Fiber optic sensors have a very wide range of applications in the industrial field, mainly because fiber optic sensors have the advantages of extremely high sensitivity and accuracy, anti-electromagnetic interference, high insulation strength, corrosion resistance, inherent good safety, integrated sensing and transmission, and compatible with digital communication systems. They are summarized as follows.
1. very high sensitivity.
2. light, thin and flexible for easy installation and burial.
3. electrical insulation and chemical stability, the fiber itself is a highly insulating, chemically stable material, suitable for power systems and chemical systems need high voltage isolation and flammable and explosive and other harsh environments.
4. good safety, fiber optic sensors are electrically passive sensitive components, so when applied to the measurement, there is no leakage and electric shock and other safety hazards;.
5. anti-electromagnetic interference, in general, the frequency of light waves than the frequency of electromagnetic radiation, so light propagation in the fiber will not be affected by electromagnetic noise.
6. Distributed measurement, an optical fiber can achieve long distance continuous measurement and control, can accurately measure the strain, damage, vibration and temperature information at any point, and thus form a monitoring area with a large range, to improve the level of environmental detection.
7. long service life, the main material of the optical fiber is quartz glass, wrapped in a polymer cladding, which makes it have greater durability compared to metal sensors.
8. Large transmission capacity, fiber optic as the bus, with the transmission of large-capacity optical fiber instead of bulky multi-core underwater cable to collect and store the information of each sensing point, and through multiplexing technology, to achieve the monitoring of distributed fiber optic sensors.