Optical fiber long-period grating humidity sensor with poly(ethylene oxide)/cobalt chloride coating (original) (raw)

Humidity sensor based on a long-period fiber grating coated with a hydrophobic thin film

SPIE Proceedings, 2010

In this work it is proposed a novel fiber optic humidity sensor based on a functionally coated long-period fiber grating (LPG). The coating is composed of tetraorthosilicate matrix functionalized with perfluorooctyltriethoxysilane and its fabrication was performed by the sol-gel technique using a dip coating process using the LPG as substrate. The fabricated sensor was tested in a programmable temperature and climatic chamber. Relative humidity (RH) was varied in range from 20%RH to 80%RH at room temperature. The results showed a smooth exponential-like wavelength shift of the LPG attenuation band. ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS This work was funded in part by the Spanish Ministry of Education and Science-FEDER Research Grant TEC2009-09210 CONCLUSIONS CONCLUSIONS CONCLUSIONS We propose a new HR sensor based on a coated LPG. The hydrophobic sensitive overlay was fabricated using the sol-gel technology. The sensitive overlays have been successfully placed onto the LPG with a strong hydrophobic behavior.

Two-Layer Nanocoatings in Long-Period Fiber Gratings for Improved Sensitivity of Humidity Sensors

IEEE Transactions on Nanotechnology, 2000

A relative humidity sensor based on the deposition of electrostatic self-assembled alumina (Al 2 O 3 )a nd poly(sodium 4-styrenesulfonate) on the cladding of a long-period fiber grating (LPFG) has been designed. The sensitive material has a lower refractive index than that of the fiber cladding, which limits the sensitivity of the LPFG response. In order to enhance its sensitivity, a previous high refractive index coating has been deposited. The overlay thickness is of the order of magnitude of the light wavelength used to interrogate the sensor. A theoretical model of multilayer cylindrical waveguides based on coupled-mode theory has been used to predict the phenomenon. Experimentally, an increased wavelength shift of the attenuation bands (75%) was obtained during the fabrication of the sensor, and, what is more important, the sensitivity was improved by a ratio of almost four.

A fibre optic humidity sensor based on a long-period fibre grating coated with a thin film of SiO2nanospheres

Measurement Science and Technology, 2009

A novel sensing configuration for measuring humidity based on a long-period fibre grating coated with a thin film of silica nanospheres is proposed. The polymeric overlay is deposited on the grating using the electrostatic self-assembly technique. This thin film changes its optical properties when exposed to different humidity levels that translate into a shift of the resonance wavelength of the fibre grating. Wavelength shifts up to 12 nm in a relative humidity range from 20% to 80% are reported, and it is further demonstrated that such humidity sensitivity has negligible thermal dependence.

Recent Developments in Fiber Optics Humidity Sensors

Sensors, 2017

A wide range of applications such as health, human comfort, agriculture, food processing and storage, and electronic manufacturing, among others, require fast and accurate measurement of humidity. Sensors based on optical fibers present several advantages over electronic sensors and great research efforts have been made in recent years in this field. The present paper reports the current trends of optical fiber humidity sensors. The evolution of optical structures developed towards humidity sensing, as well as the novel materials used for this purpose, will be analyzed. Well-known optical structures, such as long-period fiber gratings or fiber Bragg gratings, are still being studied towards an enhancement of their sensitivity. Sensors based on lossy mode resonances constitute a platform that combines high sensitivity with low complexity, both in terms of their fabrication process and the equipment required. Novel structures, such as resonators, are being studied in order to improve the resolution of humidity sensors. Moreover, recent research on polymer optical fibers suggests that the sensitivity of this kind of sensor has not yet reached its limit. Therefore, there is still room for improvement in terms of sensitivity and resolution.

Polyvinyl alcohol–coated hybrid fiber grating for relative humidity sensing

Journal of Biomedical Optics, 2011

A relative humidity (RH) sensor based on a hybrid fiber grating coated with polyvinyl alcohol is proposed and demonstrated experimentally. The hybrid fiber grating is formed by superimposing a normal fiber Bragg grating (FBG) and a tilted-FBG around the same position of a single-mode fiber so that it can work in the reflection mode. Optical power of the reflected signal changes with the refractive index of the moisture sensitive polyvinyl alcohol, and humidity measurement can be realized. Experimental results show that the measurement range is 30 to 95% with the maximum sensitivity of 0.737 nW/% RH. The average response time is ∼2 s and the measurement is nearly insensitive to temperature. Compared with the wavelength detection method used in normal FBG-based relative humidity sensors, the intensity demodulation method in this report is simpler and more cost-efficient.

Metal Oxide Coated Optical Fiber for Humidity Sensing Application: A Review

IEEE Access

Humidity measurement in biomedicals, industry and electronic manufacturing applications needs an accurate and fast measurement of relative humidity by the sensor. In recent years, electronic sensors are utilized in the market, but optical humidity sensors provide several advantages over it. This paper reports the classification of optical fiber humidity sensors based on their working principles, such as fiber Bragg gratings, interferometers, and resonators. Along with the mentioned optical fiber structures, their fabrication process, equipment required for humidity sensing and the coating technique used are explained in this review. Recently, metal oxide semiconductors have been widely used as sensing material, specifically in humidity sensor applications. Thus, this paper explores optical fiber humidity sensors based on the three working principles mentioned, all of which incorporate metal oxide coatings. This review reveals that the most commonly used metal oxide for optical fiber humidity sensing is graphene oxide. This is because graphene oxide offers high sensitivity, fast response and recovery time over the other types of metal oxide. A large number of oxygen-containing groups on the surface and edge of graphene oxide also contribute to humidity sensing performance since it can permeate and absorb more water molecules. The use of hybrid nanomaterials is recently discovered and their potential as emerging coating material for optical applications are not fully exploited yet. Thus, there is still an opportunity for improvement in terms of sensitivity, response and recovery time in the context of optical fiber humidity sensor. INDEX TERMS Metal oxide, fiber optic, humidity sensor.

Use of polyethylene glycol coatings for optical fibre humidity sensing

Optical Review, 2008

Humidity induced change in the refractive index and thickness of the polyethylene glycol (PEG) coatings are in situ investigated for a range from 10 to 95%, using an optical waveguide spectroscopic technique. It is experimentally demonstrated that, upon humidity change, the optical and swelling characteristics of the PEG coatings can be employed to build a plastic fibre optic humidity sensor. The sensing mechanism is based on the humidity induced change in the refractive index of the PEG film, which is directly coated onto a polished segment of a plastic optical fibre with dipcoating method. It is observed that PEG, which is a highly hydrophilic material, shows no monotonic linear response to humidity but gives different characteristics for various ranges of humidity levels both in index of refraction and in thickness. It undergoes a physical phase change from a semi-crystalline structure to a gel one at around 80% relative humidity. At this phase change point, a drastic decrease occurs in the index of refraction as well as a drastic increase in the swelling of the PEG film. In addition, PEG coatings are hydrogenated in a vacuum chamber. It is observed that the hydrogen has a preventing effect on the humidity induced phase change in PEG coatings. Finally, the possibility of using PEG coatings in construction of a real plastic fibre optic humidity sensor is discussed.

Agar-Coated Fiber Bragg Grating Sensor for Relative Humidity Measurements: Influence of Coating Thickness and Polymer Concentration

IEEE Sensors Journal, 2019

The importance of humidity control is spreading through a broad spectrum of applications, from food and pharmaceutical industries to biomedical and chemical fields. During the last decades, the growing interest in fiber Bragg gratings (FBG) led to new approaches and applications for the humidity measurement by means of the deposition of hygroscopic materials on gratings. The influence of the coating material and its features such us coating thickness (tk) and concentration (wt%) on static and dynamic metrological properties have been investigated in the literature. In this study, four agar-coated FBG sensors for humidity measurements have been fabricated, and the influence of tk and wt% on the sensors' sensitivity and response time has been experimentally assessed. Sensitivity increases with tk and wt%: for instance, at 1 wt% it was 0.0024 nm   %-1 and 0.0052 nm   %-1 for tk=87 µm and tk=212 µm, respectively. Results showed that also the response time increased with tk and wt%: for instance, at 1 wt% it was 56.7 s and 107.6 s for tk=87 µm and tk=212 µm, respectively.

Optical Fiber Polymer Sensor System with TiO2-SiO2 Cladding for Measuring Humidity

KnE Engineering

Optical fiber at range of 90.73% RH to 99.7% RH. The result shows that different levels are not far away, sensor system to detect air humidity using polymer optical fiber (POF) Autonics FD-620-10 has been developed. The POF sensor is performed by stripping cladding of the fiber and then replace it with TiO 2-SiO 2. The stripping variations are 1 cm, 2 cm, and 3 cm. The sensor system is composed of a red diode laser with wave length 638 nm as light source and photodiode light detector. The output from the detector will be displayed on an electronic viewer such as LCD or PC. Data processing is carried out using an ADC to get transfer function to be embedded into Arduino Uno. The obtained regression equation is y = 0.131x-22.58 and the coefficient of determination (R 2) is 0.984. It is mean that the optical fiber sensor has a good linearity. The accuracy of the sensor is obtained from the comparison of the humidity gauge designed with a hygrometer (an existing humidity gauge). The error were generated by the designed device was 2.78%. The error results indicate that the percentage of errors from the designed device is relatively small, so it can be concluded that the humidity sensor can respond well to the measured humidity.

Sensitivity improvement of a humidity sensor based on silica nanospheres on a long-period fiber grating

Sensors (Basel, Switzerland), 2009

This work addresses a new configuration that improves the sensitivity of a humidity sensor based on a long-period fiber grating coated with a SiO(2)-nanospheres film. An intermediate higher refractive index overlay, deposited through Electrostatic Self-Assembly, is placed between the fiber cladding and the humidity sensitive film in order to increase the total effective refractive index of the coating. With this intermediate design, a three-fold improvement in the sensitivity was obtained. Wavelength shifts up to 15 nm against 5 nm were achieved in a humidity range from 20% to 80%.