A 3-D-printed, temperature sensor based on mechanically-induced long period fibre gratings

ABSTRACT

We demonstrate the implementation of a temperature sensor based on mechanically induced long-period fibre gratings (MILPFGs) using a 3-D printing technology. Our sensor has an assembled structure with a periodically V-grooved plate, a flat cradle, and an assembly case, all of which are 3-D-printed with a thermoplastic of acrylonitrile butadiene styrene (ABS). Our sensor exhibits the linear change of both wavelength and loss of the resonance peak depending on environmental temperature, unlike the conventional LPFGs-based temperature sensors. The observed resonance loss change can be attributed to the micro-expansion of our 3-D-printed assembly structure, which decreases the screw-induced strain. The temperature sensitivities of our sensor are measured to be −97 pm/°C and 0.33 dB/°C for the wavelength and loss of the resonance peak, respectively.

KEYWORDS:

• 3-D printing
• long-period fibre gratings
• temperature sensing
• optical fibre sensors

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by the National Research Foundation of Korea (NRF) of Republic of Korea (No. 2018R1A2B6001641) for Jinho Lee and by the 2019 Research Fund of the University of Seoul for Ju Han Lee.