Fiber optic energy storage power station

Can fiber optic sensors improve situational awareness in power systems?

To support this, power system operators are leveraging data from an ever-expanding network of sensors. Due to their ability to measure several different physical parameters, fiber optic sensors are recognized as an important enabling technology and offer many interesting opportunities to improve situational awareness in power systems.

Can fiber optic sensors be used in power system applications?

The application of fiber optic sensors for current and voltage measurements in the power system is discussed further in “ Power Quality ”. The previous discussions are summarised in Table 2, which provides an overview of the use of different fiber optic sensor technologies in specific power system applications.

What problems can fiber optic communications solve?

Fiber optic communications can help solve the problem of integrating alternative-energy sources into the traditional grid. Instead of small numbers of large sources of power, alternative energy varies from kilowatts from residential solar-power systems to megawatts from commercial solar-power stations and wind farms.

What is a fiber optic sensor?

Although the structure will depend on the particular technology, the basic structure of a fiber optic sensor consists of: an optical fiber, a light source, a sensing element, and a detector.

What are the advantages of fiber optic sensors?

Fiber optic sensors offer several advantages over traditional sensing technologies, such as high sensitivity, immunity to EMI, high accuracy, wide dynamic range, long sensing distance, small size and flexibility, and low power consumption.

Is fiber optic sensor technology mature?

Based on the research reported in this article it is clear that fiber optic sensor technology is sufficiently mature to be used extensively in a wide range of power systems applications.