Optical fiber pressure sensor using thermal pressure sensing
AssigneesCentre National De La Recherche Scientifique, Université Marie Et Louis Pasteur
InventorsJean-Charles Beugnot, Jacques Chretien, Adrien Godet, Kien Phan Huy, Jérôme Salvi
Life of this patent
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Abstract
A pressure-measuring device including an optical fibre with a thinned portion, a laser, called the heating laser, arranged to emit an optical wave, called the heating wave, into the thinned portion, a measuring means including a sensor that is arranged to measure a backscattered optical wave that is generated by an optical wave, called the interrogation wave, and that originates in the thinned portion of the optical fibre, and a processing unit arranged and/or programmed to measure a pressure of a fluid, preferably a gas, encircling the thinned portion, on the basis of the measurement of the backscattered wave.
Claims15
A device for measuring pressure comprising:
- an optical fiber comprising a thinned part formed by a reduced transverse cross-sectional area of the optical fiber which functions to transfer heat from the reduced transverse cross-sectional area to a surrounding fluid,
- a first laser configured to emit an optical wave into the thinned part in order to cause an increase in temperature in the thinned part of the optical fiber,
- a sensor configured to measure a backscattered optical wave coming from a fluid surrounding the thinned part of the optical fiber, and
- a processing unit configured to trace back a pressure measurement via a determination of a temperature variation related to the backscattered optical wave.
A vacuum pressure measurement system, comprising:
- a gauge placed in an enclosure in which a fluid circulates, said gauge comprising:
- an optical fiber comprising a thinned part formed by a reduced transverse cross-sectional area of the optical fiber which functions to transfer heat from the reduced transverse cross-sectional area to a surrounding fluid;
- a first laser configured to emit an optical wave into the thinned part in order to cause an increase in temperature in the thinned part of the optical fiber;
- a sensor configured to measure a backscattered optical wave coming from a fluid surrounding the thinned part of the optical fiber;
- and
- a processing unit configured to trace back a pressure measurement via a determination of a temperature variation related to the backscattered optical wave.
A pressure measurement method comprising:
- emitting, using a first laser, an optical wave in a thinned heat transfer part of an optical fiber to cause an increase in temperature in the thinned heat transfer part of the optical fiber, the thinned part being formed by a reduced transverse cross-sectional area of the optical fiber which functions to transfer heat from the reduced transverse cross-sectional area to a surrounding fluid, measuring, using a sensor, a backscattered optical wave coming from a fluid surrounding the thinned heat transfer part of the optical fiber, and measuring tracing back, using a processing unit, a pressure measurement via a determination of a fluid surrounding the thinned part from the measurement of temperature variation related to the backscattered optical wave.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.