cambridge, MA. Our team always strives to provide the most technologically advanced fiber optic solutions for our clients. Optromix is a fast-growing vendor of fiber Bragg grating (FBG) products line: fiber Bragg grating sensors, FBG interrogators, and multiplexers, Distributed Temperature Sensing (DTS) systems. We create and supply a broad variety of top-notch fiber optic solutions for the monitoring of various facilities all over the world. If you would like to purchase FBG sensors, please contact us at info@optromix.com

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Fiber-optic sensors in biomedical applications

FBG sensors in biomedical applications The scientific experience of the last few decades was marked by major achievements in the field of fiber-optic sensors. Optical fiber sensors have certain advantages like immunity to electromagnetic interference and high sensitivity, small size and small weight, large bandwidth, and ease of use and distribution. Over the years, fiber-optic sensors have fastly grown in quality and functionality and have found widespread use in many areas such as defense, automotive, manufacturing, and among various other industries. A wide range of applications was defined for fiber sensors in general and in particular for medical and biomedical applications. Also, these technologies have become more commercially available.

The medical and biomedical industry provides many challenging requirements, for which optical fiber sensors can provide original and reliable solutions. In the coming years, scientists and engineers in the medical and biomedical areas will use fiber-optic sensor turnkey systems for sensing and measuring of any type of physical quantity. Such fiber-optic turnkey systems are a combination of four basic components: a light source, an optical fiber, a sensor element, and a light detector. In such systems, the fiber-optical sensor acts as a light modulator to change a property of light (phase, polarization, etc.).

Possible future applications of fiber-optic sensors in biomedical research include simultaneous collection and analysis of samples for drug safety evaluation for instance. Also, optical fiber sensors help in the identification of drug molecules and in the sensing of biomolecules, effluent monitoring, and overall pharmaceutical quality control of the product. In that context, it’s important to note that light-carrying fibers are potentially useful as physical sensors of temperature, pressure, and rapidation and as chemical sensors of pH, the partial pressure of blood, and glucose.

Optromix is a manufacturer of laser technologies, fiber-optic sensors, and optical monitoring systems. Optromix provides innovative world-class fiber-optic products to the global market. We provide optical fiber sensors using our own developments based on the research work and patents of an international R&D team. We try to understand and satisfy all the individual and specific needs of our clients in very advanced fields.

If you are interested in Optromix fiber-optic sensors, please contact us at info@optromix.com

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Fiber Bragg grating sensors for bolt force status monitoring

Over the past decades, bolts support has become a widely used method of roadway roof failure control due to the easy construction and its efficient reinforcement. Moreover, bolts support improve surrounding rock structure stability. Underground coal mining has been extending to deeper levels where high-stress conditions are present; high stress causes roof subsidence and floor heaving in coal mine roadways. This can have a negative effect on the safety of the miners and construction integrity. Therefore, real-time monitoring of bolts in coal mine roadways is vital for the long-term safety and stability of the surrounding rock structures.

The systems that are used currently for real-time status monitoring of the bolts support structures are easily affected by the harsh environments and high levels of stress. Fiber Bragg grating sensing technology provides a new and effective way of real-time measurements. FBG sensors have become one of the most promising optical fiber passive device applications. Fiber Bragg grating sensors have a variety of applications and are widely used for temperature sensing (FBG temperature sensors), pressure sensing (FBG pressure sensors), acceleration sensing (FBG accelerometers), deformation sensing (FBG displacement sensors), etc.

FBG sensors have multiple advantages over traditionally used measurement equipment: FBG sensors are immune to electromagnetic interference, have a strong multiplexing ability, high reliability, and sensitivity. Fiber Bragg grating sensing technology is already used in a variety of applications, like geotechnical engineering, structural engineering, civil engineering, tunnel construction engineering.

The use of FBG sensors in engineering applications shows that fiber optic sensors can automatically acquire, and monitoring results are of great significance in roadway anchorage engineering safety and bolt support quality evaluation.

If you are interested in Optromix FBG sensors, please contact us at info@optromix.com

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