This dissertation focuses on developing new technologies for ultra-low-cost sapphire fiber-optic high-temperature sensors. The research is divided into three major parts, the souceless sensor, the simple Fabry-Perot (F-P) interrogator, and the sensor system. Chapter 1 briefly reviews the background of thermal radiation, fiber optic F-P sensors, and F-P signal demodulation. The research goal is highlighted. In Chapter 2, a temperature sensing system is introduced. The environmental thermal radiation was used as the broadband light source. A sapphire wafer F-P temperature sensor head was fabricated, with an alumina cap designed to generate a stable thermal radiation field. The radiation-induced optical interference pattern was observed. We demodulated the temperature sensor by white-light-interferometry (WLI). Temperature resolution better than 1°C was achieved. Chapter 3 discusses a novel approach to demodulate an optical F-P cavity at low-cost. A simple interrogator is demonstrated, which is based on the scanning-white-light-interferometry (S-WLI). The interrogator includes a piece of fused silica wafer, and a linear CCD array, to transform the F-P demodulation from the optical frequency domain to the spatial domain. By using the light divergence of an optical fiber, we projected a tunable reference F-P cavity onto an intensity distribution along a CCD array. A model for S-WLI demodulation was established. Performance of the new S-WLI interrogator was investigated. We got a good resolution similar to the well-known traditional WLI. At last, we were able to combine the above two technologies to a sapphire-wafer-based temperature sensor. The simple silica wafer F-P interrogator was optimized by focusing light to the image sensor. This approach improves the signal to noise ratio, hence allows the new integrator to work with the relatively weak thermal radiation field. We, therefore, proved in the experiment, the feasibility of the low-cost sourceless optical Fabry-Perot temperature sensor with a simple demodulation system. / PHD / Temperature measurements for high temperature harsh environments is a challenge industrial task. In this work, a low-cost sapphire fiber high temperature sensor is introduced which uses single crystal sapphire fiber as the light guiding and a sapphire-wafer-based Fabry-Perot (F-P) interferometer as the temperature sensing element. The research goal is to provide an optical sensing system whose price is competitive to the high temperature thermocouples. Two technologies were developed to reduce the cost of the sensing system, the sourceless sensor head design and the low-cost wafer-based F-P interrogator. The sourceless sensor head makes use of the environmental thermal radiation as a broadband light source, together with the white light interferometry signal demodulation method, for temperature measurements. In this case, the system avoids using not only an external light, but also the light driver and the light coupling element. A low-cost F-P cavity interrogation method was introduced to demodulate the sapphire-wafer-based temperature sensing F-P cavity. The signal demodulation is based on the scanning white light interferometry, but a reliable and low-cost reference F-P cavity is introduced. It includes only a piece of transparent wafer and a CCD array to transfer the interference fringe from the spectra domain to the spatial domain and therefore a low cost CCD can be directly applied to identify the optical path distance of the sensing OPD. Eventually, the above two technologies were able to put together and an extremely low-cost F-P temperature sensing system was built. It has a good potential for further applications and commercialization.

The thesis describes development and application of coupled resonant coil sensors, which is of growing interest for remote monitoring applications. An interrogation technique, which improves the accuracy and interrogation range of coupled resonant coil sensors, is introduced. The method uses time-domain gating to produce measurements that are dominated by the response of the sensor coil and are immune to surrounding object interference. For application in structural health monitoring a low cost embeddable coupled coil sensor, which is able to monitor the corrosion potential of reinforcement steel is presented. Results of an accelerated corrosion test using the sensor indicate that corrosion potential can be monitored with a resolution less than 10 mV and a sensitivity of 0.76 kHz/mV. The last part describes a coupled-coil pH sensor based on pH electrode potential measurement. A linear response over a 4 to 10 pH dynamic range and 50 kHz/pH sensitivity are achieved with a 0.1 pH resolution and 30 s response time.

The thesis describes development and application of coupled resonant coil sensors, which is of growing interest for remote monitoring applications. An interrogation technique, which improves the accuracy and interrogation range of coupled resonant coil sensors, is introduced. The method uses time-domain gating to produce measurements that are dominated by the response of the sensor coil and are immune to surrounding object interference. For application in structural health monitoring a low cost embeddable coupled coil sensor, which is able to monitor the corrosion potential of reinforcement steel is presented. Results of an accelerated corrosion test using the sensor indicate that corrosion potential can be monitored with a resolution less than 10 mV and a sensitivity of 0.76 kHz/mV. The last part describes a coupled-coil pH sensor based on pH electrode potential measurement. A linear response over a 4 to 10 pH dynamic range and 50 kHz/pH sensitivity are achieved with a 0.1 pH resolution and 30 s response time.

Tato práce popisuje výzkum zaměřený na studium vertikálních teplotních profilů a fluktuací v turbulentní Rayleighově-Bénardově konvekci. Experiment byl proveden v "Barrel of Ilmenau" obsahující válcovou experimentální celu s průměrem 7,15 m a výškou 4,7 m ("the aspect ratio" = 1,5) naplněnou suchým vzduchem. Teplotní profily a fluktuace byly studovány podél vertikální osy cely mezi horní a spodní deskou spodní deskou v rozmezí Rayleighova čísla (Ra) 1E11 4E12. Teplotní profily byly změřeny novou metodou využívající systém s optickým vláknem Luna ODiSI-B, který byl pořízen týmem z Ilmenau. Systém umožňuje měřit teplotní profil ve všech bodech podél celého vlákna současně s prostorovým rozlišením 5 mm.

Spectrally-based fiber optic sensors are a rapidly maturing technology capable of sensing several environmental parameters in environments that are unfitting to electrical sensors. However, the sensor interrogation systems for this type of sensors are not yet fit to replace conventional sensor systems. They lack the speed, compact size, and usability necessary to move into mainstream test and measurement. The Fiber Sensor Integrated Monitor (FSIM) technology leverages rapid optical components and parallel hardware architecture to move these sensors across the research threshold into greater mainstream use. By dramatically increasing speed, shrinking size, and targeting an interface that can be used in large-scale industrial interrogation systems, spectrally-based fiber optic sensors can now find more widespread use in both research labs and industrial applications. The technology developed in this thesis was demonstrated by producing two advanced interrogators: one that was one half the size of commercially available systems, and one that accelerated live spectral capture by one thousand times – both of which were operated by non-developers with little training.