Optical fiber based sensing for smart electrical cables and distributed radiation detection

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-10902976-B2
Application number	US-201716084300-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Mar 20, 2017
Priority date	Mar 23, 2016
Publication date	Jan 26, 2021
Grant date	Jan 26, 2021

Abstract

A cable device includes a sheath member, a number of electrical cables provided within the sheath member, and an optical fiber sensing member provided within the sheath member. The optical fiber sensing member includes a functionalized optical fiber based sensor device structured to exhibit a change in one or more optical properties in response to changes in a parameter of interest. Also, a method of sensing radiation includes introducing a source light into an optical fiber sensing member provided within a structure, wherein the optical fiber sensing member comprises a functionalized optical fiber based sensor device structured to exhibit a change in one or more optical properties in response to radiation, detecting sensing light generated in response to the source light, and determining a radiation level at a plurality of locations within the structure using the detected sensing light and a distributed sensing scheme.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A cable device, comprising:
a sheath member;
a number of electrical cables provided within the sheath member; and
an optical fiber sensing member provided within the sheath member, wherein the optical fiber sensing member comprises a functionalized optical fiber based sensor device that is directly sensitive to radiation and structured to exhibit a change in one or more optical properties in the presence of and directly in response to one or more changes in the radiation.

2. The cable device according to claim 1 , wherein the radiation is gamma radiation from 1 Gy to greater than 10,000 Gy.

3. The cable device according to claim 2 , wherein the optical fiber sensing member comprises an optical fiber doped with aluminum.

4. The cable device according to claim 1 , wherein the optical fiber sensing member is surrounded by a polymer to reduce friction with the number of electrical cables.

5. The cable device according to claim 1 , further comprising a second optical fiber sensing member provided within the sheath member, wherein the second optical fiber sensing member comprises a functionalized optical fiber based sensor device structured to exhibit a change in one or more second optical properties in response to changes in a second parameter of interest that is different than radiation.

6. A sensing system employing the cable device according to claim 1 , wherein the optical fiber sensing member includes a single point in-fiber sensing element, and wherein the sensing system is structured to measure the one or more changes in the radiation at a particular location along the cable device.

7. A sensing system employing the cable device according to claim 1 , wherein the sensing system is structured to implement distributed sensing of the one or more changes in the radiation along the cable device.

8. The sensing system according to claim 7 , wherein the optical fiber sensing member includes a monolithic in-fiber sensing element and wherein the sensing system is structured to implement the distributed sensing using a scattering based interrogation approach.

9. The sensing system according to claim 8 , wherein the scattering based interrogation approach is a back scattering based interrogation approach.

10. The sensing system according to claim 7 , wherein the optical fiber sensing member includes a plurality of in-fiber sensing elements arranged in series.

11. The sensing system according to claim 10 , wherein each of the in-fiber sensing elements includes a high-temperature stable fiber Bragg grating.

12. A sensing method employing the cable device according to claim 1 , comprising:
introducing a source light into the optical fiber sensing member;
detecting sensing light generated in response to the source light; and
determining one or more values for the one or more changes in the radiation using the detected sensing light.

13. A method of sensing radiation within a structure, comprising:
introducing a source light into an optical fiber sensing member provided within the structure, wherein the optical fiber sensing member comprises a functionalized optical fiber based sensor device that is directly sensitive to radiation and structured to exhibit a change in one or more more optical properties in the presence of and directly in response to one or more changes in the radiation;
detecting sensing light generated in response to the source light; and
determining a radiation level at a plurality of locations within the structure and along the optical fiber sensing member using the detected sensing light and a distributed sensing scheme.

14. The method according to claim 13 , wherein the optical fiber sensing member includes a monolithic in-fiber sensing element and wherein the distributed sensing scheme is a scattering based interrogation approach.

15. The method according to claim 14 , wherein the scattering based interrogation approach is a back scattering based interrogation approach.

16. The method according to claim 1 , Therein the optical fiber sensing member includes a plurality of in-fiber sensing elements arranged in series.

17. The sensing system according to claim 16 , wherein each of the in-fiber sensing elements includes a high-temperature stable fiber Bragg grating.

18. The method according to claim 13 , wherein the radiation is gamma radiation.

19. The method according to claim 18 , wherever the one or more optical properties change responsive to gamma radiation from 1 Gy to greater than 10,000 Gy.

20. The method according to claim 13 , wherein the optical fiber sensing member comprises an optical fiber doped with aluminum.

21. A system for sensing radiation in a structure, comprising:
an optical fiber sensing member provided within the structure, wherein the optical fiber sensing member comprises a functionalized optical fiber based sensor device that is directly sensitive to radiation and structured to exhibit a change in one or more optical properties in the presence of and directly in response to one or more changes in the radiation;
a light source structured to introduce a source light into an optical fiber sensing member; and
an optical signal analyzing device structured and configured to detect sensing light generated in response to the source light and determine a radiation level at a plurality of locations within the structure and along the optical fiber sensing member using the detected sensing light and a distributed sensing scheme.

22. The system according to claim 21 , wherein the optical fiber sensing member includes a monolithic in-fiber sensing element and wherein the distributed sensing scheme is a scattering based interrogation approach.

23. The system according to claim 22 , wherein the scattering based interrogation approach is a back scattering based interrogation approach.

24. The system according to claim 21 , wherein the optical fiber sensing member includes a plurality of in-fiber sensing elements arranged in series.

25. The system according to claim 21 , wherein the optical fiber sensing member comprises an optical fiber doped with aluminum.

Assignees

• Univ Pittsburgh Commonwealth Sys Higher Education
• Univ Of Pittsburgh—Of The Commonwealth System Of Higher Education

Inventors

• Chen Peng Kevin
• Bayoumy Mohamed A
• Yan Aidong
• Chen Rongzhang

Classifications

• G01K11/32 Primary

  using changes in transmittance, scattering or luminescence in optical fibres · CPC title

• H01B9/00

  Power cables · CPC title

• H01B7/17

  Protection against damage caused by external factors, e.g. sheaths or armouring · CPC title

• H01B9/02

  with screens or conductive layers, e.g. for avoiding large potential gradients · CPC title

• H01B7/32

  with arrangements for indicating defects, e.g. breaks or leaks · CPC title