Safety and economy

ITPESTM

(Innovation Technology of Prevention of Emergency Situationsтм)

 innovative technology for emergencies prevention of natural and man-made character by means of fiber optic telemetry complex

 

For the past few years sensors of temperature, deformation, pressure and vibration has actively designed all over the world. This is proved by numerous recent publications in the field, analysis of which allows us to make an unambiguous conclusion about the importance and prospects of the described systems for practical applications. In many cases (especially for distributed measurements in high explosive and fire hazard conditions, remote recording of stationary and dynamic processes), the authors of the published papers note the complete absence of alternative measurement methods.

Currently in the world a number of projects have been successfully implemented, which operate systems for monitoring the state of mechanisms, aggregates and structures subjected to mechanical and thermal loads of various types. Such systems have passed successful tests for state monitoring of automobile and railway bridges, power lines, for measuring of the mechanical loads distribution in structural materials of helicopter blades and aircraft wings, at power facilities and nuclear power.

Necessity of continuous complex monitoring of objects is caused due to the extremely high risk of man-made disasters occurrence in the event of violation of operational modes, deviation of the modes of process flow, errors in personnel activities, as well as in the case of natural factors.

Since the the processes that leading objects into an emergency state often flow secretly, the first place in the complex of measures for preventing accidents is a properly organized integrated monitoring, which including control over the temperature, vibration and deformation state of the power elements.

Significant savings and increased safety can be achieved through the work on the replacement of emergency elements before appearance of emergency situations, while excluding unreasonable and substandard repairs. In the same time it is not just a matter of direct saving of funds, the over expenditure of which is inevitable when eliminating accidents, but also about reducing the costs that associated with the violation of the schedules and the structure of adjacent to the accident site institutions, objects, etc.

One of the most promising options is fiber optic sensors (FOS) for temperature, pressure, vibration and mechanical deformation, which are consist of the sensitive element using fiber Bragg gratings (FBGs) of the refractive index.

The accuracy of the FOS based on the FBG reaches 0.1°C for temperature measurements, and 10-6 for measuring of the relative deformation. At the present time, design solutions have been developed to provide the combination of sensitivity and dynamic range required for specific applications.

 

Main advantages

  • non-inductive (protection from external electromagnetic fields and interference) – due to the optical frequency range, and dielectric properties of fiber optics materials;
  • high sensitivity;
  • high reliability and reproducibility of measurements – due to the use of spectral measurement methods;
  • wide dynamic range of measurements, due to high spectral brightness of modern radiation sources and high sensitivity of existing photodetectors;
  • small dimensions of sensitive elements due to the small diameter of the fiber itself (~ 100 μm);
  • light weight of sensitive elements, as a consequence of small dimensions;
  • high chemical and corrosion resistance – materials of fiber optics can be selected in such way to ensure the absence of chemical interaction with a chemically aggressive medium;
  • high thermal resistance, due to the ability of optical fibers to maintain their optical and mechanical characteristics at temperatures of 600 °C and above for a long time;
  • high radiation resistance – fibers are able to maintain operability at absorbed radiation doses of 1 MGy and higher;
  • electrical insulation strength – for example the voltage of electric breakdown of quartz glass is ~ 10 kV / mm (20°C) and ~ 2,5 kW / mm (500°C);
  • high elasticity, due to the high values of the elasticity modulus and the tensile strength (for quartz glass ~ 76 GPa and ~ 10 GPa, respectively);
  • high fire safety, due to the absence of electrical currents and heated areas in the construction of sensing elements;
  • multipoint and distributed measurements;
  • remote measurements - low losses in optical fibers;
  • possibility of integration into structural elements of mechanisms, units and structures - without deterioration of their mechanical characteristics;
  • short response time of sensitive elements (1 ms and better), limited by the reaction time of the structural elements, not by fibers;
  • low power consumption - few watts.

Economic efficiency of technology

  • increasing efficiency of controlled equipment operation;
  • reduction of equipment failures;
  • identification of defect’s initial stage of development and / or pre-emergency and emergency modes in controlled equipment;
  • reduction of investment costs for unjustified equipment upgrade;
  • reducing the cost of repairs;
  • reduction of labor costs as a result of introduction of automated control and diagnostics methods;
  • service life increase of equipment based on actual values of critical equipment parameters;
  • reduction of insurance costs, since the availability of monitoring equipment and diagnostics systems is a serious factor for insurance companies.

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