PMMA (polymethyl methacrylate) fiber optic probe as a noncontact liquid level sensor

This article reports the principle of operation, design aspects, experimentation, and performance of a noncontact fiber optic liquid level sensor. The sensor is based on the phenomenon of reflective concept. The device consists of fiber optic transmitter, fiber optic probe, floating reflector, photodiode detector, and digital multimeter. The fiber optic probe consists of two 60-cm-long PMMA (polymethyl methacrylate) fibers of diameter 1 mm, numerical aperture 0.5, core refractive index 1.492, and cladding refractive index 1.402. The fiber optic sensor is a promising alternative to other well-established methods for the measurement of liquid level due to its simplicity of design, high precision, long-term stability, linearity, high degree of sensitivity, dynamic range, noncontact sensing, and low cost of the fabrication make it suitable for applications in precise level control in analytical and process chemistry, biochemistry, bioanalytics, and on-line measurement or inspection of liquid level. © 2010 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Microwave Opt Technol Lett 52: 2114–2118, 2010; Published online in Wiley InterScience (www.interscience.wiley.com). DOI 10.1002/mop.25415

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