Optical fibre bending sensor for vehicle weight detection

Abstract

This article describes vehicle detection sensor based on optical fibre bending. Initial measurements were performed on a Heckert FP 10/1 press. Based on these measurements, a prototype of a bending sensor for vehicle detection was designed. This prototype is intended primarily for static vehicle detection, where the magnitude of attenuation is proportional to the weight of the car. When measuring on this prototype, we tested 4 types of ethylene propylene diene methylene (EPDM) grooved rubber that pressed on an optical fibre located on smooth EPDM rubber base. Based on the measurements, we chose the EPDM rubber cover for which the detector had the greatest sensitivity. These initial results indicate that this can be a life-capable structure with a possible extension to a static weight sensor and, partly, to a WIM (weigh in motion) dynamic weight sensor.