An optical fiber loop sensor for vibration monitoring

In harmful environments such as refineries and factories, with a strong electromagnetic field, fire hazard and explosion risk there is a need to monitor the vibration of equipment and industrial infrastructure. Applying traditional measurement methods is a significant difficulty because of electric current which creates the risk of fire and influence of electromagnetic noise on these electronic devices. The solution to this problem is optical fiber measuring and monitoring methods. In this paper we present an optical sensor based on a fiber loop which can monitor vibrations and measure small relative displacements. © 2010 Photonics Society of Poland.