Laser-optical fiber Bragg grating anemometer for measuring gas flows: application to measuring the electric wind

Abstract

A novel laser-optical fiber Bragg grating anemometer (FBGA) has been devised for measuring the speed of a moving gas in the range $0–1.5\mathrm{m}{\mathrm{s}}^{-1}$. As a test, the FBGA was applied to measuring the speed of the electric wind generated in the particularly harsh, high-voltage environment of a dc, negative-polarity, partial (corona) discharge in atmospheric air. The instrument proved more stable and yielded an order-of-magnitude improvement in sensitivity $(\mathrm{\Delta }v\approx 4\times {10}^{-3}{\mathrm{ms}}^{-1})$ compared with other optical-fiber-based anemometers. On-axis wind speeds ranging from zero to $1.1\mathrm{m}{\mathrm{s}}^{-1}$ were measured in the vicinity of the corona discharge.

© 2006 Optical Society of America