Fiber Optical Products For Internet Solutions

Internet of Things

The growing interconnects ability of people, devices and machines has led to a rapidly increasing need for sensing solutions allowing to measure a variety of parameters in a broad range of applications. The limits and shortcomings of traditional sensing technologies paved the way for the emerging field of fiber optical sensing. Optical fibers are lightweight, passive and unobtrusive sensing wires with a thickness comparable to human hair. Sensing features can be tailored to the needs of the application and the unprecedented multiplexing capabilities allow moving away from traditional discrete measurement points to continuous measurements visualizing strain and temperature gradients, pressure, multi-directional force, curvature and shape information. The technology is today being used in harsh environments in various industries ranging from industrial processing, structural health monitoring and energy to aerospace, medical and safety & security.

What's FBG and how does an FBG sensor work?

Fiber Bragg Gratings (FBGs) are made by lateral exposure of an optical fiber with a periodic pattern of intense laser light. The generated pattern will be translated into a permanent refractive index change inside the fiber core forming a grating. The resulting FBG acts as a wavelength selective mirror for one distinct wavelength (Bragg wavelength).

By exposing a fiber with several FBGs with broadband light, each grating is reflecting a certain amount of light at a different Bragg wavelength which can be spectrally detected. If the FBG fiber is manipulated by variations of strain and temperature a shift of the Bragg wavelength is measured, which can be used to calculate strain and temperature values very accurately. From the basic functionality of measuring strain and temperature and many other parameters like force, pressure, acceleration, vibration and displacement can be additionally derived.

Optical fiber sensors present undeniable advantages such as high fatigue limits, multiplexing and immunity to electromagnetic interferences. With our variety of high-quality Fiber Bragg Grating sensors, you are able to measure strain, force, temperature, pressure and shape.

General Advantages of FBG Sensors

FBGs are immune to electromagnetic interference (even lightening interference)
FBGs are intrinsically passive (no electrical power required) and therefore can be positioned in high voltage and potentially explosive atmosphere areas.
As FBGs consume no power, there is also no self-heating effect which might be critical when measuring low heat conductive materials.
FBGs can become read out over large distances, without the need of amplification means underway (>20km)
Multiple FBGs (>20) can be monitored in series on one single optical fiber, no return fiber is needed. Special interrogator techniques even allow having more than 1000 FBG sensors on a single fiber.
Due to the nature of the glass, FBG sensors show good corrosion resistance.

Advantages

Easy to handle

Compatible with telecom fiber for long-distance measurements
Simple installation resulting in reduced setup costs
Robust designs

Configurable

Selectable wavelengths, cable types, and connectors
Multiple sensors assembled in arrays with spliced connectors for fast installation
Bare fiber with multiple FBG

Versatile

Diverse sensor formats
High strain and high fatigue resistance
From simple FBG to complex sensor designs
Reinforced or dielectric for applications in different hazardous areas

What We're Offering

The newly developed optical sensor line by T&S enables large strain measurement ranges at increased long-term stability. It is the ideal choice for structural health monitoring due to its fast and easy installation and its resistance to environmental conditions such as humidity, rust, and salt even over extremely long distances.

The compatibility with standard telecom cables makes these sensors very cost-efficient – especially for medium-to-high channel applications! The sensors are based on the Fiber Bragg Grating technology and offer optical sensors for measurements of strain, temperature, displacement, vibration and pressure etc.

Choose individual sensors or select a group of sensors connected on the same line for ease of installation.

In the coming future, fiber optical sensing is playing an increasingly important role and taking a bigger share in Internet of Things, based on which smart city, smart traffic, smart medical treatment, smart home and the like may gradually be constructed, while FBG sensing is definitely an indispensable participant. T&S is Fiber Optical Sensing Engineering R&D Center of Guangdong Province, which focuses on the development of FBG sensing and its application. T&S now has dozens of successful exclusive cases both domestic and overseas especially in smart grid, oil and gas IoT and rail-traffic systems.

FBG Temperature Sensor

The reflection wavelength of the FBG (Bragg wavelength) depends on the grating characteristics (period, modulation) and is influenced by ambient conditions such as strain and temperature. In the case of temperature sensing the Bragg wavelength is a function of the temperature. This temperature dependence results from changes of the refractive index of the fiber as well as from thermal expansion of the glass material.

FBG Pressure Sensor

Fiber bragg grating sensors are well suited for pressure measurements in different challenging environments in the medical market, process industry or the oil and gas sector. They offer many advantages like electromagnetic immunity, small size, mechanical robustness and non-inflammability due to the used glass. Furthermore, FBG sensors offer the possibility for multiplexed pressure measurement for example along with medical catheters or in boreholes for oil and gas exploration.

FBG Strain Sensor

Fiber Bragg Gratings are known to have a stable and reliable wavelength response as a function of the applied strain. FBGs are therefore winning increasing attention in the field of strain measurements.

FBG Displacement Sensor

T&S displacement sensor is a ruggedized Fiber Bragg Grating (FBG) sensor designed to measure linear displacement on different types of structures. The sensor uses two FBGs for effective temperature compensation. It can be used in a large range of monitoring applications, like sustaining walls, bridge piles or buildings.

FBG Vibration Sensor

T&S FBG vibration sensor is a high-precision vibration sensor tailored to measure acceleration at different frequencies from 0 to 50Hz.

The FBG vibration sensor can be used in a large range of monitoring applications where low frequency, but relevant amplitude vibrations are present, including measuring load-induced vibration of civil structures and ambient cable vibrations.

Select your optical interrogators

T&S offers a complete product portfolio for your sensing application: from the sensors (strain, pressure, temperature, vibration and displacement) to optical interrogators to monitoring solutions.