Stanisław Lipiński

Study on the Sensing Coating of the Optical Fibre CO2 Sensor

Optical fibre carbon dioxide (CO2) sensors are reported in this article. The principle of operation of the sensors relies on the absorption of light transmitted through the fibre by a silica gel coating containing active dyes, including methyl red, thymol blue and phenol red. Stability of the sensor has been investigated for the first time for an absorption based CO2 optical fiber sensor. Influence of the silica gel coating thickness on the sensitivity and response time has also been studied. The impact of temperature and humidity on the sensor performance has been examined too. Response times of reported sensors are very short and reach 2–3 s, whereas the sensitivity of the sensor ranges from 3 to 10 for different coating thicknesses. Reported parameters make the sensor suitable for indoor and industrial use.

The influence of CO2 gas sensor parameters on its operation characteristic

Optical fiber carbon dioxide gas sensors are reported. The sensors utilize pH sensitive indicator dyes, which change color, when exposed to varied concentrations of CO2. Sensors were made by deposition of silica sol solution on the Plastic Clad Silica fiber side surface. The possibility of preparing the sensors by deposition of active layer on the surface of etched fibers has also been demonstrated. Dependence between the fiber diameter and the sensitivity of the sensor has been presented. Morphology of the active layer has been investigated by the analysis of SEM images.

Active polymer materials for optical fiber CO 2 sensors

CO2 optical fiber sensors based on polymer active materials are presented in this paper. Ethyl cellulose was proven to be a good candidate for a matrix material of the sensor, since it gives porous, thick and very sensitive layers. Low-cost sensors based on polymer optical fibers have been elaborated. Sensors have been examined for their sensitivity to CO2, temperature and humidity. Response time during cyclic exposures to CO2 have been also determined. Special layers exhibiting irreversible change of color during exposure to carbon dioxide have been developed. They have been verified for a possible use in smart food packaging.

Precise interferometric system for fast contactless measurements of lens thickness

In the process of the lens production it is extremely important that a total time of measuring the lens thickness, taking into account also the time needed to insert the lens into a system, should be short enough to test the substantial part of the series of products. Currently used methods of measuring lens thickness apply various solutions [1, 2], but none of them offers a fast and cost effective system which is capable to perform contactless measurement combined with high accuracy. For optical reflection measurements (e.g. employing the Michelson interferometer), which are the most common, the lens alignment must be very precise, so it takes a lot of time (even a few minutes, which depends on the lens parameters, such as radius of curvature) to perform measurement of a single lens.

Metal-coated optical fibers for high temperature sensing applications

An novel low-temperature method was used to enhance the corrosion resistance of copper or gold-coated optical fibers. A characterization of the elaborated materials and reports on selected studies such as cyclic temperature tests together with tensile tests is presented. Gold-coated optical fibers are proposed as a component of optical fiber sensors working in oxidizing atmospheres under temperatures exceeding ~900 °C.

All-fiber intensity bend sensor based on photonic crystal fiber with asymmetric air-hole structure

Monitoring the geometry of an moving element is a crucial task for example in robotics. The robots equipped with fiber bend sensor integrated in their arms can be a promising solution for medicine, physiotherapy and also for application in computer games. We report an all-fiber intensity bend sensor, which is based on microstructured multicore optical fiber. It allows to perform a measurement of the bending radius as well as the bending orientation. The reported solution has a special airhole structure which makes the sensor only bend-sensitive. Our solution is an intensity based sensor, which measures power transmitted along the fiber, influenced by bend. The sensor is based on a multicore fiber with the special air-hole structure that allows detection of bending orientation in range of 360°. Each core in the multicore fiber is sensitive to bend in specified direction. The principle behind sensor operation is to differentiate the confinement loss of fundamental mode propagating in each core. Thanks to received power differences one can distinguish not only bend direction but also its amplitude. Multicore fiber is designed to utilize most common light sources that operate at 1.55 μm thus ensuring high stability of operation. The sensitivity of the proposed solution is equal 29,4 dB/cm and the accuracy of bend direction for the fiber end point is up to 5 degrees for 15 cm fiber length. Such sensitivity allows to perform end point detection with millimeter precision.

Passive fiber optic temperature sensor for safety applications

Fiber optic sensors (FOS) are insensitive to external EM fields and are intrinsically safe (as no electrical power is needed at the sensing point), so the measurement can be performed in areas where standard electronic devices cannot easily be applied. What is more, due to the very low silica fiber attenuation the measurement point can be located kilometers away from a light source and detector, which makes the sensors independent of a local power source. Furthermore the FOS are small so they can be used for sensing in mechanical mechanisms where there is not much free space. They can also be easily integrated with the structure of different materials for military applications (e.g. in tanks and airplanes). In this work we propose an intrinsically safe temperature sensor based on fiber optic technology. The presented sensor is entirely passive and benefits from all of the advantages mentioned above, which allows it to be applied in the most demanding environments. The construction of the presented sensor is based on a dedicated microstructured optical fiber which allows both the range and sensitivity of the sensor to be adjusted to a specific application.

Simultaneous remote measurement of CO2 concentration, humidity and temperature with a matrix of optical fiber sensors

A matrix of optical fiber sensors eligible for remote measurements is reported in this paper. The aim of work was to monitor the air quality with a device, which does not need any electricity on site of the measurement. The matrix consists of several sensors detecting carbon dioxide concentration, relative humidity and temperature. Sensors utilize active optical materials, which change their color when exposed to varied conditions. All the sensors are powered with standard light emitting diodes. Light is transmitted by an optical fiber from the light source and then it reaches the active layer which changes its color, when the conditions change. This results in a change of attenuation of light passing through the active layer. Modified light is then transmitted by another optical fiber to the detector, where simple photoresistor is used. It is powered by a stabilized DC power supply and the current is measured. Since no expensive elements are needed to manufacture such a matrix of sensors, its price may be competitive to the price of the devices already available on the market, while the matrix also exhibits other valuable properties.

Solar cyclic tests of optical fiber components working in ammonia and high temperatures

The paper reports on the metal (Cu, Ni, Au)-coated fibers annealed under concentrated solar radiation in ammonia and N2/H2 atmospheres at temperatures up to 580 °C. Tensile strength of the annealed fiber components was studied from the point of view of their possible application as a fiber optic sensors in urea chemical synthesis process control.

Influence of high temperatures on optical fibers coated with multilayer protective coatings

In this work we present an innovative method of enhancing optical fibers’ resistance to extremely high temperatures by deposition of a multilayer metal coating on the fibers’ surface. Such multilayer coating is necessary because of the silica degradation at elevated temperatures. Despite the fact that copper coated fibers work well at temperatures up to 400°C, at higher temperatures copper oxidizes and can no longer protect the fiber. To hold back the copper oxidation and silica degradation processes we developed a dedicated multilayer coating which allows fibers to operate at temperatures up to 700°C. The optimal protective layer has been chosen after numerous high-temperature tests, where copper plates coated with different kinds of coatings were evaluated. What is more, we present results of the high-temperature reliability tests of copper coated fibers protected with our multilayer coating. Performed tests proved that our solution significantly improved optical fibers’ reliability to both: elevated temperatures and rapid changes of temperature. Furthermore the developed metal coatings allow fibers’ to be electrolytically bonded to other metal elements (e.g. sensor transducers) what makes them great candidates for harsh environment fiber optic sensor applications.