Sensitivity Analysis of Contact Type Vibration Measuring Sensors

With the Internet of Things (IoT) era dawning in, we are surrounded by a plethora of sensors. The present paper focuses on MEMS-based vibration measuring accelerometers, which are ubiquitously present in smartphones, tablets, smartwatches/bands, etc. These contact type vibration sensors have the unique advantage of being very small, low cost, low power, less weighing, and easily accommodatable in electronics. However, the accuracy of these sensors needs to be quantified with respect to more accurate sensors. With this objective, the paper presents a comparison of the relative sensitivity of a MEMS-based accelerometer (MPU 6050), a Geophone, and a sensor from Xiaomi Y2 smartphone with respect to a more standard Piezoelectric ICP based accelerometer, when all sensors are tested on a shaker table. Data are measured with harmonic excitation over a frequency range of 2–184 Hz. The relative sensitivity of MPU 6050 was 90% accurate in the frequency range 18–116 Hz for RMS measurements. Other sensors such as the one used in the Xiaomi Y2 smartphone and the Geophone were less accurate. The relative sensitivity measured in this work can be used to obtain sensitivity and hence more accurate data from these low-cost accelerometers.     

Characterization and sensor applications of polycarbonate optical fibers

Some of the optical, mechanical, thermal, and chemical tests performed on a polycarbonate optical fiber (Optipol) developed by BAYER AG are described in this paper. Allthe tests were mainly done in order to evaluate the performances of this optical fiber, looking for its application as light transmitter in Local Area Networks (LANs) and sensors manufacture in the automobile industry. Some sensors using this fiber are also described in this paper: one speedometer, one tachometer, and one magnetometer. The last two sensors are Faraday effect sensors and have been developed with polycrystalline Cd_1-xMn_x, Te. This low-cost Faraday rotator has been specially manufactured by the authors to be used in industrial applications.     

表面等离激元纳米阵列结构传感器的集成化和小型化研究

表面等离激元由于其异常的光学特性在高灵敏度传感领域有着广泛的应用前景。然而,传统棱镜式表面等离激元传感器由于庞大的体积和昂贵的成本限制了其进一步发展。表面等离激元金属纳米阵列结构传感器的出现为实现低成本、小型化和集成化的表面等离激元传感器提供了一条有效的解决途径。文章首先总结了表面等离激元纳米阵列结构传感器的发展现状和应用优势,然后主要介绍了近期作者课题组在表面等离激元传感器小型化、集成化、低成本方面的一些工作。这些工作对推动表面等离激元传感理论的发展,实现金属纳米阵列传感技术器件化具有较为重要的现实意义。     

基于石墨烯/石墨烯卷轴复合薄膜高灵敏度柔性压力传感器

一维导电材料例如纳米线,大量应用于柔性压力传感器中. 但是一维材料和基底之间接触时相互作用力较弱,使得传感器灵敏度、响应时间、和循环寿命等性能指标有待进一步提高. 针对这些问题,设计了石墨烯/石墨烯卷轴多分子层复合薄膜作为传感器导电层. 石墨烯卷轴具有一维结构,而石墨烯的二维结构可以牢固地固定卷轴,以确保高导电性复合薄膜与基底之间的粘附性,同时整体结构的导电通道得到了增加. 由于一维和二维结构的协同效应,实现了应变灵敏度系数3.5 kPa^-1、 响应时间小于50 ms、能够稳定工作1000次以上的压阻传感器.     

Interrogating fiber Bragg grating sensors by thermally scanning a demultiplexer based on arrayed waveguide gratings

We evaluate a wavelength interrogation technique based on an arrayed waveguide grating (AWG). Initial results show that the Bragg wavelength of fiber Bragg grating (FBG) sensors can be precisely interrogated by thermally scanning an AWG-based demultiplexer. The technique potentially offers a low-cost, compact, and high-performance solution for the interrogation of FBG distributed sensors and multisensor arrays.     

Facile and low-cost synthesis of flexible nano-generators based on polymeric and porous aerogel materials

Triboelectric nano-generators (TE-NGs) can be utilized as a power supply for wireless systems, sensors, and operators. In this paper, new flexible TE-NGs that use sodium carboxymethyl cellulose (CMC), poly dimethyl siloxane (PDMS), polyvinylidene fluoride (PVDF), poly (4,4′-oxydiphenylene-pyromellitimide) (KAPTON) films and also sugar as a piezoelectric material were developed and are reported. Also, the outputs of NGs made by linear power under a periodic pressure of ~ 0.2 MPa at a frequency of 3 Hz showed that the highest output of NGs are related to PDMS–KATTON, PDMS, PVDF–KAPTON, PVDF, CMC NGs, respectively. It has been also observed that NGs connected in series to each other have a higher output than paralleled NGs so that their voltages increase at higher frequencies. Besides, a significant point is that the NGs are made in a low-cost, affordable, and environmentally-friendly route, which is a superior characteristic with respect to the rest of the NGs.     

Electret accelerometers: physics and dynamic characterization

Electret microphones are produced in numbers that significantly exceed those for all other microphone types. This is due to the fact that air-borne electret sensors are of simple and low-cost design but have very good acoustical properties. In contrast, most of the discrete structure-borne sound sensors (or accelerometers) are based on the piezoelectric effect. In the present work, capacitive accelerometers utilizing the electret principle were constructed, built, and characterized. These electret accelerometers comprise a metallic seismic mass, covered by an electret film, a ring of a soft cellular polymer supplying the restoring force, and a metallic backplate. These components replace membrane, spacer, and back electrode, respectively, of the electret microphone. An adjustable static pressure to the seismic mass is generated by two metal springs. The dynamic characterization of the accelerometers was carried out by using an electrodynamic shaker and an external charge or voltage amplifier. Sensors with various seismic masses, air gap distances, and electret voltages were investigated. Charge sensitivities from 10 to 40 pC/g, voltage sensitivities from 600 to 2000 mV/g, and resonance frequencies from 3 to 1.5 kHz were measured. A model describing both the charge and the voltage sensitivity is presented. Good agreement of experimental and calculated values is found. The experimental results show that sensitive, lightweight, and inexpensive electret accelerometers can be built.     

Using deep neural networks to diagnose engine pre-ignition

Engine downsizing and boosting have been recognized as effective strategies for improving engine efficiency. However, operating the engines at high load promotes abnormal combustion events, such as pre-ignition and potential superknock. Currently the most effective method for detecting pre-ignition is by using in-cylinder pressure sensors that have high precision and sensitivity, but also high cost. Due to rapid advances in automotive technology such as autonomous driving, computer-aided designs and future connectivity, we propose to use a complimentary data-driven strategy for diagnosing abnormal combustion events. To this end, a data-driven diagnostics approach for pre-ignition detection with deep neural networks is proposed. The success of convolutional neural networks (CNNs) in object detection and recurrent neural networks (RNNs) in sequence forecasting inspired us to develop these models for pre-ignition detection. For a cost-effective strategy, we use data from less expensive sensors, such as lambda and low-resolution exhaust back pressure (EBP), instead of high resolution in-cylinder pressure measurements. The first deep learning model is combined with a commonly used dimensionality reduction tool–Principal Component Analysis (PCA). The second model eliminates this step and directly processes time-series data. Results indicate that the first model with reduced input dimensions, and correspondingly smaller size of the network, shows better performance in detecting pre-ignition cycles with an F1 score of 79%. Overall, the proposed deep learning approach is a promising alternative for abnormal combustion diagnostics using data from low resolution sensors.     

First Observation of Surface Plasmon-Coupled Emission Due to LED Excitation

Detection limitations for fluorescence methods are normally determined by the phenomenon itself rather than the sensitivity of the instrumentation. These limitations make it necessary to have high sensitivity, high cost equipment causing fluorescence methods to remain lab-oriented. Alleviation of the limitations can be achieved through the phenomenon of surface plasmon-coupled emission (SPCE), which displays enhanced, directional, polarized fluorescence. Here we present the excitation of SPCE from Rhodamine B with a light-emitting diode (LED). Incorporating the gains in sensitivity due to SPCE with LED excitation, it could be possible to design low-cost, high-sensitivity sensors that would allow measurements to be performed in the field.     

THz detectors based on Si-CMOS technology field effect transistors – advantages,limitations and perspectives for THz imaging and spectroscopy

Recent advances in THz detection with the use of CMOS technology have shown that this option has the potential to be a leading method of producing low-cost THz sensors with integrated readout systems. This review paper, based on authors’ years of experience, presents strengths and weaknesses of this solution. The article gives examples of some hints, regarding radiation coupling and readout systems. It shows that silicon CMOS technology is well adapted to the production of inexpensive imaging systems for sub-THz frequencies. As an example paper presents the demonstrator of a multipixel Si-CMOS THz spectroscopic system allowing for chemical identification of lactose. The THz detectors embedded in this system were manufactured using the CMOS process.     

A novel fiber Bragg grating interrogating sensor system based on AWG demultiplexing

A fiber Bragg grating (FBG) interrogating technique based on the relative intensity-demodulating and the demultiplexing of an arrayed waveguide grating (AWG) is presented in this paper. The analytical simulation and the experiment validate the feasibility of this setup. Both theoretical and experiment results show that the shift of the Bragg wavelength of the FBG sensors can be precisely interrogated by the relative intensity reading of two-adjacent-channels of the AWG-based demultiplexer. Errors caused by the light source fluctuation and micro-band losses can be reduced with the relative technique. This technique potentially offers a low-cost, compact, and high-performance solution for the interrogation of FBG distributed sensors.     

Highly directional acoustic receivers

The theoretical directivity of a single combined acoustic receiver, a device that can measure many quantities of an acoustic field at a collocated point, is presented here. The formulation is developed using a Taylor series expansion of acoustic pressure about the origin of a Cartesian coordinate system. For example, the quantities measured by a second-order combined receiver, denoted a dyadic sensor, are acoustic pressure, the three orthogonal components of acoustic particle velocity, and the nine spatial gradients of the velocity vector. The power series expansion, which can be of any order, is cast into an expression that defines the directivity of a single receiving element. It is shown that a single highly directional dyadic sensor can have a directivity index of up to 9.5 dB. However, there is a price to pay with highly directive sensors; these sensors can be significantly more sensitive to nonacoustic noise sources.     

Multiplexing fiber bragg grating sensors

Bragg reflection gratings and out-coupling taps for sensors can be written holographically within the core of many commercial fibers available today. The gratings appear to be permanent and have been tested to temperatures in excess of 500°C. Quasi-distributed temperature, strain, pressure, chemical, and interferometric sensors can be made with the wavelength selective, reflection gratings, and taps. The fiber gratings, and the different types of sensors they can make, conveniently lend themselves to (wavelength-division multiplexing) WDM, (time-division multiplexing) TDM, and (frequency-division multiplexing) FDM types of multiplexing schemes. Instrumentation to detect the multiple sensors and measure their spectral shift for localized and quasi-distributed sensing is currently under development.     

Self-excited pressure pulsations in ethanol under heater subcooling

This paper presents experimental results of investigation of high-intensity cooling of high-temperature metal heater by subcooled ethanol flow. The experiments have proved the presence of self-excited pressure pulsations with amplitude of 1.15 MPa, arising in ethanol. Expanding real signals of the sensors by the Hilbert?Huang transform has resulted in the intrinsic mode functions. Analysis of these functions and the high-speed video shooting results allows identifying the basic frequencies and mechanisms of pressure oscillations. Comparison of the results with the data of film cooling and bubble boiling on the cooled heater has shown that maximum values of non-stationary heat-transfer coefficients for the self-excited oscillations and for the bubble boiling are the same.     

Spin Transition Molecular Materials: New Sensors

This short review article concerns a new family of iron(II) spin transition chain compounds containing 4-R-1,2,4-triazole derivatives whose properties have been followed by several physical techniques. A clear evidence of the LIESST effect at 20 K has been found for one of these materials by ⁵⁷Fe Mössbauer spectroscopy. Potential applications in terms of pressure and thermal sensors are discussed.     

光纤微机电系统法布里-珀罗压力传感器的波分复用

提出了一种用阵列波导光栅复用光纤微机电系统法布里-珀罗压力传感器的方法,实现了法布里-珀罗压力传感器的准分布式测量。传感器基于法布里-珀罗腔干涉的原理,采用微机电系统技术加工制作,用双波长方法解调干涉信号,利用传感器对两个不同波长光的反射率的比值与压力的单值关系确定所施加压力的大小,用阵列波导光栅实现传感器复用。理论分析与实验验证了传感器解调和复用的基本原理。实验结果表明:在压力的线性测量范围(0~1.5 MPa)内,系统的灵敏度(相对反射率比值/压力)可达到0.02026 MPa-1,测量结果具有较好的线形性,相对反射率比值的标准偏差小于3×10-4。该系统可以补偿传感器光网中和波长无关的变动引起的误差,具有好的线性、灵敏度和精度,复用能力强且复用传感器间无串扰。     

Multiplexing fiber bragg grating sensors

Abstract

Bragg reflection gratings and out-coupling taps for sensors can be written holographically within the core of many commercial fibers available today. The gratings appear to be permanent and have been tested to temperatures in excess of 500°C. Quasi-distributed temperature, strain, pressure, chemical, and interferometric sensors can be made with the wavelength selective, reflection gratings, and taps. The fiber gratings, and the different types of sensors they can make, conveniently lend themselves to (wavelength-division multiplexing) WDM, (time-division multiplexing) TDM, and (frequency-division multiplexing) FDM types of multiplexing schemes. Instrumentation to detect the multiple sensors and measure their spectral shift for localized and quasi-distributed sensing is currently under development.     

Industrial and medical applications of fiber Bragg gratings(Invited Paper)

The uses of optical fibers are numerous, and over the past few decades, they have extended from optical fiber communications to a wide variety of sensing applications. In particular, fiber Bragg grating(FBG) sensors inscribed in single-mode optical fibers offer significant advantages over more conventional electrical sensors and have been successfully deployed in many different industries. In this Review, we review the applications of intrinsic FBG pressure and flow sensors in oil and gas and the deployment of FBG sensing networks in railways.The promising prospect of using polymer FBGs in wearable medical devices is also described.     

Unidirectional sensitive flexible sensor for bending measurements

The measurement of bending direction and bending angles is essential in the multiaxial servo-controlled system, especially for collaborative robots. However, most flexible sensors developed for bending measurements cannot distinguish bending directions due to their sensitivity to both positive and negative bending. Also, these sensors usually exhibit simultaneous response to normal pressure, which results in additional calibration. Here, a unidirectional-sensitive flexible capacitive sensor is proposed. A simple asymmetric pyramidal microstructure was designed to create uneven responses to positive and negative bending and minimum response to normal pressure based on the fringe effect. The fabricated sensor shows a relative capacitance change of nearly 0.9 in the sensitive direction and only 0.05 in the other direction as the sensor bends from flat to the curvature radius of 10 mm. Also, the sensor shows negligible sensitivity even under a normal pressure force as high as 16 N, either in planar or bending condition.     

Engineering the crystal growth behavior: “On substrate” MOD formation of ZnO hollow spheres

In this paper is described an easy, one-pot synthesis of ZnO hollow spheres with sizes ranging from 300 nm to 500 nm, by spin-coating deposition on aluminum substrate. Simplified models explaining the shape formation based on film-substrate interaction are discussed. The characteristic size and shape of the nanostructures obtained by the described method and the properties of ZnO as a low-cost biocompatible material make this methodology of synthesis interesting for a wide range of applications including optoelectronics, catalysis and (bio)sensors.