Dr. Su Taylor, with Queen’s University Belfast and Director of Sengenia Ltd., recently praised Micron Optics’ optical sensing equipment after an installation at the Thompson’s dry dock gates from where the Titanic was launched in 1912.

“As someone with an already keen interest in anything related to the Titanic and its story, I was very excited to be able to be part of this stage of the preservation of its history. I was also delighted to have the opportunity to highlight yet further the advantages that there are to using fibre sensors over conventional strain sensing techniques. We opted for the os3155 sensors with built in temperature compensation as we knew that temperature fluctuations would be an issue for our results. Through the use of an sm125-500 unit and the ENLIGHT software, we have been able to demonstrate just how easy it is to be able to ‘plug and play’ the Micron Optics sensors and electronics,” commented Dr. Taylor.

This application is especially timely since this year commemorates the 100th anniversary of the launch and subsequent sinking of the vessel. Stay tuned for more updates by following the Micron Optics sensing blog.

Professor Tripp Shenton, Chairman of the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering at the University of Delaware, is a visionary when it comes to life-long monitoring of important civil structures. The Indian River Bridge that parallels Delware’s Atlantic beaches is an example of his vision being realized.

A new video details how strain, temperature, displacement, acceleration and other critical sensors became an integral part of this 2km long structure – and why Micron Optics’ fiber optic sensor technology was selected as means to deliver the needed measurements.

The University of Delaware, DelDOT, and Micron Optics’ integrators Cleveland Electric Labs and Chandler Monitoring Systems were among the key players that made the installation a success. If you’re considering SHM options for a civil structure project, or have an interest in fiber Bragg grating sensors for another application, this video is well worth a look.

Indian River Bridge on YouTube

6/26/2012 ETA – updated link to latest version of video

Not really, but what follows is a fun article by a key Micron Optics Integrator, INFAP, in Germany. Applications like these often rely on integrators’ ingenuity in packaging FBGs for a particular purpose. If you have a measurement challenge in mind but fear that proper sensors do not exist, installation might be tricky, or the environment might be too harsh, contact us. Our systems integrators, like INFAP, may have the answers you need.

- Tom Graver

Sculpture Mae West with INFAP measuring technology
Or: Measurement technology can be so sexy
by INFAP

Mae (Mary Jane) West (1893-1980),an American actress and screenwriter, was one of the top film stars of the 1930s. In early 2011, a monument for the actress was completed in Munich at the Effnerplatz. The sculpture was designed by the artist Rita McBride and consists of a 52 m high construction of 32 carbon fiber enhancing plastic pipes and weighs approximately 200 tonnes. At the lower level the Paraboloid consists of CFK jacketed steel tubes. The sculpture was completed on 30 January 2011

In cooperation with the Munich-based engineering firm Zilch & Mülle, Infap has developed a novel sensor, the IFSS 2085 to monitor the state of the building on a long term basis. The screw sensor is based on fiber optic sensor technology. Physical properties such as acceleration, strain, pressure or temperature changes can be measured and transmitted optically with light waves.

The measurement approach includes screw sensors, strain sensors, temperature sensors and acceleration sensors that supply fiber optic measurement data from the respective sectors. The signals are captured by a small optical interrogation unit, the Micron Optics sm130. Structural changes can then be detected very precisely.

About INFAP:
INFAP GmbH is offering industrial fiber optical applications. INFAP is active with its fibre optic measurement systems in various branches and industries. Based on the “know how” of the employees INFAP GmbH can draw experience in the optical field of over 25 years. INFAP GmbH offers standard fiber optic measurement systems as well as customized application-specific systems for their customers.

If you are responsible for the care and safety of large, complex structures, you should know about the International Society for Structural Health Monitoring of Intelligent Infrastructure. ISHMII is a non-profit organization of leading structural health monitoring institutions and individuals with a global representation of members from the applied and theoretical arenas. The Journal of Civil Structural Health Monitoring, case studies, conferences and workshops, articles, and access to a community of SHM experts are all enabled through ISHMII membership, which is available at both individual and corporate rates.

I particularly enjoy the monthly Membership Notes publication that highlights important trends and accomplishments in SHM. Twice a year, ISHMII publishes an e-magazine, The Monitor, with technical articles solicited from members around the world, who are experts with immense hands-on experience in CSHM. Farhad Ansari, Professor and Head of the Department of Civil and Materials Engineering at the University of Illinois at Chicago, is ISHMII’s president. He makes a case for membership this way: “The International Society for Structural Health Monitoring of Intelligent Infrastructure is in the forefront of influential professional societies. Members are helping to assure that civil structural health monitoring will be one of the fast growing engineering disciplines of the 21st century. We come together to share our knowledge and build or maintain structures that are enduring, safe and economical.”

Find out more at www.ishmii.org or contact Nancy Cohen at NancyC@ishmii.org to receive Membership Notes and The Monitor or to learn more about membership.