Patent ID: 8790074
Filing Date: 2014-07-29
Classification: F01D,G01M,Y02T

Abstract:
1. A wear sensor assembly for monitoring wear and other defects in a component, said sensor assembly comprising: at least one light source generating an optical beam; at least one optical fiber receiving the optical beam from the at least one light source, said optical fiber including a fiber core through which the optical beam propagates and a at least one fiber Bragg grating formed in the core, said fiber Bragg grating being operable to reflect a predefined wavelength of the optical beam back along the optical fiber and allow other wavelengths in the optical beam to propagate through the fiber Bragg grating; a detector for detecting the reflected wavelength of the optical beam from the fiber Bragg grating, wherein the wear on the component is detected when no reflected wavelength of the optical beam from the fiber Bragg grating is received by the detector, and wherein the at least one optical fiber is mounted to the component in a meandering orientation and the at least one fiber Bragg grating is a plurality of fiber Bragg gratings positioned within the optical fiber and spaced apart so that the fiber Bragg gratings are in line with each other; and wherein each fiber Bragg grating reflects a different optical wavelength so that detection or no detection of the reflected wavelength of the optical beam indicates a depth of the wear in the component.