A high-sensitivity, low-cost, ultrathin, hollow fiber micro bubble structure was proposed; such a bubble can be used to develop a high-sensitivity strain sensor based on a Fabry–Perot interferometer (FPI). The micro bubble is fabricated at the fiber tip by splicing a glass tube to a single mode fiber (SMF) and then the glass tube is filled with gas in order to expand and form a micro bubble. The sensitivity of the strain sensor with a cavity length of about 155 μm and a bubble wall thickness of about 6 μm was measured to be up to 8.14 pm/μϵ.
In this study, an ultrasonic temperature measurement system was designed with Al2O3 high-temperature ceramic as an acoustic waveguide sensor and preliminarily tested in a high-temperature oxidation environment. The test results indicated that the system can indeed work stably in high-temperature environments. The relationship between the temperature and delay time of 26 °C–1600 °C ceramic materials was also determined in order to fully elucidate the high-temperature oxidation of the proposed waveguide sensor and to lay a foundation for the further application of this system in temperatures as high as 2000 °C.
This paper mainly studies the model design of a thin-film heat-flux sensor (TFHFS), and focuses on the comparison of three dynamic calibration methods. The primary motivation for studying this came from the urgent need for heat-flux dynamic measurements in extreme environments, and the one-sidedness of the dynamic performance evaluation of the corresponding TFHFS. The dynamic theoretical model of the TFHFS was originally established on the principle of a temperature gradient on the basis of a thermal radiation boundary. Then, a novel TFHFS sensor was developed, which can be used at temperatures above 880 °C and has a high sensitivity of 2.0 × 10−5 mV/(W/m2). It can function stably for long durations under a heat-flux density of 3 MW/m2. The steady-state, transient, and frequency calibration of a TFHFS were compared to comprehensively analyze the dynamic characteristics of the TFHFS. The steady-state response time measured by the step excitation method was found to be 0.978 s. The QR decomposition method was applied to the steady-state response experimental model construction, and the fitting degree of a second-order transfer function model obtained was 98.61%. Secondly, the transient response time of the TFHFS was 0.31 ms based on the pulse-excitation method. The transient relationship between the surface temperature and the heat flux, and the pulse-width dependence of the TFHFS transient response time were established. Surprisingly, the response frequency of the TFHFS, about 3000 Hz, was efficiently tested using the frequency response function (FRF), which benefitted from the harmonic characteristics of a periodic square-wave excitation signal. Finally, a comprehensive evaluation of the dynamic performance of the TFHFS was realized.
A new fiber pressure sensor is proposed and analyzed in this paper. A commercial arc fusion splicer and pressure-assisted arc discharge technology are used here to fabricate a silica hollow microbubble from a common glass tube with the characteristics of a thin film. Then the single mode fiber is embedded into the microbubble to form a fiber Fabry–Perot interferometer by measuring the reflected interference spectrum from the fiber tip and microbubble end. As the wall thickness of the micro-bubble can reach up to several micrometers, it can then be used for measuring the outer pressure with high sensitivity. The fabrication method has the merits of being simple, low in cost, and is easy to control. Experimental results show that its pressure sensitivity can reach 164.56 pm/kPa and the temperature sensitivity can reach 4 pm/°C. Therefore, it also has the advantage of being insensitive to temperature fluctuation.