Patent ID: 7759633

Claim:
An optical sensor system for monitoring an electrical current or power in an element to be monitored, said optical sensor system comprising: an optical sensor having: a temperature sensitive element made of a semiconductor material having a transition in its optical absorption spectrum, a spectral position of said transition varying with temperature, said temperature sensitive element having a contact surface for being placed in thermal contact with a surface of a continuous portion of the element to be monitored; a distance between the temperature sensitive element and the surface of the continuous portion of the element to be monitored, thereby, ensuring that none of said electrical current or power in said element to be monitored is to flow within said optical sensor, whereby said temperature sensitive element is to sense a variation in temperature of the element to be monitored as caused by said electrical current or power; an optical fiber for guiding light to said optical sensor and for collecting light propagated in said optical sensor; a spectrophotometer for measuring an optical absorption spectrum of the propagated light; and a processing unit for determining said spectral position of said transition in the measured optical absorption spectrum, and for converting said spectral position into a measurement of said current or power.