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US 5,331,272 AGranted
Optical sensor for detecting an electric field via the Faraday effect
AssigneeCentre Suisse d'Electronique et de Microtechnique S.A.
InventorsOlivier Parriaux, Patrick DeBergh, Jean-Pascal Chavanne
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
The optical electric current sensor is composed of a birefringent light guide (2) coiled around an electric current conductor (1) and is characterized by a spatial modulation of the magnetic field or of the birefringence of the light guide, along the light guide, at a spatial period equal to a whole number of times the beat length of the guide.
Claims7
An optical electric current sensor comprising:
- light emitter means for emitting light having a first polarization mode defined by plane polarized light;
- light transmitter means for transmission of said light, said light transmitter means being looped around a rectilinear electric current conductor which produces a circular magnetic field having field lines which are substantially collinear with a propagation direction of said light, said transmitter means being integrated on a substrate, wherein said transmitter means imparts a second polarization mode to said light due to birefringence of said transmitter means;
- transducer means for generating a spatial modulation of at least one of said magnetic field and said birefringence of the transmitter means, said spatial modulation defined by a plurality of modulations, wherein adjacent modulations are spaced apart a distance equal to a spatial period defined by a whole number multiplied by a beat length of said transmitter means, said spatial modulation creating a coupling between said first and second polarization modes;
- and
- light receiver means for detecting intensities of said first and second polarization modes for determination of a value of current traveling through said electric current conductor.
2 more elements
An optical electric current sensor comprising:
- light emitter means for emitting light having a first polarization mode defined by plane polarized light;
- light transmitter means for transmission of said light, said light transmitter means being looped around a rectilinear electric current conductor which produces a circular magnetic field having field lines which are substantially collinear with a propagation direction of said light, said light transmitter means being integrated on a substrate, wherein said transmitter means imparts a second polarization mode to said light due to birefringence of said transmitter means;
- transducer means for generating a spatial modulation of said magnetic field, said spatial modulation defined by a plurality of modulations, wherein adjacent modulations are spaced apart a distance equal to a spatial period defined by a whole number multiplied by a beat length of said transmitter means, said spatial modulation creating a coupling between said first and second polarization modes;
- and
- light receiver means for detecting intensities of said first and second polarization modes for determination of a value of current traveling through said electric current conductor.
2 more elements
An optical electric current sensor comprising:
- light emitter means for emitting light having a first polarization mode defined by plane polarized light;
- light transmitter means for transmission of said light, said light transmitter means being looped around a rectilinear electric current conductor which produces a circular magnetic field having field lines which are substantially collinear with a propagation direction of said light, said light transmitter means being integrated on a substrate, wherein said transmitter means imparts a second polarization mode to said light due to birefringence of said transmitter means;
- transducer means for generating a spatial modulation of said magnetic field, said spatial modulation defined by a plurality of modulations, wherein adjacent modulations are spaced apart a distance equal to a spatial period defined by a whole number multiplied by a beat length of said transmitter means, said spatial modulation creating a coupling between said first and second polarization modes, said transducer means comprising magnetic material areas integrated on said substrate and being spaced apart from each other along a loop of said light transmitter means to produce said spatial modulation of said magnetic field by creating areas of concentration of said magnetic field;
- and
- light receiver means for detecting intensities of said first and second polarization modes for determination of a value of current traveling through said electric current conductor.
2 more elements
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.