The detection of furfural in transformer oil through surface enhanced Raman spectroscopy (SERS) is one of the most promising online monitoring techniques in the process of transformer aging. In this work, the Raman of individual furfural molecules and SERS of furfural-M_x (M = Ag, Au, Cu) complexes are investigated through density functional theory (DFT). In the Raman spectrum of individual furfural molecules, the vibration mode of each Raman peak is figured out, and the deviation from experimental data is analyzed by surface charge distribution. In the SERS of furfural-M_x complexes, the influence of atom number and species on SERS chemical enhancement factors (EFs) are studied, and are further analyzed by charge transfer effect. Our studies strengthen the understanding of charge transfer effect in the SERS of furfural molecules, which is important in the online monitoring of the transformer aging process through SERS.

Thermal runaway gas analysis is a powerful technique for Lithium-ion battery (LIB) safety management and risk assessment. Here, we propose a novel hollow-core anti-resonant fiber (HC-ARF) based Raman gas sensing device for simultaneously sensitive detection of thermal runaway gas products (CH ₄ , C ₂ H ₆ , C ₂ H ₄ , C ₂ H ₂ , CO, CO ₂ , and H ₂ ). A micro-mirror is attached to the rear of fiber, which provides 3.1 times Raman signal enhancement compared to bare fiber, and two filtering methods are adopted to effectively filter out the background noise signal of fiber. With 200 mW excitation power and 60 s integration time, a low limit of detection (LOD) is achieved: 0.8, 3.0, 1.4, 1.5, 9.2, 4.2, and 4.1 ppm∙bar for CH ₄ , C ₂ H ₆ , C ₂ H ₄ , C ₂ H ₂ , CO, CO ₂ , and H ₂ , respectively, which is verified through the detection of low concentration gases. The proposed device has a short response time and does not require gas separation from the battery, and we believe this provides a new idea for non-destructive detection of battery status and in-situ assessment of battery health.

Analyzing the concentration of low molecular acids dissolved in oil is vital in the oil-paper insulation aging diagnostic procedure of power transformers. The existing methods cannot distinguish between different acid types and their strengths. In this study, an improved solution Raman detection platform is fabricated. The direct measurement of dissolved acetic acid, a kind of low molecular acids, is observed in transformer oil without extraction. The Raman shift line of oil-dissolved acetic acid at 891 cm⁻¹ corresponding to H–C–H symmetrical swing and O–H swing modes is taken as its characteristic value. Taking Raman shift line of pure oil at 932 cm⁻¹ as an internal standard, a linear regression curve for quantitative analysis is obtained with a slope of 0.19. The best platform parameter of accumulation number is 300, which is determined by Allan deviation analysis. The current concentration detection limit and accuracy for oil-dissolved acetic acid are obtained at about 0.68 mg/mL and 91.66%, separately. The results show that Raman spectroscopy could be a useful alternative method for evaluation insulation aging state of an operating power transformer in the future.

Currently, in the modern power industry, it is still a great challenge to achieve high sensitivity and uninterrupted-online measurement of large current on the high voltage gridlines. At present, the fiber grating current sensors based on giant magnetostrictive material used in the modern power industry to achieve uninterrupted-online measurement of large currents on high voltage grid lines is a better method, but the sensitivity of this current sensor is relatively low, therefore, it is key to improve the sensitivity of this current sensor. Here we show a sensitivity-enhanced fiber grating current sensor based on giant magnetostrictive material (in the following, simply referred to as the sensitivity-enhanced fiber grating current sensor) that is able to achieve high sensitivity and uninterrupted-online measurement of large currents by means of pressurizing the giant magnetostrictive material. Sampling the power frequency sinusoidal alternating current signals with the amplitudes of 107, 157 and 262 A respectively, based on realistic factors, for the sensitivity-enhanced current sensor, the sensitivities, compared with that of the traditional fiber grating current sensor based on giant magnetostrictive material (in the following, simply referred to as the traditional fiber grating current sensor), were respectively enhanced by 268.96%, 135.72% and 71.57%. Thus the sensitivity-enhanced fiber grating current sensor allows us to solve the issue of high sensitivity and uninterrupted-online measurement of large currents that have been plaguing the power industry in a very simple and low-cost way.

Spectroscopic gas sensing technologies based on absorption and Raman scattering are fast, nondestructive, long-term stable and highly selective. By making use of an optically resonant cavity, the sensitivity can be enhanced hundreds to thousands of times. However, frequency-locking technology is necessary to maintain a stable resonant condition. In this review, various applications of Pound-Drever-Hall (PDH) and optical feedback (OF) frequency-locking cavity-enhanced spectroscopy (cavity ring-down spectroscopy, cavity-enhanced absorption spectroscopy and cavity-enhanced Raman spectroscopy) for highly sensitive gas sensing are presented. The effect of frequency-locking cavity-enhanced spectroscopy for improving the sensitivity of gas sensing is demonstrated. In addition, the key parameters and advantages as well as limitations of different frequency-locking cavity-enhanced spectroscopy are summarized and discussed.