Fiber Optic Sensors for Liquid Level Measurement
Sona Sediva, Marie Havlikova
Department of Control and Instrumentation
Faculty of Electrical Engineering and Communication, BUT
Brno, Czech Republic
sediva@feec.vutbr.cz, havlika@feec.vutbr.cz
Abstract The article deals with the use of intensity-based fiber
optic sensors for the level measurement. Two types of optical
fiber sensors have been tested. In the first case the sensing
principle is based on the microbending. The effect of diameter of
the deformation tips at the pair of deformer plates was
practically verified. In the second case the reflection probe is
used. The different reflective surfaces for a reflective probe were
tested. In this article we describe simply fiber optic liquid level
sensors which can be classified as sensors for continuous
measurements.
Keywords - fiber optic sensor, liquid level measurement,
reflection probe, micro bends sensor.
I. INTRODUCTION
The level measurement in tanks and other containers is one
of the frequently industrial measurements. The large number
types of sensors with the various principles have been used for
the liquid level measurement. Because of their non-electrical
nature, fiber optic sensors for a liquid level measurement are
widely required in the chemical industry.
Fiber optic sensors have more than thirty years and have
been successfully used in different areas like a strain
monitoring, inertial navigation, chemical substance detecting,
and underwater acoustic sensing [1]. These sensors have many
characteristic advantages like a intrinsically safety in explosive
or fire-hazardous environments, small size and weight,
electrical insulation, electromagnetic interference resistance,
fast response [2].
The fiber optics liquid level sensor can be classified in the
following two categories: a sensor for continuous
measurements and sensors for point measurement.
In general, the fiber optic sensor can be classed as intensity-
modulated-based (see Fig. 1), phase-modulated-based and
wavelength-modulated-based [2]. Furthermore, there are two
basic types of sensors: intrinsic, where the modulation of the
optical signal occurs while the light is guided within the fiber,
and extrinsic, where the light leaves the fiber, passes through
some external transduction element, and is then recoupled back
into a fiber.
There are different liquid level fiber optic sensors based
measuring principles, for example a force-type liquid level
sensor [2], [3] and a liquid level sensor with refractive index
change [4].
978-1-4577-1868-7/12/$26.00 2012 IEEE
A microbend-based fiber optic sensor and reflective fiber
optic probe, which are used for continuous monitoring of liquid
level, were designed and tested in this paper. Experimental
results were given and discussed.
II. PRINCIPLE OF SENSOR OPERATION
Intensity-modulated sensors detect the variation of the
intensity of a light associated with the perturbing environment.
Figure 1 shows the sensing mechanisms which can be used as
intensity-based techniques.
A. Intensity-type fiber optic sensor using microbending
If the fiber is bent, small amounts of light are lost through
the wall of the fiber. The microbend-based fiber optic sensor is
designed with the optical fiber which is squeezed between two
deformers as shown in Fig. 2. The external force applied to the
upper deformer bends the fiber affecting a position of an
internal reflective surface. Thus a light beam which normally
would be reflected in direction x approaches the lower part of
the fiber at the angle less than the angle of total internal
reflection. Then light is refracted and moves in the direction y
through the fiber wall. The closer the deformers come to each
other the more light goes away and the less light is transmitted
along the fiber.
For the optimum sensor performance, the microbendig
sensitivity of the sensing fiber must be maximized. One of the
most important parameters is periodicity of the fiber
deformation. This critical mechanical periodicity Lc for step
index fibers is given by
pa
Lc = , (1)
D
where a is the core radius and D is a normalized index
difference between core and clad:
n12 - n22
D= , (2)
2n12
where n1 is a core refractive index and n2 is a cladding
refractive index.
The detailed discussion of the relevant theory, which is
outside the scope of this paper, can be found in [6], [9].
Several workers have shown previously that the light
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attenuation due to fiber bend effects is a strong function of the
periodicity of the distortions, numerical aperture (NA) of the
fiber, fiber type and coating material [6], [8]. Sensors base on
this principle exhibit the greatest sensitivity for small NA, large
diameter fibers with distortion wavelength matched to the
resonance value predicted by the theory.
The microbend sensor phenomena offer a relatively simple
and straightforward way in constructing a different type of
sensors. They have been configured for measurement of many Figure 2. Principle of microbending sensor [5]
different parameters including pressure, temperature,
acceleration, flow, local strain and speed [7].
The liquid level fiber optic sensor using microbending is Liquid
based on the conversion liquid level to the weight, respectively LD level
pressure, which acts on the deformers (Fig. 3). The sensor is moving teeth
mounted at the bottom of an open liquid tank. The weight of
m
optical
liquid is converted into small displacement of movable tooth fiber
plate. Then the sensing fiber between two tooth plates is bent
and the through light intensity is reduced. By detecting the Photodetector fixed teeth
output light power the liquid level can be calculated.
Figure 3. Configuration of liquid level fiber optic sensor using microbending
B. Intensity-type fiber optic sensor using reflection
The fiber optic sensor using a reflection is comprised of
two bundles of fibers or a pair of single fibers. One bundle of
fibers transmits light to a reflecting target and the second
bundle traps a reflected light and transmits it to the detector
(see Fig 4). The light intensity is monitored, which is
proportional to the distance between the probe tip and the
target being measured. At contact no light is exiting or received
by the fibers. The accuracy depends on the probe configuration
(see Fig. 5). The reflective fiber optic probe may contain a set
of light transmit and receive fibers, which can be arranged in
Figure 4. Principle of fiber optic sensor using reflection
three different configurations random, hemispherical and
coaxial.
Figure 6 shows the output signal versus the distance from
the probe to the target for different probe configurations. The
curves show a maximum with a steep linear front slope and a
back slope. As a result, the dynamic range and sensitivity can
be tailored for a specific application. For example, at the close
target distance the random configuration of the reflective fiber Coaxial Hemispherical Random Fiber pair
optic probe would have the highest sensitivity, and the lowest Transmitting fiber
sensitivity at a long distance. The hemispherical probe has a Receiving fiber
more dynamic range but the less sensitivity when compared to
a range probe [1]. A fiber pair probe further expands the Figure 5. Reflective fiber optic probe configuration
dynamic range [1].
The numerical aperture of the probe is a critical parameter
in the response of the sensor. If the fibers comprising a bundle
have an increasing numerical aperture, the dynamic range of
the sensor is decreased and the sensor sensitivity is increased.
Intensity Sensing Techniques

Subcarrier Scattering Spectral changes Attenuation Reflectance Modal

subcarrier filtering Rayleigh transmission absorption direct Speckle
FMCW ranging Raman reflection microbending normal interface few-mode
Resonant structures blackbody rad. radiative loss NTIR
emission scattering loss
Figure 6. Relative perfomance of different reflective fiber optic probe
Figure 1. Intensity-based sensing techniques [1] configuration (H Hemispherical, R Random, CTI Coaxial)

624 2012 13th International Carpathian Control Conference (ICCC)

 The simple liquid level sensor with a reflective fiber optic
probe is designed using a float, where the reflecting surface is
located (see Fig. 7). The fiber optic probe is held
perpendicularly to the target. Light from the light source is
coupled into the transmitting fiber. The signal from the
receiving fiber is measured by a moving the probe away from
the zero point, where the target and the probe are in a close
contact.
III. EXPERIMENT
These all experiments have been performed under
laboratory conditions wherein the temperature has been
maintained constant at 23 C within 1% variations.
A. Experiment A Liquid level sensor using microbend fiber
optic sensor
The schematic view of the liquid level microbending fiber
optic sensor is shown in Fig. 3. The device consist of the two
deformers (one is moving and the second is stationary), optical
fiber, light source (LED light source NOEYS OLS1 850 nm),
photodiode detector (optical power meter NOEYS OPM4) and
from tank with liquid. The used optical fiber is a bare
multimode plastic optical fiber (PMMA fiber) with step index.
The numerical aperture is 0.5 and the diameter 0.98 mm. The
core refractive index is 1.492 and the cladding refractive index
1.417. The critical mechanical periodicity Lc for this optical
fiber is calculated by (1) and its value is 0.007 m.
The microbending deformer consists of two metal plates
with the dimensions 130 x 95 mm and the thickness 2 mm,
which are placed one over the other. The deformation teeth are
diameter 1 or 2 mm and are placed on the deformation plate.
Period between the elements is 10 mm.
The bare optical fiber is guided through the deformer twice
(Fig. 3). The same principle is used in dual cyclic bending
model [9] and this model is used to improve the sensitivity of
the sensor. If the circle pillar with a larger bending radius has
the radius greater than 30 mm, the optical losses are negligible
[9]. The diameter of the circle pillar was 35 mm for this
experiment.
LED Pho todetector
reflective fiber
optic probe
x LED
float
liquid level
Figure 7. Liquid level sensor using a reflective fiber optic probe [2]
2012 13th International Carpathian Control Conference (ICCC)
The liquid level in the tank has changed in the range from 0
to 190 mm in 5 mm step.
Furthermore, the repeatability of measurements with a
microbending fiber optic sensor has been studied.
B. Experiment B Liquid level sensor using reflective fiber
optic probe
The schematic view of the liquid level reflective fiber optic
sensor is shown in Fig. 7. The device consists of the reflective
fiber optic probe, light source (LED light source Promax
Prolite 81 850 nm), photodiode detector (optical power meter
ThorLabs PM20), float with reflective target and tank with
liquid. The reflective fiber optic probe consists of two plastic
PMMA fibers of length 40 cm, diameter 1 mm, and numerical
aperture 0.5. The configuration of fiber optic probe is a fiber
pair.
At the first the effect of different material on the static
calibration curve was determined. The schematic drawing of
experiment is shown in Fig. 8. The effect of reflective surface
has been investigated for different material types namely
copper, aluminum, steel, brass.
Then the reflective material showing the greatest sensitivity
was used in the liquid level sensor using a reflective fiber optic
probe (Fig. 7) and the basic transfer course was measured.
IV. RESULTS AND DISCUSSIONS
A. Experiment A
Two diameters of deformation teeth in microbending
deformer were tested (sensor No.1 with d1 = 1 mm and sensor
No. 2 with d2 = 2 mm). The output optical power from optical
power meter at liquid level was recording. The liquid level was
from 0 to 190 mm in a 5 mm step. Figure 9 shows the course of
the output optical power depending on the liquid level. The
graph indicates that the sensor No. 2 with the larger diameter of
deformation teeth has a higher sensitivity than the sensor No. 1.
Furthermore, the repeatability of measurements using
microbending sensor has been verified. Five independent
measurements immediately going after each other were
measured for both microbending sensors. Measured results
(Fig. 10 and Fig.11) show that the repeated measurements have
no effect on output optical power value for larger deformation
teeth diameter.
reflective fiber
optic probe
micro displacement
target
meter
Photodetector
x
Figure 8. Configuration of reflective fiber optic probe for determination of
response for different material
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B. Experiment B
Target materials tested are samples of copper, aluminum,
steel and brass. The output optical power from an optical
power meter at the probe distance was recording. The probe
distance from target was from 0 to 5 mm in a 0.2 mm step and
from 5 to 10 mm in a 1 mm step for various reflective surfaces.
Figure 12 shows the response of the reflective fiber optic probe
for different target materials. All these curves followed the
same basic shape. It exhibits a maximum with a steep front
slope while the back slope follows an almost inverse square
low relationship for the reflected light intensity versus a
distance of the reflecting target from the fiber optic probe. It is
found that the sensor response changes following different Figure 11. Repeatability for microbending sensor No. 2
target surface. The material with the largest output optical
power is aluminum. Different materials also show different
sensitivities within the same linear range (from 0 to 1.4 mm).
Aluminum has the highest sensitivity in the linear range,
followed by brass, steel and copper. The reflectivity depends
on the purity of the reflective material and on the surface
finish.
The results of this experimental study suggest that existing
fiber optic displacement probes may be used as the liquid level
detector. Figure 13 show the transfer function for this type of a
liquid level sensor. The limited range of the linear part of the
basic transfer function (for tested probe is linear range from 0
to 1.4 mm) is a disadvantage of this sensor. The sensitivity can
influence by the choice of reflective material. The sensitivity
and dynamic range are determined by the type of the reflective Figure 12. Response of the liquid level reflective fiber optic sensor for
different target materials
probe and fibers numerical aperture too.

Figure 13. Variation of output optical power against the liquid level for liquid
Figure 9. Variation of output optical power against the liquid level for two level sensor with refractive fiber optic probe
type of microbending sensor

V. CONCLUSION
The simple and low cost liquid level fiber optic sensors
have been proposed.
The first type of the liquid level sensor is based upon the
phenomenon of microbending concept of the fiber optic sensor.
Two diameters of the deformation teeth were tested and a result
lead to liquid level microbending sensor with a larger diameter
of the deformation teeth is more sensitivity. Also, the
repeatability of this sensor is better.
The second type of the liquid level sensor is based upon the
phenomenon of reflective concept of the fiber optic sensor. The
Figure 10. Repeatability for microbending sensor No. 1
relative material effects on probe sensitivity are examined. The

626 2012 13th International Carpathian Control Conference (ICCC)

results show that the proposed liquid level reflective fiber optic
sensor can be used for level measurement in a limited range of
the linear part the transfer characteristics. The sensitivity of
sensor depends on the reflective surface. Aluminum showed
the best results from tested materials. This sensor type can be
used also as liquid level switch for the high level detection.
ACKNOWLEDGMENT
Authors gratefully acknowledge financial support from
European Regional Development Fund under project No.
CZ.1.05/2.1.00/01.0014. Without the kind support of the
above-mentioned institution the presented research and
development would not be possible.
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