An optical fiber Fabry-Perot flow measurement technology based on partial bend structure

An optical fiber Fabry-Perot (F-P) flow measurement technology is presented, which is based on partial bend structure. A 90° partial bend structure is designed to achieve the non-probe flow measurement with a pressure difference. The fluid simulation results of partial bend structure show that the error of the pressure difference is below 0.05 kPa during steady flow. The optical fiber F-P sensor mounted on the elbow with pressure test accuracy of 1% full scale is used to measure the fluid flow. Flow test results show that when the flow varies from 1 m(3)/h to 6.5 m(3)/h at ambient temperature of 25 °C, the response time is 1 s and the flow test accuracy is 4.5% of the F-P flow test system, proving that the F-P flow test method based on partial bend structure can be used in fluid flow measurement.