The plastic optical fiber cantilever beam as a force sensor

This study reports use of inexpensive intensity-based plastic optical fiber (POF) in the form of cantilever beam to monitor the force. The cantilever consists of POF surface bonded on the surface of metal beams viz. spring steel (SS) and mild steel (MS) and subjected to force. The performance of the force sensor is evaluated during macro-bending caused because of the deflection of the beam by applied force. Experimentally obtained detector output of POF, which could be measured with negligible hysteresis is compared with finite element analysis in the range between 0.0098 and 19.613 N. The reproducibility of the sensor is observed in the limit of ±1%. The proposed sensor can replace stain gauge load cell to certain extent in some applications. © 2009 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Microwave Opt Technol Lett 51: 1020–1023, 2009; Published online in Wiley InterScience (www.interscience.wiley.com). DOI 10.1002/mop.24217