Fiber optic sensors for smart battery charge

FBG sensors for battery chargeRecently a team of scientists from an American research center has presented a fiber optic technology used to create a battery management system applying embedded fiber optic sensors and machine learning. The thing is that the combination of fiber sensors and machine learning allows for developing more efficient and low-cost designs of smart battery charge management systems.

The important fact is that scientists pay careful attention to lithium-ion battery packs applied in hybrid and electric devices. Therefore, these fiber optic sensors allow for monitoring cell degradation and health data and predicting remaining battery life. Moreover, the fiber sensors have been already tested and demonstrated high precision across different use-cases at both the cell and module levels.

The operating principle of such a fiber optic system is based on the wavelength-shift detection technology that “measures the signals from fiber sensors installed within the active chemistry of the battery.” The fiber optic system has a resolution of 30fm and the KHz speed leading to obtaining the data about the charge’s state and failure warning.

Additionally, a read-out device records these data. Then machine learning algorithms evaluate it to offer real-time performance management of battery charge. Recently, the tests of fiber optic sensors have been finished at the module level of electric car batteries after tests on individual lithium-ion cells. According to the test results, these fiber sensors enable to decrease in the form factor of hybrid and electric car batteries by more than 25% leading to low-cost manufacturing at the same energy density.

Nevertheless, the team plans to perform additional testing and research to learn how to scale the fiber optic technology for larger batteries. Thus, scientists want to use original equipment manufacturers to examine the fiber optic system installed in hybrid and electric vehicles and to open new applications of fiber optic sensors for various energy and structural systems.

The thing is that the developed fiber sensors are regarded as a part of the energy technology program that aims at developing clean and abundant energy for a wide range of applications. Finally, the team paid attention to chemical energy storage for hybrid and electric systems, consumer electronics, and the electrical grid; advanced energy conversion devices; wireless fiber sensors; and advanced analytics before the novel fiber optic technology to increase energy utilization.

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

Compact fiber optic sensors

Compact FBG sensorsA team of scientists has produced novel compact fiber optic sensors that allow for detecting even slight force parameters affected by tiny objects. To be more precise, such a fiber sensor is ahead of standard force sensors based on micro-electro-mechanical technology.

The applications of new fiber optic sensors involve various fields beginning from medical devices to manufacturing. Even though such applications are numerous, however, the problem of compact and versatile sensing systems that enable to detect force om small objects yet remains.

This fiber sensor is considered to be the smallest one and most versatile force sensing system that meets all the requirements. The design of the fiber optic sensor includes silica-glass material of cylinder form with 800 microns long and 100 microns in diameter (similar to the diameter of a human hair).

Herewith, fiber optic technology has been already tested and allowed to detect “the force with a resolution better than a micronewton by applying it to measure the stiffness of a dandelion seed or the surface tension of a liquid.” Such benefits of fiber sensors as sensing of high-resolution and wide range are regarded as very useful for sensitive manipulation and machining of tiny objects, surface tension measurements, etc.

When it comes to micro-electro-mechanical technology, these sensing systems offer miniature force sensing capabilities but their applications are very limited because there are requirements in specific protective coatings and numerous electrical connections. It should be noted that the absence of a suitable coating leads to the absence of biocompatibility and such sensors can not be employed in water.

The new fiber optic sensors are made of glass. The scientists use a special etching process developed by them to produce complex optical fiber microstructures. The micromachining technique results in the appearance of a fiber sensor based on a Fabry-Perot interferometer.

Additionally, the coating and an air-sealed cavity of novel fiber sensors make them suitable for application in biochemical environmental conditions. It is possible to put these fiber optic sensors into different liquids, herewith, they detect positive and negative forces and does not require any additional coatings for numerous applications.

Finally, the fiber sensor measures the stiffness of a human hair and common dandelion seed. Moreover, such sensing systems measure the retraction force with a resolution of about 0.6 micronewtons and a range of about 0.6 millinewtons. Herewith, this tiny sensors can be a part of a complex fiber optic sensors, for instance, sensors that detect magnetic and electric fields.

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 fiber optic sensor systems and want to learn more, please contact us at info@optromix.com