A Study on the Comparison between an Optical Fiber and a Thermal Sensor Cable for Temperature Monitoring

온도 모니터링을 위한 광섬유 센서와 온도센서 배열 케이블의 비교 연구

In this study, two different technologies which can measure temperature simultaneously at many points are introduced. One is to use a thermal sensor cable that is comprised of addressable thermal sensors connected in parallel within a single cable. The other is to use an optic fiber with Distributed Temperature Sensing (DTS) system. The difference between two technologies can be summarized as follows. A thermal sensor cable has a concept of 'point sensing' that can measure temperature at accurate position of a thermal sensor. So the accuracy and resolution of temperature measurement are up to the ability of the thermal sensor. Whereas optic fiber sensor has a concept of 'distributed sensing' because temperature is measured by ratio of Stokes and anti-Stokes component intensities of Raman backscatter that is generated when laser pulse travels along an optic fiber. It's resolution is determined by measuring distance, measuring time and spatial resolution. The purpose of this study is that application targets of two temperature measurement techniques are checked in technical and economical phases by examining the strength and weakness of them. Considering the functions and characteristics of two techniques, the thermal sensor cable will be suitable to apply to the assessment of groundwater flow, geothermal distribution and grouting efficiency within 300m distance. It is expected that the optic fiber sensor can be widely utilized at various fields (for example: pipe line inspection, tunnel fire detection, power line monitoring etc.) which need an information of temperature distribution over relatively long distance.