High-speed railway has achieved remarkable development in China, and safety monitoring of high-speed railway is becoming an important research. Fiber bragg grating (FBG) sensing technology is applied for monitoring and early warning system of high-speed railway track condition in this paper. The sensor network is built by putting FBG sensors on the high-speed rail tracks, which is necessary for real-time online monitoring of railway track temperature, displacement and strain. These different variables are collected, processed and analyzed by FBG demodulator. In addition, the railway track temperature prediction model are established based on relevance vector regression algorithm, which further improves the prediction accuracy and generalization performance. The system has been applied in the realtime online monitoring and early warning system of Guangzhou-Shenzhen-Hong Kong high-speed railway track condition. The system is running in good condition and playing an important role in early warning.
Whole optic fiber weighing technique and its device of belt conveyor are developed and put into application. Four FBG stress cells support a frame in a belt conveying line. In each cell, two FBG strain gauges are respectively installed at the stretching and compressing places to get the effects of sensitivity enhancement and temperature compensation. The weighing signals are from both FBG wavelength shift of loading cells and fiber belt speed meter. By means of integral algorithm, the weighing result is obtained. Actual coal weighing test shows that the accuracy of this weighing device is under 0.5%.
Fiber Bragg Grating (FBG) sensing technology was used to dynamically monitor multiple parameters of railway switch machine poles, including time of movement, direction and quantity of loading and locking force, and states of loading resistance. Ring shape FBG strain gauge and strain sensibilized methods significantly increased the monitoring sensitivity. Installing approaches adapted the harsh environment in railway application. The monitoring results showed that for a Siemens S700K switch machine, its pole pressured stroke took 5s. Maximum load: -5.9kN, average load: -3.3kN. Vibration caused by resistance exists, its period: 0.1s, range: 0.5kN~1.6kN. After the stroke, the locking force was kept at -0.6kN. In tensile stroke, it also took 5s. Maximum load: 6.8kN, average load: 5.5kN. Vibration period: 0.1s, range: 0.7kN~2kN. Locking force: 0.2 kN. This long-term and on-line detecting method could meet railway switch condition monitoring demands of more than 100,000 switch machines in this country.
KEYWORDS: Fiber Bragg gratings, Sensors, Temperature metrology, Temperature sensors, Metals, Fiber optics sensors, Data processing, Signal processing, Resistance, Calibration
Fiber Bragg Grating (FBG) sensing technology was used to monitor a crevice of continuous beam joint and rails near rail expansion devices on a viaduct. The monitoring items consisted of rail temperature, rail displacement, viaduct beam displacement, and strain of sliding rail of rail expansion device. Strain sensor was a prefabricate FBG strain gauge; displacement sensor with different scale used a FBG stress ring; and the FBG of temperature sensor was pre-drawn and fixed in a metal tube. The monitoring results matched to the manual testing and theoretical estimate.
This paper presents the application of the FBG sensing technology for train overload and unbalanced load monitoring. A type of FBG strain gauges is designed,which can avoid chirped FBG, and enhance sensitivity. A sensor installation method is worked out for nondestructive detecting, enabling sensors to adapt to adverse circumstance by installing FBG sensing device on steel rails, and making use of real time wavelength offset value of FBG sensors, and the dynamic detection of wheel axle load can be achieved. Comparing dynamic axle load distribution of the two tracks, the unbalanced load conditions of carriages can be obtained. The sum of axle load of a carriage turns out to be the total weight of the carriage. Meanwhile, the monitoring system possesses a function of monitoring wheel tread defect.
A displacement monitor with deforming ring is developed to ensure the FBG suspended and to avoid it to be chirped by
covering glue. The mechanical analysis provides ring size to ensure suitable BFG wavelength shift extent within detected
range. Two pieces of FBG are crosswise fixed on the ring and pre-drawn properly. Rail creep force of high speed railway
makes one tense, the other compress. To add these two wavelength shifts, the sensitivity is doubled, and environmental
temperature interference is eliminated. Its general error is ±0.25% FS; repeatability is 0.2% FS; resolution is 0.1mm; the
temperature error, from -20 to 60Cº, is ±0.45mm in 50mm range.
FBG strain sensing technology is used to dynamically detect tread wear of railway train wheels. Dozens of FBG track
strain sensors are installed as lines along railway tracks in crosstie sections. Train wheels one by one roll on the track and
load the sensors, groups of strain peak are taken. The strain curve of defective wheel appears a gap or with serration. By
means of strain pulse processing program, tread wear and wheel health condition are obtained. FBG strain gauge is
employed to increase the measuring sensitivity. Protecting methods for sensors and fiber are adopted to keep them
surviving from harsh application environment. The examples of detecting results are given to show the validity of this
FBG application.
In a 350km/h high speed railway line, there is a seamless switch with ballastless slabs built on a bridge. 54 Fiber Bragg
Grating detecting cells are employed to monitor the displacement of track and slab. The cell is of extending function of
measurement range, up to 50mm displacement, and is of good linearity. Protecting methods for cells and fiber are
adopted to keep them surviving from the harsh conditions. The results show that in 75 days, the displacement of the track
and sleeper slab was 8-9mm, and the displacement is of high correlation with daily environmental temperature change.
FBG (Fiber Bragg Grating) sensor is suitable to detect track strain under harsh environment. In order to optimize its
detecting efficiency, the key is to find out where the optimal detecting place is. This paper presents an FEA (Finite
Element Analysis) method to analyze strain distribution of a track under load. The strain field is decomposed into three
vector fields, and the optimal detecting place is determined by analyzing these vector fields. The related experiment and
actual aplication verified the authenticity of this method.
To use FCG (Fiber Chirp Grating) as intensity demodulating sensor, the environmental interference should be
eliminated, a method of signal ratio is used. Three FCGs and paired fibers are used in strain measurement, two FCGs are
connected in series with the first fiber, one acts as a tensive sensor, the other acts as a compressive sensor. The third
FCG is alone connected with the second fiber and acts as a reference. Sensing FCGs' intensity output is divided by
reference's. Although the level of interference was put as high as the level of load, the ratio is still of good responsibility
with the stress, and is of good linearity, and the maximum error in full range is 1.5%.
FBG (fiber Bragg grating) is used as a substitution of electrical strain gauge in port gantry overloading warning system.
A steel rope tension detecting device and FBG load cell were designed, and a rope force calibrating device was used. The force
analysis of tightened steel rope acting on FBG cell, and the process of the measuring data are introduced. The calibration shows that
the sensitivity of the system is around 90 pm/ton, and. it is of good performance, the accuracy and repeatability can be
0.73% in full scale, that is much less than 3%, which is the specification required.
Both sensing techniques, FBG wavelength shift and FCG intensity, were applied in a train axle
counting system. Their structure and the process of changing strain data into accurate axle numbers are discussed.
The experiment of micro-ablating diamonds, natural diamond and HTHP manmade diamond, has demonstrated that F2
157nm laser can break the chemical bonds of hard material with low laser pulse power, and ionizes them rapidly. The
ablation thresholds of these two kind of diamonds were tested as 2.0J/cm2 and 3.0J/cm2 respectively. Stair ablation on
the polished surface of the natural diamond showed that a pulse could ablate 17nm depth on a 25μm×25μm square,
however, for the polished surface of HTHP diamond, the depth was 12nm. The edges of ablating square were sharp, few
spatters were observed, and 3-D ablation quality was good. The thermal calculation shows that the temperature rise was
not very seriously. The interaction and the mechanism of ablative photo decomposition between the photons of 157nm
laser and the atoms of diamond are presented. Diamond is a covalent crystal. Covalent bonds associate carbon atoms.
The cohesive energy of diamond is 7.36eV, and its binding energy is 3.68eV. Comparing with 7.9eV of 157nm photon
energy, it can be inferred that the mechanism of interactions between 157nm laser and diamond is a process of
single-photon absorption.
In a weigh-in-motion(WIM) scale, the load cells are the paramount parts, and the traditional strain gauges are used as
main sensing elements. However, the performance of these electrical sensors is poor in durability and stability. Fibre
Bragg grating (FGB) is of good sensing characters, this experiment therefore used them to replace the strain gauges in
the load cells, and to apply in a real WIM system. Two FBGs were adhered on a cantilever load cell by means of a
special fiber holder, one of them acted as a tensive sensor, the other acted as a compressive sensor. To subtract their
measuring results, the response was doubled, furthermore, the environmental interference was eliminated. The
repeatability was calibrated reaching 0.02% in full 0-20 ton scale. Four FBG load cells were set as supports of weighting
plate in an axial WIM scale to weigh vehicles. The results showed that the FBG scale performed better than strain gauge
scale under the same WIM dynamic processing program. Under the speed of 11km/h, the measuring accuracy can be
kept within 1%, while the measuring accuracy of strain gauge scale was about 3%.
Silica is a good material of MOEMS, however, it is difficult to be micro-processed to form a complicated appearance.
Introduced in this paper is process analysis of fluorine (F2) 157-nm laser micro-ablating silica. The interaction and
mechanism of ablative photo decomposition between the photons of 157-nm laser and silica are discussed in detail. To
test 157-nm silica ablating effect, the profile of micro holes on the end cross section of silica photonic crystal fiber (PCF)
was employed under the exposure of 157-nm beam, to quantitatively analyze the ablating depth and degree. The results
show that under 7.9eV photon energy of 157-nm laser, the defect formations in silica are accumulated to produce a large
quantity of free electrons. Meanwhile, the dopants in silica fiber or glass considerably reduce the breakdown threshold.
Because the rate of single-photon absorption outclasses the rate of multi-photon absorption, it can be inferred that the
mechanism of interactions between 157-nm laser and silica is a process of single-photon absorption of electron-avalanche.
The actual ablating velocity 210nm/pulse showed that the 157-nm laser could be absorbed strongly by silica
material. It also illustrated that there did be thermal process during the ablation, however, because the velocity of damage
caused by ablating was very fast, the heat was therefore limited. A good quality of ablating result could be ensured.
In a traditional weighing scale, the loadcells with strain gauges are widely used, however, as an electrical device, its
performance is poor under the conditions of interference and corrosion. According to the stress distribution of a
cantilever loadcell, two FBGs (fiber Bragg grating), were adhered to replace traditional strain gauges in a 0-20t
cantilever loadcell. One of them was used as a tensive sensor and the other is as a compressive sensor. To subtract their
measuring results, the response is doubled, meanwhile, the environmental interference is eliminated. The calibration
showed that the repeatability in full scale achieved as high as 0.02%. In its application, FBG loadcells were used to do
weighing of running vehicles in a weigh-in-motion (WIM) scale, the results showed that the FBG scale performed better
than strain gauge scale under the same WIM processing program. Under the speed of 11km/h, the measuring accuracy
could be kept within 1%.
Polyelectrolyte/colloidal TiO2 composite films have higher refractive index than glass, while polyelectrolyte/colloidal SiO2 composite films have lower refractive index. By using a layer-by-layer assembling technique, polyelectrolyte/TiO2 nanoparticle-λ/4-layers and polyelectrolyte/SiO2 nanoparticle-λ/4-layers were alternatively deposited onto optical fibers and microscope glass slides. In this way, λ/4-high-reflection optical coatings were fabricated.
The benchmarking of two optical strain measurement techniques, shearography and fibre Bragg grating (FBG) sensors, against theoretical strain calculations and resistance foil strain gauges (RFSG) is described. The test object used for the surface strain measurements was an ABS pipe that was hydrostatically loaded. A multi-component shearography instrument, capable of full surface strain measurement was used to determine the displacement gradients, from which the strain components were calculated. Six surface mounted wavelength division multiplexed FBG sensors were used to measure the axial and the hoop strains. RFGSs located on the surface of the pipe, adjacent to the FBGs, were used for comparison. Good agreement between theory and the axial and hoop strains determined by the different techniques was found.
Optical fibre Bragg grating (FBG) strain sensor measurements were compared with theoretical strain calculations and measurements from two competing techniques: shearography and resistance foil strain gauges (RFSG). Axial and hoop strains in an ABS pipe, loaded by changing the internal pressure were investigated. Six wavelength-multiplexed FBG sensors were used to measure the axial and the hoop strains. RFGSs located on the surface adjacent to the FBGs were used for comparison. A multi-component shearography instrument was also used to perform full-field surface strain measurements on the pipe. Measurements were made using two shear directions, yielding six displacement gradient components in total. The measured δu/δx and δv/δy components were compared with theoretical hoop and axial strains respectively. Good agreement was found between the three techniques and the theory.
Introduced in this paper are a technique of fiber optic dual-wavelength pyrometer and its principle, structure and characteristics. It was successfully applied under the hostile environment in hot-blast stoves to measure high-temperature. The efforts to overcome all difficulties, such as pressure, water vapor, and probe bend caused by thermal expansion, are reported in details. The resulting device is reliable, stable and accurate, and has immunity to harmful gas corrosion. The proposed pyrometer has a long lifetime. Therefore, it can replace the conventional thermo-electric-couple for temperature measurement in a blast furnace.
In the management of caverned fuel oil inventory, a strict rule of fire control has always been the first priority due to the special conditions. It is always a challenge to perform automatic measurement by means of conventional electrical devices for inspecting oil tank level there. Introduced in this paper is a fiber optic gauging technique with millimeter precision for automatic measurement in caverned tanks. Instead of using any electrical device, it uses optical encoders and optical fibers for converting and transmitting signals. Its principle, specifications, installation and applications are discussed in detail. Theoretical analysis of the factors affecting its accuracy, stability, and special procedures adopted in the installation of the fiber optic gauge are also discussed.
A precise and safe telemetry to measure the height of CO telescopic gasometer by optic fiber sensor (OFS) technique is introduced. The principle of operation and special design for installation without gas production shutdown are illustrated. An approach to give full play to high accuracy of OFS gauge is put forward, that is, to compensate the measured data by means of mathematical formulas, depending on the installing position and special revolving movement of a gasometer.
Introduced in this paper is a fiber optic gauging technique with millimeter accuracy for river level measurement. It plays an important part in flood-control season. The principle of operation and structure are illustrated. In order to ensure the reliability and to keep the millimeter accuracy in 16-meter range of fluctuation, some key techniques in optic, mechanism and electronics of this gauge are discussed in detail in this paper.
A fiber optic monitoring technique for the thickness of furnace wall is demonstrated where conventional monitoring techniques failed because of harsh environments. Based upon OTDR technique, its working principle, structure, and installing manner are introduced. This technique can monitor the thickness wall continuously with an accuracy of 5mm which is enough for the management of operating the furnace.
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