Fiber Bragg grating sensor for simultaneous measurement of temperature and force using polymer open loop

Abstract

A fiber Bragg grating (FBG) sensor for simultaneous measurement of temperature and force is proposed and demonstrated. Where a part of uniform FBG (about one half length of an FBG) is attached on the polymer open loop, the FBG is divided into two parts which has an equal length. So the two parts can be regarded as two FBGs. Because of the difference of the Young's modulus and the thermal expansion coefficients for two parts of the FBG, the two Bragg reflection wavelengths are shift when the temperature and force are applied on the sensor. Simultaneous measurement of temperature and force is demonstrated experimentally. The experimental results show that the linear response to temperature and force are achieved. The value of applied temperature and force can be obtained from the two Bragg wavelength shift via the coefficient matrix. This study provides a simple and economical method to measure temperature and force simultaneously.