High performance liquid level monitoring system based on polymer fiber Bragg gratings embedded in silicone rubber diaphragm

Carlos A. F. Marques, Gang-Ding Peng, David J. Webb

Research output: Chapter in Book/Published conference outputConference publication

Abstract

Liquid-level sensing technologies have attracted great prominence, because such measurements are essential to industrial applications, such as fuel storage, flood warning and in the biochemical industry. Traditional liquid level sensors are based on electromechanical techniques; however they suffer from intrinsic safety concerns in explosive environments. In recent years, given that optical fiber sensors have lots of well-established advantages such as high accuracy, costeffectiveness, compact size, and ease of multiplexing, several optical fiber liquid level sensors have been investigated which are based on different operating principles such as side-polishing the cladding and a portion of core, using a spiral side-emitting optical fiber or using silica fiber gratings. The present work proposes a novel and highly sensitive liquid level sensor making use of polymer optical fiber Bragg gratings (POFBGs). The key elements of the system are a set of POFBGs embedded in silicone rubber diaphragms. This is a new development building on the idea of determining liquid level by measuring the pressure at the bottom of a liquid container, however it has a number of critical advantages. The system features several FBG-based pressure sensors as described above placed at different depths. Any sensor above the surface of the liquid will read the same ambient pressure. Sensors below the surface of the liquid will read pressures that increase linearly with depth. The position of the liquid surface can therefore be approximately identified as lying between the first sensor to read an above-ambient pressure and the next higher sensor. This level of precision would not in general be sufficient for most liquid level monitoring applications; however a much more precise determination of liquid level can be made by linear regression to the pressure readings from the sub-surface sensors. There are numerous advantages to this multi-sensor approach. First, the use of linear regression using multiple sensors is inherently more accurate than using a single pressure reading to estimate depth. Second, common mode temperature induced wavelength shifts in the individual sensors are automatically compensated. Thirdly, temperature induced changes in the sensor pressure sensitivity are also compensated. Fourthly, the approach provides the possibility to detect and compensate for malfunctioning sensors. Finally, the system is immune to changes in the density of the monitored fluid and even to changes in the effective force of gravity, as might be obtained in an aerospace application. The performance of an individual sensor was characterized and displays a sensitivity (54 pm/cm), enhanced by more than a factor of 2 when compared to a sensor head configuration based on a silica FBG published in the literature, resulting from the much lower elastic modulus of POF. Furthermore, the temperature/humidity behavior and measurement resolution were also studied in detail. The proposed configuration also displays a highly linear response, high resolution and good repeatability. The results suggest the new configuration can be a useful tool in many different applications, such as aircraft fuel monitoring, and biochemical and environmental sensing, where accuracy and stability are fundamental. © (2015) COPYRIGHT Society of Photo-Optical Instrumentation Engineers (SPIE). Downloading of the abstract is permitted for personal use only.
Original languageEnglish
Title of host publicationMicro-structured and specialty optical fibres IV
EditorsKyriacos Kalli, Jiri Kanka, Alexis Mendez
Place of PublicationBellingham, WA (US)
PublisherSPIE
Number of pages8
ISBN (Print)978-1-62841628-2
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 7 May 2015
EventMicro-Sstructured and Specialty Optical Fibres IV - Prague, Czech Republic
Duration: 15 Apr 201516 Apr 2015

Publication series

NameSPIE proceedings
PublisherSPIE
Volume9507
ISSN (Print)0277-786X

Conference

ConferenceMicro-Sstructured and Specialty Optical Fibres IV
Country/TerritoryCzech Republic
CityPrague
Period15/04/1516/04/15

Bibliographical note

Carlos A. F. Marques ; Gang-Ding Peng and David J. Webb "High performance liquid level monitoring system based on polymer fiber Bragg gratings embedded in silicone rubber diaphragms", Proc. SPIE 9507, Micro-structured and Specialty Optical Fibres IV, 95070N (May 7, 2015).

Copyright 2015 Society of Photo-Optical Instrumentation Engineers. One print or electronic copy may be made for personal use only. Systematic reproduction and distribution, duplication of any material in this paper for a fee or for commercial purposes, or modification of the content of the paper are prohibited.

DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.1117/12.2180563

Funding: Marie Curie Intra European Fellowship included in the 7th Framework Program of the European Union (POSSIBLE PIEF-GA-2013-628604 project).

Keywords

  • fiber Bragg gratings
  • polymer optical fiber sensors
  • liquid level monitoring systems

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  • Optimisation of polymer optical fibre based interferometric sensors

    Pospori, A. & Webb, D. J., 7 May 2015, Micro-structured and specialty optical fibres IV. Kalli, K., Kanka, J. & Mendez, A. (eds.). Bellingham, WA (US): SPIE, 8 p. 95070M. (SPIE proceedings; vol. 9507).

    Research output: Chapter in Book/Published conference outputConference publication

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