Nikola Stan

Voltage in a coaxial cable is measured by an electric-field optical fiber sensor exploiting the proportionality of voltage and electric field in a fixed structure. The sensor is inserted in a hole drilled through the dielectric of the RG-218 coaxial cable and sealed with epoxy to displace all air and prevent the adverse effects of charge buildup during high-voltage measurements. It is shown that the presence of the sensor in the coaxial cable does not sig- nificantly increase electrical… Show more

Voltage in a coaxial cable is measured by an electric-field optical fiber sensor exploiting the proportionality of voltage and electric field in a fixed structure. The sensor is inserted in a hole drilled through the dielectric of the RG-218 coaxial cable and sealed with epoxy to displace all air and prevent the adverse effects of charge buildup during high-voltage measurements. It is shown that the presence of the sensor in the coaxial cable does not sig- nificantly increase electrical reflections in the cable. A slab-coupled optical fiber sensor (SCOS) is used for its compact size and dielectric make. The dynamic range of 50 dB is shown experimentally with detection of signals as low as 1 V and up to 157 kV. A low corner of 0.3 Hz is demonstrated and the SCOS is shown to be able to measure 90 ns rise time. Show less

A fiber optic electric field sensor was developed to measure electric field up to 18 MV/m. The sensor uses resonant coupling between an optical fiber and a nonlinear electro-optical crystal. The sensing system uses high dielectric strength materials to eliminate dielectric breakdown. A post-processing nonlinear calibration method is developed that maps voltage change to wavelength shift and then converts the wavelength shift to electric field using the transmission spectrum. The nonlinear… Show more

A fiber optic electric field sensor was developed to measure electric field up to 18 MV/m. The sensor uses resonant coupling between an optical fiber and a nonlinear electro-optical crystal. The sensing system uses high dielectric strength materials to eliminate dielectric breakdown. A post-processing nonlinear calibration method is developed that maps voltage change to wavelength shift and then converts the wavelength shift to electric field using the transmission spectrum. The nonlinear calibration method is compared against the linear method with electric field pulses having magnitudes from 1.5 MV/m to 18 MV/m. Show less

We describe the application of SCOS technology in non-intrusive, directional and spatially localized measurements of high electric fields. When measuring electric fields above a certain threshold, SCOS measurement sensitivity starts varying to a great extent and the linear approximation that assumes sensitivity to be constant breaks down. This means that a comprehensive nonlinear calibration method is required for accurate calibration of both low and high electric fields, while linear… Show more

We describe the application of SCOS technology in non-intrusive, directional and spatially localized measurements of high electric fields. When measuring electric fields above a certain threshold, SCOS measurement sensitivity starts varying to a great extent and the linear approximation that assumes sensitivity to be constant breaks down. This means that a comprehensive nonlinear calibration method is required for accurate calibration of both low and high electric fields, while linear calibration can only be accurately applied for low fields. Nonlinear calibration method relies on the knowledge of the variability of sensitivity, while linear calibration relies on approximation of sensitivity with a constant value, which breaks down for high fields. We analyze and compare the two calibration methods by applying them to a same set of measurements. We measure electric field pulses with magnitudes from 1 MV/m to 8.2 MV/m, with sub-300 ns rise time and fall-off time constant of 60 μs. We show that the nonlinear calibration very accurately predicts all measured fields, both high and low, while the linear calibration becomes increasingly inaccurate for fields above 1 MV/m. Show less

We present a fibre Bragg grating (FBG) interrogator that uses a microcontroller board and a tunable optical filter in a proportional control loop to increase dynamic range and achieve high strain sensitivity. It is an edge-filtering interrogator with added proportional control loop that locks the operating wavelength to the mid-reflection point on the FBG spectrum. The interrogator separates low-frequency (LF) components of strain and measures them with extended dynamic range, while at the same… Show more

We present a fibre Bragg grating (FBG) interrogator that uses a microcontroller board and a tunable optical filter in a proportional control loop to increase dynamic range and achieve high strain sensitivity. It is an edge-filtering interrogator with added proportional control loop that locks the operating wavelength to the mid-reflection point on the FBG spectrum. The interrogator separates low-frequency (LF) components of strain and measures them with extended dynamic range, while at the same time measuring high-frequency (HF) strain without loss in strain sensitivity. In this paper, we describe the implementation of the interrogator and analyse the characteristics of individual components, such as the speed and voltage resolution of the microcontroller and the tunable optical filter. We measure the performance of the proportional control loop at frequencies up to 1 kHz and characterize the system using control theory. We illustrate the limitation of the conventional interrogator to measure strains greater than 40 μepsilon and demonstrate successful application of the proposed interrogator for simultaneous measurement of 450 μepsilon LF strain at 50 Hz superimposed with 32 kHz HF strain. Show less

We present an optical fiber non-intrusive sensor for measuring high voltage transients. The sensor converts the unknown voltage to electric field, which is then measured using slab-coupled optical fiber sensor (SCOS). Since everything in the sensor except the electrodes is made of dielectric materials and due to the small field sensor size, the sensor is minimally perturbing to the measured voltage. We present the details of the sensor design, which eliminates arcing and minimizes local… Show more

We present an optical fiber non-intrusive sensor for measuring high voltage transients. The sensor converts the unknown voltage to electric field, which is then measured using slab-coupled optical fiber sensor (SCOS). Since everything in the sensor except the electrodes is made of dielectric materials and due to the small field sensor size, the sensor is minimally perturbing to the measured voltage. We present the details of the sensor design, which eliminates arcing and minimizes local dielectric breakdown using Teflon blocks and insulation of the whole structure with transformer oil. The structure has a capacitance of less than 3pF and resistance greater than 10 GΩ. We show the measurement of 66.5 kV pulse with a 32.6μs time constant. The measurement matches the expected value of 67.8 kV with less than 2% error. Show less

We present a fiber Bragg grating (FBG) interrogation method using a micro-controller board and optical filter that achieves high strain sensitivity and high dynamic range. This interrogation method allows high sensitivity detection of ultrasonic waves superimposed on low-frequency (on the order of 100Hz) vibrations of arbitrary magnitude. One possible application is in-situ structural health monitoring of windmill blades exposed to strong winds by using FBG sensors for detection of ultrasonic… Show more

We present a fiber Bragg grating (FBG) interrogation method using a micro-controller board and optical filter that achieves high strain sensitivity and high dynamic range. This interrogation method allows high sensitivity detection of ultrasonic waves superimposed on low-frequency (on the order of 100Hz) vibrations of arbitrary magnitude. One possible application is in-situ structural health monitoring of windmill blades exposed to strong winds by using FBG sensors for detection of ultrasonic waves.
Interrogator operation is based on the edge filtering method using a broadband source, fiber Fabry-Perot filter and a micro-controller board which acts as a control feedback loop that locks the filter wavelength to the mid-reflection point on the FBG spectrum. Wavelength locking method allows high sensitivity for edge filtering of high-frequency waves, while the feedback signal is the measurement of low-frequency vibration with high dynamic range. The concept of the interrogator operation and different implementations are described and discussed with experimental results. Show less

We used high-speed full-spectrum interrogation of a Fiber Bragg Grating (FBG) sensor to measure dynamic strain in different sensor packages in real-time. In this effort we performed solenoid impact tests on a variety of sensor mounting structures made with FR4, steel, and carbon fiber composite materials. Full spectrum FBG interrogation at 40 kHz repetition rate was the key that allowed us to measure and compare dynamic strain in the structures, with measurement resolution on the… Show more

We used high-speed full-spectrum interrogation of a Fiber Bragg Grating (FBG) sensor to measure dynamic strain in different sensor packages in real-time. In this effort we performed solenoid impact tests on a variety of sensor mounting structures made with FR4, steel, and carbon fiber composite materials. Full spectrum FBG interrogation at 40 kHz repetition rate was the key that allowed us to measure and compare dynamic strain in the structures, with measurement resolution on the sub-millisecond scale. Show less