Low-cost monitoring system to

measure temperature in microwave

ovens using double grating filter
technique based on FBG

Manuel Jaramillo Gaviria

Universidad Nacional de Colombia

Faculty of Sciences, School of Physics.
Medellı́n, Colombia
Year 2018
 Low-cost monitoring system to
measure temperature in microwave
ovens using double grating filter
technique based on FBG

Manuel Jaramillo Gaviria

Thesis presented to opt for the title of:

Physics Engineering

Directors:
PhD. Pedro Ignacio Torres Trujillo
Jorge Luı́s Galvis

Investigation Area:
Sensors fabrication and development
Investigation group:
Photonics and optoelectronics

Universidad Nacional de Colombia

Faculty of Sciences ,School of Physics.
Medellı́n, Colombia
Year 2018
Agradecimientos
Quiero agradecer a todos aquellos que han hecho posible este trabajo. A Jorge, por su
apoyo durante todo el semestre, a Pedro y Miguel por su ayuda con la fabricación de redes.
Al profesor Pedro, por permitirme hacer parte de la red de laboratorios de óptica y fotónica
y a todos los integrantes del grupo de investigación por su ayuda de una manera u otra
a lo largo del semestre. Agradecimientos también al laboratorio de materiales, donde nos
brindaron su apoyo cuando se necesitó.
 vii

Abstract
In this work is presented a microwave oven temperature measurement and control system
based on fiber Bragg gratings (FBGs) using a double grating technique. The use of fiber
optic based sensors to measure temperature is a growing technology in the industrial field
due to their light weight, immunity to electromagnetic interference and small size. In the
case of the materials industry, they had been developing a new heat treatment technique
based on microwave radiation. The sensor here proposed is based on two FBGs disposed in
a particular way that allows the control of the system temperature by the displacement of
the Bragg wavelength in one of the FBGs. This displacement is possible to measure by the
double grating technique. This technique gives the response of the FBGs in voltage, which
allows further analysis and control in real time.

Keywords: Fiber Bragg gratings, sensor, microwave, oven, control, measurement.

Content
Agradecimientos V

Abstract VII

1 Introduction 2

2 Theoretical framework 4
2.1 Microwave principles . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4
2.2 Fiber Bragg gratings (FBG) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6
2.2.1 FBGs fabrication . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7
2.3 The double grating technique . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10
2.3.1 Components of the setup . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10
2.4 Photodetection circuit . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11
2.4.1 Photodiode . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11
2.4.2 Transimpedance amplifier . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13
2.5 Temperature measurement tools . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14
2.5.1 Thermistor . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14
2.5.2 Resistance Temperature Detector (RTD) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14
2.5.3 Thermocouple . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16
2.6 Heat transfer coefficient . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16
2.7 PID Control . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17

3 Sensor fabrication and calibration 20

3.1 FBGs fabrication . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20
3.2 Double grating technique . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 22
3.3 Photodetection system . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 22
3.3.1 The transimpedance circuit . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 22
3.4 Calibration oven . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 23
3.5 Microwave oven . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 24
3.6 Control software . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 25

4 Results 26
4.1 Calibration curve . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 26
4.2 Temperature measurements for different volumes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 27
 x Content

4.3 Temperature measurements for microwave oven . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 28

5 Conclusions 29

References 30
Figure list
2.1 A closer look to the microwave parts [1]. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5
2.2 Basic scheme of a magnetron. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5
2.3 Diffusion profile of hydrogen at 200 bar pressure and 23o C [2]. . . . . . . . . 7
2.4 Phase mask general approach, is showed that the zero order of diffraction is
totally canceled by the mask. [3]. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8
2.5 Experimental setup, showing the source of UV light, the two mirrors that
are useful to align the laser beam with the phase mask, so there is normal
incidence and a lens that focus the beam into the phase mask and gives a
more accurate pattern. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9
2.6 Spectra of the light transmitted through an optical fiber before FBG inscription 9
2.7 Spectra of the light transmitted through an optical fiber after FBG inscription 9
2.8 Scheme of the double grating technique, where an FBG serves as a reference
and the other is the sensor,measuring the change of the power transmitted. . 11
2.9 The power received by the photodiode is the area of the convolution between
the two spectral responses. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11
2.10 Basic scheme of a PN junction, where is shown the depletion region. [4] . . . 12
2.11 The fabricator ideal circuit for the photodiode [5]. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12
2.12 Scheme of the transimpedance amplifier [6]. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13
2.13 Resistance vs temperature curve for NTC and PTC thermistors. Tc is the
temperature for the PTC to start measuring properly, is called the Curie
temperature [7]. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15
2.14 Typical curve of two RTD sensors, with a 100Ω and 1000Ω resistance at room
temperature respectively [8]. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15
2.15 Scheme of a type J thermocouple. The other types just differ in the materials
of the couple. J1 and J2 represent the hot and cold junctions, respectively. . 16
2.16 The volume of water to heat is inside the cavity in the figure, the superficial
area is only the top view, since the rest of the area is in the teflon and has no
contribution in this analysis. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17
2.17 Scheme of a basic PID control. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17
2.18 Response of the control variable to the PID controller, varying the proportio-
nal constant. Red is the lower KP and purple is the higher [9]. . . . . . . . . 18
2.19 The response of the control variable to the PID controller, varying the integral
constant. Red is the lower KI and black is the higher value [9]. . . . . . . . . 18
Figure list 1

3.1 Hydrogenation system. In the picture are shown the gauges where is controlled
the pressure of the gas and the pipes where the fibers are deposited for a week. 20
3.2 Laboratory setup, explained in section 2.2.1. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21
3.3 Phase mask zoom. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21
3.4 The two gratings used in the sensor, the best combination of FBGs possible. 22
3.5 Convolution of the two FBGs and its relationship with T. . . . . . . . . . . . 22
3.6 The circuit implemented in the laboratory. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 23
3.7 The calibration oven. The sensor FBG is in the teflon base, described in
Figure 2.16. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 23
3.8 Setup of the sensor. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 24
3.9 A closer look to the disposition of the FBG sensor inside the oven. . . . . . . 24
3.10 This figure describe the LabView algorithm used to monitor the data received
from the photodiode and to compare it with a theoretical value (thermistor). 25

4.1 Here are showed the three calibration curves realized. The colors denote each
one. This analysis was made with a thermistor. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 26
4.2 The calibration curve in red. The parameters of the regression are acceptable,
since the R2 is close to 1 and the uncertainty µT is low. . . . . . . . . . . . . 26
4.3 The temperature of water in a oven and its comparison with air temperature
inside. Is evident that this temperature is volume dependent . . . . . . . . . 27
4.4 The heating curves of a same volume of water in different microwave powers.
Is important to notice the effects of the control mechanism in the microwave,
since the final temperature that each curve arrives is different because of that. 28
1 Introduction
The use of microwave ovens in the industry has increased considerably in the past years, this
is because microwave energy can be deposited in a uniformed and fast way, in comparison
to the conventional ovens [10]. For many purposes, is important to have a temperature con-
trol in the oven and the use of conventional sensors, such as a thermocouple, is problematic
because their presence in the furnaces affect the electromagnetic field generated inside the
oven, inducing changes in the microwave energy that is given to the sample, leading to mea-
surement errors [10]. Also, there is a heterogeneity in the heating process, since the areas
with more heat will be around the sensor. That’s why is indeed needed a dielectric sensor,
because of its minimum contribution on this factors.

The dielectric sensors primarily used in temperature measures are based on optical fiber
sensors. There are several ways to make a thermal sensor with fiber optics, but in this work
the specific one to be used is based on the inscription of Fiber Bragg gratings (FBG).

FBGs are a high resolution and long term tool that allows to measure multiple physical
parameters simultaneously [11]. In particular, their use as a temperature sensor represents a
solution the problem previously mentioned, because FBGs are insensitive of the microwave
radiation in the oven for their dielectric nature. Other advantages of the FBGs are the lon-
gevity of their functionality, potential low cost and high resolution measurements [12].

This work consists in generate a sensor based in this theory and make it capable of measure
temperature at low cost. In order to do that several things have to be taken in account,
such as the power source of light, the spectral response of the FBG fabricated and the data
collection method that will use a photodiode, because the usual spectral analyzers are very
expensive.

The first step is to fabricate a couple of FBGs with similar spectral response, this with the
objective of use the double grating technique that will be described in detail in chapter 2.
The process of fabrication is crucial to have good and replicable results, since the optical
power is limited by the source (SLED) and the posterior amplification of the signal implies
to decrease the signal-to-noise ratio of the photodiode.
 3

After that, the system goes through a calibration process made with a commercial thermistor
and a resistance oven. This will generate a direct relation between the voltage signal of the
photodiode circuit and the temperature in the FBG, having special care to control the power
gived by the SLED, in order to standardize the output power and with this the voltage in
the circuit.

Moreover, the final step is to immerse the FBG in water and measure the deviations in
the heating curve, in order to control the heat transference ratios in this material, for a
posterior analysis in the microwave oven. Finally the FBG is used as a control of tempera-
ture in a microwave oven, using a PID controller in LabView to control the magnetron power.

Chapter 2 is about the theory background of the work, such as the fiber optics theory, the
dependency of the Bragg wavelength of physical parameters and in particular by the tempe-
rature; the interaction of microwaves with matter and how this is a phenomena that allows
to heat biological samples; the theory of fabrication of FBGs based in UV radiation and a
phase mask to generate a interference pattern; Also is showed the double grating technique,
used to generate a power output that is dependent of the temperature. The use of photodio-
des to measure optical power and the posterior signal analysis made by a transimpedance
circuit that improves the signal-to-noise ratio and allows to measure voltage from an optical
source.Finally is introduced the PID control theory, that is used to operate of the power in
a oven. The experimental setup and calibration of the system is explained in chapter 3 and
in section 4 the results are showed.
2 Theoretical framework
In this chapter will be described the principles of all the tools that are implemented in the
work, with the purpose of generate a basic understanding of the phenomena that will be
shown.

2.1. Microwave principles

A microwave oven scheme is shown in Figure 2.1. The operation principle of the oven is based
on the generation of high power electromagnetic waves in the frequencies of microwaves. This
changing electric fields interact with the matter but only with the particles inside the oven
that have a polar configuration in their atomic structure [13]. The heat transfer to a dielectric
material follows the equation

QT = 2πf0 00 |Ērms (x, y, z, t)|2 , (2-1)

where QT is the heat transfered, f is the frequency of the microwaves normally 2.4GHz
00
[14], 0 ,  are the dielectric constant and the imaginary part of the electrical permittivity
respectively and Erms is the root mean square value of the microwaves’ electric field. This
equation shows us that the heat only can be transfered to a dielectric material with complex
permittivity, which is a property of materials with non zero dipole moment. One particular
material that follows this principle is water, a polar molecule that can be excited then by
the microwaves.
In Figure 2.1 it can be seen the different components of a basic microwave oven an this
parts will be briefly described next.

Power
The microwave ovens normally are powered by a 120VAC regular home supply, but
inside the power circuit are a transformer, that elevates the voltage up to 2.8kV and a
capacitor that helps to increase the voltage to the input of the magnetron.

Magnetron
The main part of the microwave oven. The scheme for this part is showed in Figure
2.2. It is basically an anode (copper) an cathode (gold) in which its applied a high
voltage. The electrons from the anode goes to the cathode due to the high potential,
2.1 Microwave principles 5

but a magnet is generating a magnetic field that circulates the core, and this makes
the electrons to change their paths and decelerate, generating by this change of speed,
electromagnetic radiation. The electrons interact with the magnetic field and with the
cavities in the anode, that are designed specifically to make the system act like an RLC
circuit that resonates and this resonance frequency is in the microwave range.

Figure 2.1: A closer look to the microwave parts [1].

Waveguide
After the microwaves are generated they need to be redirected specifically to the co-
oking cavity and that is the purpose of the waveguide. Is a simple conductor casket
that guides the waves specifically to the cavity and avoids them to go to another places
and endanger the safety of the surroundings.

Figure 2.2: Basic scheme of a magnetron.

 6 2 Theoretical framework

Stirrer
Not all microwave ovens have it. it purpose is to distribute in a homogeneous way the
waves across the cooking cavity. Since the waves are in a finite medium, they generate
standing waves and because of that there are spots in the cooking cavity with nodes
of intensity and so no heating. This problem is partially solved by de stirrer.

Cooking cavity
This is where the heating is made. a conductor box that avoid the microwaves to scape.

Turntable
Solving the standing wave problem, the turntable provides a rotation to the heating
sample looking for an homogeneity in the process.

Door
The door is where the cooking cavity can interact with the outside. It has a mesh of a
conductive material to avoid the escape of the microwaves from the oven.

2.2. Fiber Bragg gratings (FBG)

A FBG consists in a periodical variation of the refractive index in the core of a single mode
optic fiber (SMF). The name is in honor of Sir William Bragg, who discovered the relation
between space changes of a diffraction pattern and the wavelength of the perturbation in his
study of crystal structures and their interaction with X-rays [15].
When a broadband light source is traveling across a fiber, the grating generates a reflection
of only one specific wavelength (Bragg wavelength) λB , given by

λB = 2nef f Λ, (2-2)

where nef f is the effective refractive index and Λ is the period of the grating. Some of the
particularities of the FBGs are their dependency of physical parameters, such as deformation
and temperature
The principal attribute of interest is the dependency of λB to the temperature of the envi-
ronment. The shift of λB in terms of temperature (ignoring stress effects on the fiber) is

∆λB = λB (1 + ξ)∆T, (2-3)

where ξ is the thermo-optic coefficient and ∆T is the change of temperature [16].

2.2 Fiber Bragg gratings (FBG) 7

2.2.1. FBGs fabrication

In order to fabricate FBG is important to know some basic information about the optical
fibers, such as their parts and the material from each one.
An optical fiber has two main components, the core and the cladding. The core is where the
light is confined, it have a refraction index (nco ) slightly higher than the cladding (ncl ), and
the reason why the light travels across the fiber is because total internal reflection. The core
is made of silicon dioxide (SO2 ), a tethraedrical structure that haves a stable natural state
[2], and because of that, an uniform nco . To change the refractive index is necessary to add
imperfections in the fiber to variate locally the composition of the material. In order to do
that, is used the photosensitivity characteristic of some alternate fibers.
The photosensitivity of a fiber is the capacity of changing permanently the nco by exposing
it to ultraviolet radiation. This attribute is made in several ways, but the one described in
this chapter will by the hydrogenation process.

Hydrogenation process

The objective of loading the fiber with hydrogen is to create OH radicals with the oxygen
in the silicon dioxide, generating empty spaces in the thetraedrical structure that can be
filled later by Si-Si bonds, that can be later easily altered by UV radiation, giving there the
characteristic of photosensitivity, since this bond breaks generate changes in the refractive
index of the core.
To load the fiber with hydrogen is necessary to put it in a high pressure environment with
H2 gas, to diffuse the hydrogen in it. The process can vary, from pressure of the gas to time
of exposure, and if the pressure is let constant at 200 bar, Figure 2.3 shows the diffusion
curves from different times of exposure.

Figure 2.3: Diffusion profile of hydrogen at 200 bar pressure and 23o C [2].
 8 2 Theoretical framework

From Figure 2.3, the minimum time to have at least a 75 % is approximately 200 hours.
After this process, the core of the fiber has a lot of bonds Si-Si, that are breakable with the
proper UV radiation, changing the nco .

FBG inscription

After the photosensitivization of the fiber, is possible to start the inscription process. This
step has different methods of implementation, for a full review of them, see [2]. The one that
is used in this work is based on the use of a phase mask, that is a simple diffraction grating
allows the creation of the grating in a simpler way compared with the other methods.
The phase mask period Λpm satisfies the general diffraction equation [2], so when the light
goes through the mask, the diffracted light is able to interact with itself.
The principal characteristic of the mask is that the order zero of diffraction is dissipated,
allowing the -1 and 1 orders interfere in the fiber, as shown in Figure 2.4.

Figure 2.4: Phase mask general approach, is showed that the zero order of diffraction is
totally canceled by the mask. [3].

With this interference pattern is possible to generate the a periodic variation of refraction
index in the fiber, by illuminating the phase mask with UV light and exposing the fiber
(previously hydrogenated) to it. The Bragg wavelength of the inscribed FBG is given by

λBragg = 2nef f Λint , (2-4)

Where Λint is the period of the pattern generated in the fiber by de laser in the experimental
setup showed in Figure 2.5, where is possible to analyze the components of the setup, and
their importance to guaranty a successful inscription of the FBG.
2.2 Fiber Bragg gratings (FBG) 9

Figure 2.5: Experimental setup, showing the source of UV light, the two mirrors that are
useful to align the laser beam with the phase mask, so there is normal incidence
and a lens that focus the beam into the phase mask and gives a more accurate
pattern.

When a ideal broadband light source (SLED) goes across the fiber, the Bragg wavelength is
partially reflected, and the spectra of the source transmitted will have a decrease intensity in
this wavelength, as shown in Figure 2.6 and Figure 2.7. The transmission coefficient of the
FBG is the ratio between the max peak of absorption (lower intensity) and the maximum
value of transmission, in this case is showed a 5 % FBG, which is equivalent to a 95 %
reflectivity FBG, since

R = 1 − T, (2-5)

Figure 2.6: Spectra of the light transmit- Figure 2.7: Spectra of the light transmit-
ted through an optical fiber be- ted through an optical fiber af-
fore FBG inscription ter FBG inscription
 10 2 Theoretical framework

Where R is the reflectivity and T the transmissivity of the FBG. The parameters of interest in
the fabrication of FBG for the purpose of this work are that all the FBG generated preferably
have the same Bragg wavelength, to be able to compare two of them in the double grating
technique and a wide bandwidth that will be reflected in a larger temperature rank, since
there are more wavelengths to compare.

2.3. The double grating technique

The technique is represented in Figure 2.8, where two identical FBG are used. The first
one is the filter grating, and its reflected spectra goes to the sensor grating. This one is
inside the oven and its Bragg wavelength changes alongside the temperature and with it, the
spectra varies with respect to the reference, for this reason the only light that passes is the
convolution of the two specters, the reference and the sensor, like shown in Figure 2.9. As
the convolution between the FBGs changes with the temperature, the optical power in the
final stage of the double grating changes, and this power will be received by a photodetection
circuit.

2.3.1. Components of the setup

SLED (Super luminescent Light Emitting Diode)
Is the source used to interact with the gratings, usually is a Gaussian form broadband
light source. It has to have λBragg in its spectra in order to work properly.

Coupler
Is an optical tool that allows to split a signal in two channels, in this case the coupler
are 50 %-50 %, which means that the light splits in the same proportion to each side.

Optical ground
All the light that goes through this element is absorbed, so is perfect to reduce noise.

FBG sensor
The FBG that will be in the microwave oven, sensing the changes of temperature.

FBG reference
This FBG generates the spectra that will interact with the sensor, giving the capability
of measure changes of power directly in the output.

Photodetector
Is used a photodiode that will be explained in detail posteriorly.
2.4 Photodetection circuit 11

Figure 2.8: Scheme of the double grating technique, where an FBG serves as a reference
and the other is the sensor,measuring the change of the power transmitted.

Figure 2.9: The power received by the photodiode is the area of the convolution between
the two spectral responses.

2.4. Photodetection circuit

In order to detect the optical signal and convert it to voltage the use of a photodiode is ne-
cessary and because of the multiple reflexions of the system, there has to be an amplification
to the signal, because the output power is in the order of nW.

2.4.1. Photodiode
A photodiode is a PN junction like shown in Figure 2.10. The semiconductor union has a
narrow zone call the depletion region, in which an electric current is generated when photons
enter it. The interaction of photons with electrons linked to a material is called the photoe-
lectric effect, and it generate a electron-hole pair, and if this couple is in the depletion zone,
each part accelerate towards the diode terminals. If the effect happens outside this zone the
pair experiments a posterior recombination or diffusion [4]. To increase the response time
of the current generated and the size of the depletion region is applied a reverse bias, that
contributes to the response of the photodiode.
 12 2 Theoretical framework

Figure 2.10: Basic scheme of a PN junction, where is shown the depletion region. [4]

The voltage Vo in Figure 2.11 follows the equation

Vo = P RRL , (2-6)

where P is the optical power gived by the double grating reflexion, R is the responsivity of
A
the photodiode that in this case for the wavelength used is approximately 1 W [5] and the
load resistance RL , that can change to control the output voltage. The current generated

Figure 2.11: The fabricator ideal circuit for the photodiode [5].

by the photodiode in this case is very small, and there is no way to analyze it without an
amplification circuit. The problem with this circuits is that the generate a poor signal-to-
noise ratio (SNR), which is the most important factor in the analysis of low response systems.
2.4 Photodetection circuit 13

Is this problem that leads to the use of a transimpedance amplification circuit, because it
has the advantage of good SNR and wide range of frequencies, so there is no problem with
the response time.

2.4.2. Transimpedance amplifier

The basic transimpedance amplifier is shown in Figure 2.12. The photodiode is represented
by the diode D1 and there is associated a capacitance Cd , since it’s a semiconductor junction.
Is applicated a reverse bias voltage to reduce the conductivity generated by other factors
different than the light received, Cf and Rf are selected to provide a large amplification
having in account the operation bandwidth [6].

Figure 2.12: Scheme of the transimpedance amplifier [6].

 14 2 Theoretical framework

2.5. Temperature measurement tools

To compare the results gived by the photodetection circuit an do a posterior calibration
curve with known values of temperature is necessary to have an element that measures it
in a precise way. In this section will be showed different tools to measure temperature and
a comparison between them and the FBG sensor, in the field of measuring temperature in
microwave ovens.

2.5.1. Thermistor
A thermistor is another type of temperature sensor, its operating principle is based on a
temperature dependent resistance. This resistance can increase or decrease with a rise on
temperature and the two different thermistors available in the literature are differentiated
by that. The best approximation of the model of a thermistor follows the equation:

B
RT = R∞ e T , (2-7)

where RT is the thermistor resistance,R∞ is the value of RT when T→∞ and B is a constant
dependent of the material, in K [7].
An NTC or Negative Temperature Coefficient thermistor decreases its resistance with a rise
of temperature meanwhile an PTC, where P stands for positive, has a direct relation with the
temperature. Although neither of them has a linear relation with the temperature, is possible
by means of signal processing to have a good response by them. As shown in Figure 2.13,
The NTC has a good response in temperatures close to room temperature, and the PTC
resistance changes its value greatly when the temperature passes the Curie temperature,
about 120o C.

2.5.2. Resistance Temperature Detector (RTD)

A special kind of PTC thermistor that has a linear response to temperature, this gives a great
precision when measuring large ranges of temperature. However, the change in resistance is
low compared to a normal PTC thermistor. The principal material used for this sensors is
platinum, a high cost material that is necessary for this type of sensors due to its special
characteristics of durability, thermal endurance and high resistance coefficient, to ensure high
sensitivity [7]. Because is a resistive dependent sensor, is important to control the variation
on the resistance due to the Joule heating by the current passing on the wires, so this doesn’t
affect the measurements.
2.5 Temperature measurement tools 15

Figure 2.13: Resistance vs temperature curve for NTC and PTC thermistors. Tc is the
temperature for the PTC to start measuring properly, is called the Curie
temperature [7].

Figure 2.14: Typical curve of two RTD sensors, with a 100Ω and 1000Ω resistance at room
temperature respectively [8].
 16 2 Theoretical framework

2.5.3. Thermocouple
The most common of the temperature sensors. Has a wide range that can go from -200o C to
2000o C [7], a great advantage in comparison with the others. They consist in two junctions
of different materials, that when fused together produces a potential difference in mV, this
is called the thermo-electric effect [17]. This ∆V is function of the temperature changes bet-
ween the hot and cold junctions in Figure 2.15 When connected to a circuit, the voltage
VOU T will be proportional to the temperature difference.
The voltage generated between the two junctions is very low, so it has to have a posterior
amplification and with special care for the SNR because the signal can be perturbed by
any external factor. The most common amplifier used in this sensors is the instrumentation
amplifier, due to its advantages on high input impedances. There are several types of ther-
mocouples and the difference between them are the materials from the junctions, altering
with them the operation range.

Figure 2.15: Scheme of a type J thermocouple. The other types just differ in the materials
of the couple. J1 and J2 represent the hot and cold junctions, respectively.

2.6. Heat transfer coefficient

The process of heating a water sample in a teflon base like shown in Figure 2.16 invol-
ves always the heat transfer coefficient U of the water,supposing that the teflon does not
contribute to the heating process. This coefficient satisfies the relation

Q̇ = U A(To − Ti ), (2-8)
2.7 PID Control 17

where Q̇ is the heat transfer rate, A is the superficial area of the volume heating, To is the
temperature outside the volume and Ti is the temperature inside the volume [18]. For a
system like described in Figure 2.6.

Figure 2.16: The volume of water to heat is inside the cavity in the figure, the superficial
area is only the top view, since the rest of the area is in the teflon and has no
contribution in this analysis.

Since the coefficient U is the same, the only thing that can change in the water sample is
the superficial Area A, that depends finally to the volume of water in a direct way.

2.7. PID Control

The most common feedback control algorithm is the PID controller. This is because its easy
implementation and large documentation across all the industrial control softwares [19]. Also
an advantage is that if the process is unpredictable or unknown, one of the most accurate
tools to control it is the PID control.
The algorithm follows the sequence in Figure 2.17 The basic control is an on-off switch,

Figure 2.17: Scheme of a basic PID control.

 18 2 Theoretical framework

that simply compares the process variable y(t) with the set point ys p and if the result is
positive u(t) is maximum or if the result is negative, u(t) is minimum. This control has a
problem with the oscillations, since it can overreact to a minimum error and response with
the same value that when the error is greater. To solve this is created the PID control, that
has the next components in attempt to minimize the oscillations in the control system:

Process variable y(t)

The variable to control, the objective of the PID control is to maintain this variable
in a desired value or set point.

Set point ysp

This is the value desired for the process variable.

Error value e(t)

The error is the difference between the previous items e(t) = y(t)-ys p.

Proportional term P
This therm has the follow form: P = KP e(t). The constant KP is denoted the pro-
portional term and is multiplying the error. The use of this term helps to control the
oscillations of the control in small errors. Figure 2.18 shows the response of a PID
control varying the constant KP , there it can be seen that a large constant has a quic-
ker response but the system is more unstable and on the other hand, if the constant is
too low, the system take longer to be in the set point.

Figure 2.18: Response of the control varia- Figure 2.19: The response of the control
ble to the PID controller, var- variable to the PID controller,
ying the proportional cons- varying the integral constant.
tant. Red is the lower KP and Red is the lower KI and black
purple is the higher [9]. is the higher value [9].
2.7 PID Control 19

Integral term I
Rt
The integral term is given by: I = KI 0 e(τ )dτ . Where KI is the integral constant.
Figure 2.19 shows the different responses of the system with KI changing. It has a
similar behavior to the proportional controller, but a slower response, that helps to
decrease instabilities.

Derivative term D
Has the following form: D = KD de(t)dt
. This is the slope of the error against time and a
constant proportional to it. This term predicts the system behavior and acts on it. For
this reason this term is the least used of the three, because can be unstable without a
close control.

Control variable u(t)

the variable to control by the PID. This variable is the sum of the three control terms
that are explained above, u(t) = P+I+D. This variable affects directly the process
variable.
3 Sensor fabrication and calibration
In this chapter will be described step by step the conformation of the sensor, from the
fabrication of the FBGs to the final calibration curves and the operation in the microwave
oven.

3.1. FBGs fabrication

The first step in the fabrication is to make the fiber photosensitive, this is made in the high
pressure environment created in a special pipes with hydrogen, like shown in Figure 3.1.

Figure 3.1: Hydrogenation system. In the picture are shown the gauges where is controlled
the pressure of the gas and the pipes where the fibers are deposited for a week.

After the fibers spend about a week inside the pipes, with the cladding exposed to the
environment, they are ready to go to the next step, the inscription of the FBG.
As explained in the last chapter, the sensor uses two FBGs as a double filter. The fabrication
of these two is crucial, because their reflectivity and similarity will help the response of the
3.1 FBGs fabrication 21

sensor and avoid to do extra steps in the amplification process. The fabrication takes place
in the laboratory and has to be careful with the conditions of operation, since the recording
process is very sensitive with the environment changes and the vibrations of the optical table.
The UV laser used for this process is the EX10 Eximer Laser System [20], showed in Figure
3.2.

Figure 3.2: Laboratory setup, explained in section 2.2.1.

Figure 3.3: Phase mask zoom.

 22 3 Sensor fabrication and calibration

3.2. Double grating technique

With the setup showed in the previous chapter, the two FBGs selected for the sensor are the
ones in Figure 3.4, where the sensor will shift to the higher wavelengths and with that the
convolution between them will decrease in size, as shown in Figure 3.5, where it was made
an analysis in a conventional oven with a thermocouple and the double grating sensor.

Figure 3.4: The two gratings used in Figure 3.5: Convolution of the two
the sensor, the best combi- FBGs and its relationship
nation of FBGs possible. with T.

With this results its possible to realize that the experimental setup works and the next step
is to implement the photodetection system that will translate the power received showed in
Figure 3.5 to a voltage signal.

3.3. Photodetection system

It will be used a photodiode to detect the signal, and its posterior amplification will be made
by a transimpedance amplifier, like shown in the previous chapter. This signal is finally read
by a National Instruments DAQ to generate the control and visualization of the data in real
time in LabView.

3.3.1. The transimpedance circuit

As its observable in section 2.4.2, the change in Cf or Rf will determine the gain of the
signal in the amplification by the equation

Vout = −Ipd Rf (3-1)

where Ipd is the current generated by the photodiode.

In this work it was established a 4.7MΩ resistance to amplify the signal properly, since it
3.4 Calibration oven 23

is a very small output power, as it can be seen in Figure 3.5. This resistance makes the
amplification high and because of that the noise increments, which implies the use of a filter
to process the signal in the software. Figure 3.6 shows the experimental circuit created in
the laboratory.

Figure 3.6: The circuit implemented in the laboratory.

3.4. Calibration oven

The next step in the creation of the sensor is to calibrate the output voltage of the photode-
tection system and translate it into a temperature signal. To do that it is used a conventional
resistance oven and a thermistor like showed in Figure 3.7, in order to compare the signal
of the sensor with the actual temperature in the oven. After this, is completed the process
of calibration of the sensor and it is ready to use as a controller in the microwave oven.

Figure 3.7: The calibration oven. The sensor FBG is in the teflon base, described in Figure
2.16.
 24 3 Sensor fabrication and calibration

3.5. Microwave oven

The setup for the sensing process of the microwave oven is described in Figure 3.8. There
are displayed all the components necessary to the operation of the sensor, a couple of voltage
sources, the pc with the software receiving the signal from the photodiode, the SLED and
the double grating system and the oven.

Figure 3.8: Setup of the sensor.

Figure 3.9: A closer look to the disposition of the FBG sensor inside the oven.
3.6 Control software 25

3.6. Control software

The flowchart of the control software that was implemented to analyze the data is described
in Figure 3.10.

Figure 3.10: This figure describe the LabView algorithm used to monitor the data received
from the photodiode and to compare it with a theoretical value (thermistor).
4 Results

4.1. Calibration curve

The results of the calibration process are showed in Figure 4.2. This results can be ap-
proximated to a straight line with a good correlation value, so in this work the calibration
was made by heating the FBG sensor and a thermistor in the same oven and plotting the
change of temperature vs the voltage of the photodiode. This process was made three times
to have a more wide database and finally it was made a lineal regression that gives the rela-
tion between the voltage and temperature simpler. The uncertainty of the measurements is
calculated and gives a good control, since is 2,6o C, a small quantity compared to the normal
measurements above 30o C.

Figure 4.1: Here are showed the three ca-
libration curves realized. The
colors denote each one. This
analysis was made with a ther-
mistor.
Figure 4.2: The calibration curve in red.
The parameters of the regres-
sion are acceptable, since the
R2 is close to 1 and the uncer-
tainty µT is low.
4.2 Temperature measurements for different volumes 27

4.2. Temperature measurements for different volumes

In this section will be showed the analysis of the heating process of different volumes of water
compared to the temperature in the air inside a resistance oven. In Figure 4.3 is possible
to see that the difference between the air in the furnace and the water in different volumes
depends on the heat transfer coefficient, explained in section 2.6.
Is important to note that the superficial area of the water that is part of the heating process
is directly dependent of the volume, so that is why the higher heat transfer rate is on the
sample that has less volume. The three curves after the 150 seconds mark seems to have the
same slope, this is because as the water is increasing temperature, the volume decreases by
the evaporation of the superficial water. This makes that the heat transfer coefficient of each
curve starts converge to the same value.

Figure 4.3: The temperature of water in a oven and its comparison with air temperature
inside. Is evident that this temperature is volume dependent
 28 4 Results

4.3. Temperature measurements for microwave oven

A 125ml volume of distillate water is disposed inside a Whirlpool microwave with 1.5kW of
maximum power. The curves showed in Figure 4.4 are the measurements of temperature
with the FBG sensor with different power percentages. this results show that an stable
temperature level can be maintain in a microwave oven, by controlling the power of the
magnetron.

Figure 4.4: The heating curves of a same volume of water in different microwave powers.
Is important to notice the effects of the control mechanism in the microwave,
since the final temperature that each curve arrives is different because of that.
5 Conclusions
The measurement of temperature in ovens, especially in microwave ovens, is of vital future
interest, given the great benefits of the heating of biological samples in these, as was shown
in this work. The realization of a fiber optic sensor, which is able to measure temperature
without interfering with the natural heating of the microwave oven, represents a great ad-
vance in this area, since from these sensors it is possible to reach temperature controls for
various processes. In this work a complete analysis was made from the knowledge of con-
ventional temperature sensors until reaching the proposed sensor, which was designed and
manufactured completely in the laboratory of Photonics and Optoelectronics of the Natio-
nal University of Colombia. In the process of design and manufacture of the product, the
knowledge was deepened in different areas, such as the manufacture of fiber Bragg gratings,
the use of these as temperature sensors; the electronic handling that should be given to an
optical signal for later analysis. The work generated new alternatives in the measurement
of physical parameters in optical fibers, since it was possible to perform the measurement
of these without the need for elements of high cost and little portability such as an optical
spectrum analyzer.
It was successfully verified the heating curves of the water in different volumes and also in
two kinds of ovens, where it can be seen the great efficiency of the microwave ovens compared
to a conventional oven and therefore its great potential as a the future of heating systems.
One of the ideas that remains of this work for the future is to perform a PID control that
controls the power of a microwave oven with the FBG sensor, with the idea of automating
the process and explore the possibilities that can bring the high quality measurement of a
microwave oven temperature.
References
[1] Magsells, “Commercial microwaves.” Http://www.magsells.co.uk/microwave-
information/commercial-microwaves/.

[2] Raman Kashyap, Fiber Bragg Gratings. Elsevier Inc., 2010.

[3] I. photonics, “FBG Phase mask,” in Datasheet, 2000.

[4] J. G. Graeme, Photodiode Amplifiers. McGraw Hill, 1996.

[5] Thorlabs, “’InGaAs High Speed Photodiode with FC/PC Bulkhead,” Feb. 2017.

[6] P. C. D. Hobbs, “Photodiode front ends the real story,” Optics and Photonics News,
p. 4, Apr. 2001.

[7] L. Michalski, K. Eckersdorf, J. Kucharski, and J. McGhee, Temperature Measurement.

Wiley, second ed., 2001.

[8] Honeywell, “Temperature Sensors Platinum RTDs,” tech. rep., Honywell, 2018.

[9] Https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/PIDcontroller.

[10] E. Pert, Y. Carmel, A. Birnboim, T. Olorunyolemi, D. Gershon, J. Calame, I. K. Lloyd,

and O. C. Wilson., “Temperature Measurements during Microwave Processing: The
Significance of Thermocouple Effects,” Journal of American Ceramic Society, 1981.

[11] S. A. Vasilev, O. I. Medvedkov, I. G. Korolev, A. S. Bozhkov, A. S. Kurkov, and E. M.

Dianov, “Fibre gratings and their applications,” Quantum Electronics, vol. 35, pp. 1085–
1103, dec 2005.

[12] T. Erdogan, “Fiber Grating and Spectra,” Journal of lightwave technology, vol. 15, Aug.
1997.

[13] N. Soto-Reyes, R. R. Laguna, and M. S. Morales, “Modelación del calentamiento

dieléctrico (microondas y radiofrecuencia) n sistemas alimenticios,” Temas selectos de
ingenieria de alimentos, 2012.

[14] A. D. Morcillo, J. M. Cabrera, E. D. Tortajada, and M. E. R. Pérez, “Principios Fun-

damentales y Aplicaciones del Calentamiento por Microondas,” tech. rep., Universidad
Politécnica de Cartagena, 2004.
References 31

[15] S. Kurtarana and M. S. Kılıçkaya, “The modelling of Fiber Bragg Grating,” Springer
Science+Business Media, 2007.

[16] N. Hirayama and Y. Sano, “Fiber Bragg grating temperature sensor for practical use,”
Isa transactions, 2000.

[17] Francis J. DiSalvo, “Thermoelectric Cooling and Power Generation,” Science, 1999.

[18] Anthony F. Mills, Heat transfer. Richard D. Irwin, 1992.

[19] K. Aström and T. Hägglund, PID Controllers: Theory, Design and Tunning. Instru-
ments Society of America, 1995.

[20] Gam Laser Inc, http://www.gamlaser.com/Brochures/EX10.pdf, EX10 Eximer Laser.