Patent ID: 7062973

Claim:
A pressure gauge, comprising: a housing; a mechanical sensor placed in the housing for sensing change of the pressure, a characteristic of the sensor varying in correspondence to the change of the pressure; an optical fiber, at least part of the fiber being in the housing with a first end connected to the sensor such that a characteristic of the fiber varies in correspondence to the variance of the characteristic of the sensor; an optical signal generator connected to a second end of the fiber for emitting an optical signal into the fiber, wherein the second end is distanced from the sensor, wherein the fiber generates at least a first reflected optical signal towards said second end, and wherein the first reflected optical signal contains information relating to the variance of the characteristic of the fiber; and an optical signal analyzer connected to the second end of the fiber for receiving and analyzing the first reflected optical signal for ascertaining the change of the pressure based upon the information contained in the reflected optical signal.