Sensors (Sep 2011)

A Fiber Bragg Grating—Bimetal Temperature Sensor for Solar Panel Inverters

  • Mohd Afiq Ismail,
  • Nizam Tamchek,
  • Muhammad Rosdi Abu Hassan,
  • Katrina D. Dambul,
  • Jeyraj Selvaraj,
  • Nasrudin Abd Rahim,
  • Seyed Reza Sandoghchi,
  • Faisal Rafiq Mahamd Adikan

DOI
https://doi.org/10.3390/s110908665
Journal volume & issue
Vol. 11, no. 9
pp. 8665 – 8673

Abstract

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This paper reports the design, characterization and implementation of a Fiber Bragg Grating (FBG)-based temperature sensor for an Insulted-Gate Bipolar Transistor (IGBT) in a solar panel inverter. The FBG is bonded to the higher Coefficient of Thermal Expansion (CTE) side of a bimetallic strip to increase its sensitivity. Characterization results show a linear relationship between increasing temperature and the wavelength shift. It is found that the sensitivity of the sensor can be categorized into three characterization temperature regions between 26 °C and 90 °C. The region from 41 °C to 90 °C shows the highest sensitivity, with a value of 14 pm/°C. A new empirical model that considers both temperature and strain effects has been developed for the sensor. Finally, the FBG-bimetal temperature sensor is placed in a solar panel inverter and results confirm that it can be used for real-time monitoring of the IGBT temperature.

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