A fiber-optic density sensor for monitoring the state-of-charge of a lead acid battery

Author

Hancke, Gerhard P.

Author_Institution

Dept. of Electr. Eng., Pretoria Univ., South Africa

Volume

39

Issue

1

fYear

1990

fDate

2/1/1990 12:00:00 AM

Firstpage

247

Lastpage

250

Abstract

A fiber-optic technique for measuring relative density has been developed and successfully applied to the electrolyte of a lead-acid battery. The method relies on the optical power loss exhibited by fibers bent beyond a critical radius. For such fibers the loss depends on the refractive index of the surrounding medium, which is proportional to its specific gravity. The amount of leakage can be measured and related to the value of the specific gravity. The application of this technique has one main drawback: errors can arise from source intensity variations, variable losses in fibers and connectors, and sensitivity changes in the detectors

Keywords

charge measurement; density measurement; electrolytes; fibre optic sensors; measurement errors; refractive index measurement; secondary cells; Pb acid battery; electrolyte; fiber-optic density sensor; leakage; measurement errors; monitoring; optical power loss; refractive index; relative density; sensitivity changes; source intensity variations; specific gravity; variable losses; Battery charge measurement; Density measurement; Gravity; Monitoring; Optical fiber losses; Optical fiber sensors; Optical refraction; Optical sensors; Optical variables control; Refractive index;

fLanguage

English

Journal_Title

Instrumentation and Measurement, IEEE Transactions on

Publisher

ieee

ISSN

0018-9456

Type

jour

DOI

10.1109/19.50454

Filename

50454