Keywords

Fiber optics, Optical detectors

Abstract

A fiber optic fluid level sensor based on light transmission attenuation due to bending losses is designed, built and tested.

Fibers formed with reverse curvatures of decreasing radii will induce and increasing amount of lower order mode light loss to the cladding as the light propagates along the step index multimode fiber. The sensor is arranged in the fluid in a vertical position such that the light travels along the fiber from the bottom or low fluid point to the top or full point. As the fluid covers increasing lengths of the exposed fiber, it strips even more power from the cladding (assuming the fluid refractive index is greater than the cladding refractive index). Data taken with a sensor of this configuration show a monotonic decrease of the output intensity as a function of increasing fluid level. As much as a 14 dB change occurs over a one-foot fluid level change. A mathematical model, based on both field theory and geometrical optics, is developed to evaluate and predict the performance of this fiber optic fluid level sensor. Comparisons of the theoretical predictions and the experimental results under laboratory conditions show very good agreement.

Notes

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Graduation Date

1985

Semester

Fall

Advisor

Belkerdid, Madjid A.

Degree

Master of Science (M.S.)

College

College of Engineering

Department

Engineering

Degree Program

Engineering

Format

PDF

Language

English

Rights

Public Domain

Length of Campus-only Access

None

Access Status

Masters Thesis (Open Access)

Identifier

DP0017014

Accessibility Status

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Engineering Commons

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