Options
An Automated Fiber Bending Machine for Large Scale Fabrication of U-bent Fiber Optic Sensor
Date Issued
01-01-2023
Author(s)
Indian Institute of Technology, Madras
Swamy, V. V.Lakshmana
Deepak, S.
Shamlee, Kuzhandai J.
Divagar, M.
Ramakrishna, B.
Manoharan, Hariharan
Kumar, Ratan
Rajamani, Allwyn S.
Abstract
Silica-based U-bent fiber optic sensor (U-FOS) probes exhibit excellent absorbance and refractive index sensitivity. They have been typically fabricated by manual means with the help of a butane flame, which is plagued by high probe-to-probe variations in the geometry, leading to rejection rates as high as 50% - 70%. In particular, fibers with 200 µm core and bend diameter as small as 1 mm pose a severe challenge. To overcome these limitations, we have developed an automated fiber bending machine (FBM) that consists of a CO2 laser as heating source with a mechanism to automate laser beam deflection for precise control of heating zones on fiber and an automated articulating arm mechanism that holds both the ends of fiber and bends them after reaching glass transition temperature of about 1200 ◦C. FBM is capable of fabrication of U-FOS probes as many as 60-80 probes in an hour with bend diameter down to 0.55 mm and minimal geometric deviations. The proposed design is highly rugged, and more than ten thousand probes have been fabricated with this FBM so far.
Volume
12643