RFQ - Distributed Fibre Optic Thermometer

The National Physical Laboratory [NPL] requirement is for a system for measuring the temperature inside battery casings during charging and discharging. The major challenges in this application are the difficulty of access to the battery pack and the lack of space between the modules within the battery pack.

After considering numerous possibilities, NPL has decided that the application requirements can be met with a Distributed Fibre Thermometer (DFT) using Frequency Domain Optical Reflectometry (FDOR)

NPL anticipates that after use on the Battery Project, the apparatus will find applications in a wide range of engineering challenges. The fibre sensors used in this technique can also be used to measure strain and NPL anticipates that the ability to make combined temperature and strain measurements may be relevant to future applications. We hope that the software supplied with the system will be sufficiently flexible to allow for many as yet unanticipated applications.