Optical Fiber Sensor Performance Evaluation in Soft Polyimide Film with Different Thickness Ratios.

Journal: Sensors (Basel, Switzerland)
Published Date: Feb 15, 2019

Abstract

To meet the application requirements of curvature measurement for soft biomedical robotics and flexible morphing wings of aircraft, the optical fiber Bragg grating (FBG) shape sensor for soft robots and flexible morphing wing was implemented. This optical FBG is embedded in polyimide film and then fixed in the body of a soft robot and morphing wing. However, a lack of analysis on the embedded depth of FBG sensors in polyimide film and its sensitivity greatly limits their application potential. Herein, the relationship between the embedded depth of the FBG sensor in polyimide film and its sensitivity and stability are investigated. The sensing principle and structural design of the FBG sensor embedded in polyimide film are introduced; the bending curvatures of the FBG sensor and its wavelength shift in polyimide film are studied; and the relationship between the sensitivity, stability, and embedded depth of these sensors are verified experimentally. The results showed that wavelength shift and curvature have a linear relationship. With the sensor's curvature ranging from 0 m to 30 m, their maximum sensitivity is 50.65 pm/m, and their minimum sensitivity is 1.96 pm/m. The designed FBG sensor embedded in polyimide films shows good consistency in repeated experiments for soft actuator and morphing wing measurement; the FBG sensing method therefore has potential for real applications in shape monitoring in the fields of soft robotics and the flexible morphing wings of aircraft.

Authors

  • Yanlin He
    Shandong Normal University, School of Information Science and Engineering, No. 88, Wenhua East Road, Jinan, People's Republic of China.
  • Xu Zhang
    China CDC Key Laboratory of Environment and Population Health, National Institute of Environmental Health, Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention, Beijing 100021, China.
  • Lianqing Zhu
    Beijing Engineering Research Center of Optoelectronic Information and Instruments, Beijing Information Science and Technology University, Beijing 100192, China. lianqingzhu18@gmail.com.
  • Guangkai Sun
    Beijing Engineering Research Center of Optoelectronic Information and Instruments, Beijing Information Science and Technology University, Beijing 100192, China. guangkai.sun@bauu.edu.cn.
  • Xiaoping Lou
    Beijing Engineering Research Center of Optoelectronic Information and Instruments, Beijing Information Science and Technology University, Beijing 100192, China. louxiaopin@bistu.edu.cn.
  • Mingli Dong
    Beijing Engineering Research Center of Optoelectronic Information and Instruments, Beijing Information Science and Technology University, Beijing 100192, China. dongml@bistu.edu.cn.

Keywords

External Resources

Popular Topics
Recent Journals