Compensation for effects of ambient temperature on rare-earth doped fiber optic thermometer

Variations in ambient temperature have a negative effect on the performance of any fiber optic sensing system. A change in ambient temperature may alter the design parameters of fiber optic cables, connectors, sources, detectors, and other fiber optic components and eventually the performance of the entire system. The thermal stability of components is especially important in a system which employs intensity modulated sensors. Several referencing schemes have been developed to account for the variable losses that occur within the system. However, none of these conventional compensating techniques can be used to stabilize the thermal drift of the light source in a system based on the spectral properties of the sensor material. The compensation for changes in ambient temperature becomes especially important in fiber optic thermometers doped with rare earths. Different approaches to solving this problem are searched and analyzed

Polarization Dependent Coupling of Whispering Gallery Modes in Microspheres

Two sets of resonances in glass microspheres attached to a standard communication-grade single-mode optical fiber have been observed. It has been found that the strength of the resonances depends strongly on the polarization of the coupled light. Furthermore, the position of the resonances in the wavelength domain depends on the polarization of light in the optical fiber with maximum magnitudes shifted by approximately 45

High-Temperature Optical Sensor

A high-temperature optical sensor (see Figure 1) has been developed that can operate at temperatures up to 1,000 C. The sensor development process consists of two parts: packaging of a fiber Bragg grating into a housing that allows a more sturdy thermally stable device, and a technological process to which the device is subjected to in order to meet environmental requirements of several hundred C. This technology uses a newly discovered phenomenon of the formation of thermally stable secondary Bragg gratings in communication-grade fibers at high temperatures to construct robust, optical, high-temperature sensors. Testing and performance evaluation (see Figure 2) of packaged sensors demonstrated operability of the devices at 1,000 C for several hundred hours, and during numerous thermal cycling from 400 to 800 C with different heating rates. The technology significantly extends applicability of optical sensors to high-temperature environments including ground testing of engines, flight propulsion control, thermal protection monitoring of launch vehicles, etc. It may also find applications in such non-aerospace arenas as monitoring of nuclear reactors, furnaces, chemical processes, and other hightemperature environments where other measurement techniques are either unreliable, dangerous, undesirable, or unavailable

Development and Performance Verification of Fiber Optic Temperature Sensors in High Temperature Engine Environments

A High Temperature Fiber Optic Sensor (HTFOS) has been developed at NASA Glenn Research Center for aircraft engine applications. After fabrication and preliminary in-house performance evaluation, the HTFOS was tested in an engine environment at NASA Armstrong Flight Research Center. The engine tests enabled the performance of the HTFOS in real engine environments to be evaluated along with the ability of the sensor to respond to changes in the engine's operating condition. Data were collected prior, during, and after each test in order to observe the change in temperature from ambient to each of the various test point levels. An adequate amount of data was collected and analyzed to satisfy the research team that HTFOS operates properly while the engine was running. Temperature measurements made by HTFOS while the engine was running agreed with those anticipated

Non-Equilibrium Plasma Applications for Water Purification Supporting Human Spaceflight and Terrestrial Point-of-Use

2016 NASA Glenn Technology Day Panel Presentation on May 24, 2016. The panel description is: Environmental Impact: NASA Glenn Water Capabilities Both global water scarcity and water treatment concerns are two of the most predominant environmental issues of our time. Glenn researchers share insights on a snow sensing technique, hyper spectral imaging of Lake Erie algal blooms, and a discussion on non-equilibrium plasma applications for water purification supporting human spaceflight and terrestrial point-of-use. The panel moderator will be Bryan Stubbs, Executive Director of the Cleveland Water Alliance

Effects of Varying Gravity Levels on fNIRS Headgear Performance and Signal Recovery

This paper reviews the effects of varying gravitational levels on functional Near-Infrared Spectroscopy (fNIRS) headgear. The fNIRS systems quantify neural activations in the cortex by measuring hemoglobin concentration changes via optical intensity. Such activation measurement allows for the detection of cognitive state, which can be important for emotional stability, human performance and vigilance optimization, and the detection of hazardous operator state. The technique depends on coupling between the fNIRS probe and users skin. Such coupling may be highly susceptible to motion if probe-containing headgear designs are not adequately tested. The lack of reliable and self-applicable headgear robust to the influence of motion artifact currently inhibits its operational use in aerospace environments. Both NASAs Aviation Safety and Human Research Programs are interested in this technology as a method of monitoring cognitive state of pilots and crew

Sensors and Rotordynamics Health Management Research for Aircraft Turbine Engines

Develop Advanced Sensor Technology and rotordynamic structural diagnostics to address existing Aviation Safety Propulsion Health Management needs as well as proactively begin to address anticipated safety issues for new technologies

Religious Tastes and Styles as Markers of Class Belonging: A Bourdieuian Perspective on Pentecostalism in South America

Studies on the relationship between social class and religion tend to highlight the demographic dimension of class, but neglect its symbolic dimension. By addressing the symbolic dimensions through a Bourdieuian approach, this article contends that religious tastes and styles can be employed as class markers within the sphere of religion. A case study on Argentinean Pentecostalism and in-depth analysis of a lower and middle class church illustrate how symbolic class differences are cultivated in the form of distinctive religious styles. While the lower class church displays a style marked by emotional expressiveness and the search for life improvement through spiritual practices, the middle class church performs a sober and calm style of Pentecostalism. The study highlights the role of styles in the reproduction of class boundaries, while shedding a critical light on the importance of tastes

Temperature changes in heat pump horizontal ground source

The paper deals with assessment of thermal fields and temperature changes in ground massif with horizontal heat exchanger used as a heat source for a heat pump. Temperatures in the zone of the horizontal ground exchanger are compared with temperatures in a reference land. Changes of heat potential of the soil during the heating period are also assessed. Possibilities of recovery of thermal potential of the ground massif when utilizing vertical and horizontal exchangers are analyzed in the opening part of the paper. The results of the first verification indicated that average temperatures in the horizontal planes of the ground massif did not differ considerably with distance from the exchanger tube. Differences in average temperatures in reference and experimental lands confirmed sufficient heat potential of the ground massif even at the peak of the heating period. The differences in average temperatures reached up to 6.51 K in the end of the heating period while at the beginning of the heating period, the differences in average temperatures dropped to 1.35 K. The differences between maximum and minimum temperatures in the zone of the ground exchanger reached up to 1.9 K at the peak of the heating period and rose to 3.9 K at the beginning and end of the heating period. The first results of our measurements indicate the necessity of accumulation of thermal energy in the soil massif in the summer period like in case of the vertical exchangers

Analyzing temperature changes in the ground massif with a horizontal heat exchanger in the course of the heating season

The article is devoted to temperature changes in the ground massif with the horizontal heat exchanger as an energy source for a heat pump. The article was aimed at analyzing temperature changes in the ground massif with the horizontal heat exchanger at the beginning, in the course of and at the end of the heating season. Another aim was to analyze temperature differences in the area of the horizontal exchanger and the reference lot. The heat flow utilized in the evaporator of heat pump was extracted from the ground exchanger (nominal output at the condenser was 10.5 kW). Temperatures of the ground massif with the horizontal heat exchanger were measured in its plane in depths of 0.75 m, 0.5 m and 0.25 m. The temperature inside the ground massif on the reference lot and ambient parameters were measured as well. It is obvious that the difference of energetic potentials inside the ground massif with the heat exchanger and on the reference lot is insignificant at the beginning of the heating season. During the heating season, the difference of ground massif energetic potentials increases; at the end it is constant. The difference of temperatures in horizontal planes was not significant at the beginning of the heating season; however, it gradually increased. Maximum differences were detected in the area of the heat exchanger. In higher strata, the difference between temperatures decreases. During a major part of the heating season, temperatures at pipes of the ground exchanger were negative. This fact affected amounts of heat extracted from the ground massif