Abstract
This paper presents a polymer optical fiber (POF)-based temperature sensor. The operation principle of the sensor is the variation in the POF mechanical properties with the temperature variation. Such mechanical property variation leads to a variation in the POF output power when a constant stress is applied to the fiber due to the stress-optical effect. The fiber mechanical properties are characterized through a dynamic mechanical analysis, and the output power variation with different temperatures is measured. The stress is applied to the fiber by means of a 180° curvature, and supports are positioned on the fiber to inhibit the variation in its curvature with the temperature variation. Results show that the sensor proposed has a sensitivity of 1.04 × 10−3 °C−1, a linearity of 0.994, and a root mean squared error of 1.48 °C, which indicates a relative error of below 2%, which is lower than the ones obtained for intensity-variation-based temperature sensors. Furthermore, the sensor is able to operate at temperatures up to 110 °C, which is higher than the ones obtained for similar POF sensors in the literature.
Highlights
Temperature assessment plays an important role in industrial applications, such as automotives, air conditioning control, chemical processes, and food storage [1]
In order to overcome the limitations of conventional technologies for temperature measurement, different optical fiber temperature sensors have been proposed
This paper presents the characterization and development of a polymer optical fiber (POF) temperature sensor
Summary
Temperature assessment plays an important role in industrial applications, such as automotives, air conditioning control, chemical processes, and food storage [1]. The different approaches for temperature sensors include interferometric configurations, such as Fabry–Perot [4], Mach–Zehnder [5], fiber Bragg gratings (FBGs) [6], intensity-variation-based sensors [1], and nonlinear effects [7]. There are several optical fiber-based techniques for measuring temperature, the techniques related to FBGs, interferometers, and nonlinear effects generally imply more complex signal processing, implementation, and the cost of interrogation equipment can make these technologies unsuitable for low-cost applications [3]. For a low-cost system of temperature measurement with simplicity in signal processing and easy implementation, intensity-variation-based sensors are preferred [9].
Sign-in/Register to view highlights & summary Sign-in/Register to access full text options 
Free) 
Talk to us
Join us for a 30 min session where you can share your feedback and ask us any queries you have
Schedule a call
