Procedia

Engineering
Procedia Engineering 00 (2010) 000000
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Proc. Eurosensors XXIV, September 5-8, 2010, Linz, Austria
Intensity referencing in an extrinsic optical fiber temperature sensor
Andreas Apelsmeier
a
, Ramona Gleixner
a
, Matthias Mayer
a
, Mikhail Shamonin
a*
,
Bernhard Schmauss
b
a
SOL - Laboratory for Sensor Technology, University of Applied Sciences, Postfach 12 03 27, D-93025 Regensburg, Germany
b
Lehrstuhl fr Hochfrequenztechnik, Universitt Erlangen-Nrnberg, Cauerstrae 9, D-91058 Erlangen, Germany
Abstract
Optical fiber sensors based on intensity measurement require some form of intensity referencing to avoid errors arising from
parasitic losses. Known techniques of referencing such as balanced bridge, divided beam systems or two-wavelength referencing
are not suitable for low-cost applications since they use relatively complicated optical components such as multiple LED sources,
couplers, filters etc. In this work a novel method of referencing in an extrinsic optical fiber sensor system utilizing temperature
dependence of absorption edge in a semiconductor crystal is described. The sensor system comprises a single LED source and no
optical fiber junctions. The emission spectrum of an LED depends on its temperature. The reference is provided by controlling
the temperature of an LED source and transmission measurements with different emission spectra. The entire process is
controlled by a microprocessor unit. Performance of a sensor system is investigated and it is shown that the losses in connectors
may be compensated for.
2009 Published by Elsevier Ltd.
Keywords: extrinsic optical fiber sensor; intensity referencing; temperature measurement; absorption edge; semiconductor; hot-spot measurement
1. Introduction
In some specific applications e.g. power transformer monitoring [1] or magnetic resonance imaging [2] fiber optic
sensors are used for temperature measurements since they do not interfere with close proximity electromagnetic
fields. Conventional fiber-optic temperature sensors are based on one of three methods: fluorescence decay time,
Fabry-Perot interferometry or the shift of the absorption edge in semiconductor crystals [3]. These systems are not
low cost, since they comprise relatively complicated optical components like interferometer, couplers, spectrometer,
filter etc. The motivation of this work is to realize a low-cost fiber-optic temperature sensor for the above mentioned
applications. Optical fiber sensors based on intensity measurement require some form of intensity referencing to
avoid errors arising from parasitic losses [4]. We demonstrate a novel method of referencing in an extrinsic optical
*
Corresponding author. Tel.: +49-941-9431105; fax: +49-941-9431424.
E-mail address: mikhail.chamonine@hs-regensburg.de.
c 2010 Published by Elsevier Ltd.
Procedia Engineering 5 (2010) 10951098
www.elsevier.com/locate/procedia
1877-7058 c 2010 Published by Elsevier Ltd.
doi:10.1016/j.proeng.2010.09.301
2 A. Apelsmeier et al. / Procedia Engineering 00 (2010) 000000
fiber system utilizing temperature dependence of absorption edge in a semiconductor crystal. The system comprises
a single LED source and no optical fiber junctions.
Nomenclature
I
0
forward drive current of the LED
wavelength

P
peak wavelength of the LED spectrum
dP/d spectral power distribution of the LED
R responsivity of the photo-detector
t
InP
transmission factor of the sensitive element (indium phosphide prism)
T
a
ambient temperature to be measured
T
B
temperature of the diode function block
T
LED
temperature of the LED
2. Working principle
The concept of a sensor [5] is shown in Figure 1. Light from an LED (
P
950 nm at room temperature) is guided
through the input optical fiber into the sensor head. There it is coupled into an indium phosphide (InP) prism,
deflected twice and coupled into the output fiber. The transmitted light power is reduced with the growing
temperature of the InP-prism T
a
. Due to the tiny prism dimensions a novel manufacturing method bridging fine
mechanics and microsystems technology is required [6].
As this fiber-optic sensor is based on intensity measurement, parasitic losses must be compensated for. The block
diagram of a sensor system is shown in Figure 2. The temperature of the diode function block is maintained a
constant level above the surrounding temperature. This is achieved by heating the diode function block with the
power transisitor. In the stationary regime I
0
is constant, T
B
and T
LED
are equal. The monitoring photodiode controls
the intensity emitted by the LED.
3. Compensation of parasitic losses
The emission spectrum of an LED source depends on its temperature T
LED
. It is known that
P
increases with the
growing T
LED
[7]. For the LED used in this work
P
/T
a
= 0,22 nm/K. The ratio R
1/2
of two photocurrents taken at
two different temperatures T
B1
, T
B2
is independent of losses d:
| |
| |
1 1
0
1 2
2 2
0
B InP a LED
/ a
B InP a LED
R( ,T ) t ( ,T ) dP( T ) d d
R ( T )
R( ,T ) t ( ,T ) dP( T ) d d

=

)
)
. (1)
It is assumed that the losses in a fiber-optic system are not significantly wavelength dependent and may be taken
into account by damping coefficient d.
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A.Apelsmeier et al. / Procedia Engineering 00 (2010) 000000 3
Fig. 1. Working principle of a sensor head. Fig. 2. Block diagram of a sensor system.
Figure 3a compares the results of measurements in the stationary regime with modeling. Notice that for given
values of T
B1
and T
B2
, R
1/2
is not a monotonic function of T
a
in the required range of temperatures
(-50C sT
a
s 150C).
4. Transient operation regime
Non-monotonic behaviour of R
1/2
with T
a
is a disadvantage, since it limits the range where the temperature may be
determined unambiguously. Modelling shows that for given material parameters one has to increase the temperature
of the LED in order to get a monotonic behaviour of R
1/2
in the required temperature range. Continuous operation of
an LED at elevated temperatures decreases its expected operating life-time. To overcome this limitation transient
operation regime is introduced. The LED is loaded by higher current pulse I
0
(t) and heated itself due to power
dissipation. The measurements have been performed as follows. The initial LED temperature was set to 70C. Then
the LED was self heated by sending a current pulse of I
o
= 500 mA during 2 seconds. The amplified output voltages
of a photo-diode 1 U
ph
and a monitoring diode U
mon
have been measured at the beginning and the end of the current
pulse. In order to eliminate transient oscillations averaged values as given below were calculated:
30 194 30 194
6 170 6 170
2 1 2 1
25 25 25 25
ph,i ph,i mon,i mon,i
i i i i
out out mon mon
U U U U
U ; U ; U ; U
= = = =
= = = =
_ _ _ _
. (2)
The sampling rate was 100 Hz. The resulting ratio R
1/2,meas
is given by
1 1
1 2
2 2
out mon
/ ,meas
out mon
U U
R
U U
= . (3)
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4 A. Apelsmeier et al. / Procedia Engineering 00 (2010) 000000
(a) (b)
Fig. 3. Comparison between experiment and simulation: (a) stationary regime, I0= 80 mA,TB1=60C, TB2= 30C ; (b) transient regime. Parameters
of measurements and simulations are described in the text.
The transient LED temperatures T
LED1
and T
LED2
cannot be measured directly. Figure 3b compares the measurement
results with simulation. A good agreement is seen. The fit is achieved for T
LED1
= 160C and T
LED2
= 140C. The
obtained dependence R
1/2
(T
a
) is monotonic in the entire working range.
Performance of the sensor system has been investigated under realistic conditions. The losses into fiber connectors
have been introduced by pulling the connecting ferrules out of the diode block. Compensation for the connector
losses (as large as 4 dB) has been proven experimentally. Finally we verified the results of temperature measurement
on a surface of a standard working 50 KVA transformer with an infrared camera. Excellent agreement has been
demonstrated and no interference with electromagnetic fields has been observed.
Acknowledgements
Financial support by the Bavarian State Ministry of Sciences, Research and the Arts within the priority research
program Miniaturized Sensor Systems with Emphasize on Applications in Medical Engineering, Biotechnology,
Automotive and Automation Engineering is gratefully acknowledged.
References
[1] G. Betta, A. Pietrosanto, A. Scaglione. An Enhanced Fiber-Optic Temperature Sensor for Power Transformer Monitoring. IEEE Trans
Instrum Meas 2001;50:1138-44.
[2] R.W. Martin, K.W. Zilm. Variable Temperature System Using Vortex Tube Cooling And Fiber Optic Temperature Mesurement for Low
Temperature Magic Angle Spinning NMR. J Magn Reson 2004:168:202-9.
[3] J. Tang. Fiber-Optic Measurement Systems: Microwave and Radio Frequency Heating Applications. In: Heldman DR, editor. Encyclopedia
of Agricultural, Food, and Biological Engineering, London: Taylor & Francis; 2007.
[4] B. Culshaw, J. Dakin, eds. Optical Fiber Sensors: Systems and Applications. Volume 2 Boston: Artech House; 1989, p. 446-9.
[5] B. Schmau, M. Mrz, J. Ernst. A fiber-optic sensor for microwave field measurements. Rev Sci Instrum 1995:66:4031-33.
[6] R. Trautner, B. Schmauss, M. Shamonin. Manufacture and Characterization of an Extrinsic Elementary Fiber-Optical Sensor for Temperature
Measurement tm Technisches Messen 2008;75 :56570.
[7] E.F. Schubert. Light-Emitting Diodes, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press; 2005.
-40 0 40 80 120 160
1.05
1.15
1.25
1.35
1.45
1.55
T
a
/ C
R
1
/
2
Measurement
Simulation
-40 0 40 80 120 160
1.05
1.15
1.25
1.35
1.45
1.55
T
a
/ C
R
1
/
2
Measurement
Simulation
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