Novel optical fibre gas sensors: application in harsh environment
| Reference number | |
| Coordinator | RISE Research Institutes of Sweden AB - ACREO, Kista |
| Funding from Vinnova | SEK 466 000 |
| Project duration | March 2020 - September 2020 |
| Status | Completed |
| Venture | The strategic innovation programme for Swedish mining and metal producing industry - SIP Swedish Mining Innovation |
| Call | Towards a sustainable development in the mining and metal extraction industry |
Purpose and goal
NOVASENS, a project led by RISE and supported by two stakeholders, SSAB and Sandvik, addresses a number of the challenges addressed in STRIM´s agenda. In NOVASENS, RISE has assessed the use of a new specialty optical fibre, anti-resonant hollow-core fibre, for simultaneous, faster and more efficient monitoring of several gas species for mining and metallurgy-related applications. We also investigated the feasibility of developing a quasi/fully distributed fibre-optic gas sensing system, applicable to mining and metallurgy industry.
Expected results and effects
The main outcomes of this pre-study are: 1. A new fiber-optic gas sensor for simultaneous monitoring of several gases relevant to mining and metallurgy-related applications. 2. A feasibility study on distributed gas sensing with fiber optic technology based on the new optical fiber RISE developed in NOVASENS. 3. Better understanding industrial needs for RISE in terms of gas sensing in harsh environment and how fibre-optic sensors could be beneficial for application in the metal process control industry.
Planned approach and implementation
Optimised gas sensing performance using fibre-optics cannot be achieved by exploiting conventional telecom fibres. In NOVASENS, we worked on the development of a fibre-optic gas sensing solution based on a new type of optical fbre, an anti-resonant revolver optical fibre, customised for fibre-optic gas sensing in the telecom bandwidth. To achieve successful laboratory evaluation of this new fibre gas sensor, RISE worked on various microfabrication processes for the fabrication of the sensor, and signal processing for enhanced sensor performance.