A real-time state-of-charge (SOC) estimator based on the signals obtained from a Fibre Bragg Grating (FBG)-based sensor system is reported. The estimator has used a dynamic time-warping algorithm to determine the best fit, employing previously obtained experimental data. The strain data used were obtained from the optical signal monitored, providing the input to a supervised learning algorithm. The results achieved show a good match with those from conventional techniques, achieving a ~2% accuracy with a ~1% SOC resolution. The system has been successfully applied to a ‘proof of concept’ demonstrator, using a battery-operated train, illustrating as a result the way in which the real-time SOC estimator could be employed to enhance safety in the growing electrical vehicle industry.

An operational, Fiber Bragg Grating (FBG)- based sensing system, specifically designed to monitor conditions in a harsh industrial environment is reported. The sensors used were placed inside tanks with high levels of methane (CH4), carbon dioxide (CO2) and hydrogen sulphide (H2S) gases and high relative humidity in the North Head sewage treatment plant in Sydney, Australia. The sensor system was developed primarily to monitor the effect of >98% relative humidity and temperature changes on the corrosion rates of various materials inside the tanks. Data have been obtained from the use of the system for eight months: these have been correlated with key climate data including the changing weather conditions experienced during the continued monitoring activity. The sensor system specifically developed has been shown to be sufficiently robust to work well, and safely, in such a harsh environment (due to the gaseous H2S and CH4 present) with no signs of deterioration of the sensors or of the signals obtained from the system. The remote operation through flexible data transmission has allowed continuous and up-to-date monitoring of the conditions inside the tanks.

This article reports on an extended (20-month) period of monitoring of humidity in situ at two locations in the sewer network operated by Sydney Water using a fibre optic network into which a series of Bragg Grating-based sensors had been installed. The locations (Eustace Street in Manly, Sydney and Old Toongabbie at Oakes Reserve, western Sydney, Australia) both had different operating environments and thus conditions for evaluating the sensor system. It was designed to provide a solution to enable long term, low cost and more reliable monitoring in the harsh conditions of the sewer environments in terms of high relative humidity >95% and a broad range of hydrogen sulfide levels. The results of the study show that even after ~20 months of use, the same sensor is reliably recording humidity and temperature in the sewer environment-overcoming the problems seen with conventional electrical sensors, which typically fail within a couple of weeks of use in this continuous high acid/high humidity environment. The data, recorded constantly from the sensor system, were stable throughout the full monitoring period and further, a comparison with the changing weather conditions was made over the different seasons during the study. The sensor system developed was battery operated and had 4G connectivity for data transfer and debugging. These features have enabled the system to be installed in situations where power is not available and operate successfully with minimal human operation, thus allowing for additional systems to be integrated to the measurement system in the future.

Microfluidics is used in many applications ranging from chemistry, medicine, biology and biomedical research, and the ability to measure pH values in-situ is an important parameter for creating and monitoring environments within a microfluidic chip for many such applications. We present a portable, optical fibre-based sensor for monitoring the pH based on the fluorescent intensity change of an acrylamidofluorescein dye, immobilized on the tip of a multimode optical fibre, and its performance is evaluated in-situ in a microfluidic channel. The sensor showed a sigmoid response over the pH range of 6.0–8.5, with a maximum sensitivity of 0.2/pH in the mid-range at pH 7.5. Following its evaluation, the sensor developed was used in a single microfluidic PDMS channel and its response was monitored for various flow rates within the channel. The results thus obtained showed that the sensor is sufficiently robust and well-suited to be used for measuring the pH value of the flowing liquid in the microchannel, allowing it to be used for a number of practical applications in ‘lab-on-a-chip’ applications where microfluidics are used. A key feature of the sensor is its simplicity and the ease of integrating the sensor with the microfluidic channel being probed.

Hydrogen sulfide is a toxic and explosive gas commonly present in human industrial activities. Thus, it is imperative to efficiently measure this gas while also avoiding risks of creating sparks or heating. The aim of the present work is to develop and characterize a detection method capable of detecting hydrogen sulfide using the fiber Bragg grating interrogation technique. The method includes etching of the fiber cladding in the vicinity of the grating and pulsed laser deposition of tin oxide thin films as a sensitive layer that will be responsible for the Bragg wavelength shift when in contact with the gas. As shown by XPS analysis, the sensor response reaches a maximum when films exhibit a high concentration of oxygen vacancies. Results show resolution in the ppm range for hydrogen sulfide and fast recovery time, indicating that this can be a novel method for gas detection applications.

The wide application of graphene in the industry requires the direct growth of graphene films on silicon substrates. In this study, we found a possible technique to meet the requirement above. Multilayer graphene thin films (MLG) were grown without a catalyst on Si/SiO₂ using pulsed laser deposition (PLD). It was found that the minimum number of laser pulses required to produce fully covered (uninterrupted) samples is 500. This number of laser pulses resulted in samples that contain ~5 layers of graphene. The number of layers was not affected by the laser fluence and the sample cooling rate after the deposition. However, the increase in the laser fluence from 0.9 J/cm² to 1.5 J/cm² resulted in a 2.5-fold reduction in the MLG resistance. The present study reveals that the PLD method is suitable to produce nanocrystalline multilayer graphene with electrical conductivity of the same magnitude as commercial CVD graphene samples.