A fiber optic sensor for displacement and acceleration measurements in vibration tests

The paper describes a plastic optical fiber sensor for the evaluation of accelerations from non-contact displacement measurements and highlights the issues concerning its calibration in practical applications, like vibration tests of printed circuit board assemblies. A procedure to contemporaneously calibrate several optical sensors to allow mapping the vibration amplitude and acceleration distributions in a simple and low cost way is also disclosed. The proposed calibration procedure requires just one reference accelerometer, which is actually already available in typical vibration test facilities. Experimental results obtained in real conditions during a sinusoidal vibration test are also provided.