Patent ID: 9702816
Date: 2017-07-11
CPC Classifications: G01J,G01N

Claim:
1. A detector for oil condition monitoring, the detector comprising: an optical fibre having a first end and a second end, wherein the second end comprises an end face provided with a semi-reflective coating; a sensor body comprising a gap that receives a sample of the oil and a reflecting surface, wherein the second end of the optical fibre is embedded in the sensor body and having the end face spaced from the reflecting surface across the gap, wherein a first portion of light emitted from the optical fibre is reflected internally by the semi-reflective coating of the end face back through the optical fibre, wherein a second portion of the light emitted from the optical fibre passes through the end face and the sample of the oil and is reflected by the reflecting surface back into the optical fibre; and an interferometer coupled to the first end of the optical fibre and configured to compare the first portion of the light reflected internally by the end face with the second portion of the light signal reflected by the reflecting surface.