A FIBEROPTIC PRESSURE SENSOR

Success in fabricating optoelectronic components and industrial requirements have given rise to the development of a new class of devices: fiber-optic sensors (FOS) [1]. In 1990 [2] 10% of the worldwide market for fiber-optic sensors consisted of pressure sensors. Fiber-optic pressure sensors based on rotation of the plane of polarization [3] or changes in losses induced at microbends in the optical fiber [4] are rather expensive and complex to design. At the same time, combustible gas feeding systems in blast furnaces, internal combustion engine starters, and pneumatic equipment used in mines all require a simple, reliable, and explosion-proof gas pressure sensor operating oyer a comparatively moderate pressure range (0-4 atm). The development of an amplitude-type fiber-optic pressure sensor based on modulation of radiation reflected by the membrane enables this problem to be solved in a number of cases.