Apparatus for measuring the influence of physical parameters on the length of a path
First Claim
1. An apparatus for measuring the influence of physical parameters upon the length of a path, comprising:
- an optical length-measuring device responding to a change in the path length including an elastically stretchable optical fiber mounted in a pretensioned manner at intervals along the path at supporting points which are subjected to a change in position with a change in the length of the path to thereby change the length of the optical fiber in an amount corresponding to the change in path length;
a transit-time measuring device including a lightpulse repeater optically coupled to the optical fiber to form a closed signal path together with the optical fiber, wherein said repeater generates short signal pulses which circulate repeatedly in said path, and means for measuring the total transit time T equal to the transit time topt of the pulse through the optical fiber and the transit time tel of the pulse through the pulse repeater; and
means for determining a change in the path length by monitoring changes in transit time of the pulse through the optical fiber caused by changes in the length of the optical fiber brought about by changes in the path length to which the optical fiber is coupled.
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Abstract
In a device for determining the influence of physical parameters on the lth of a path, an elastically stretchable optical fiber is guided with minimal pretensioning along the path which is subjected to length changes. The optical fiber is mounted at least sectionally on supports subjected to positional changes with changes in the length of the path. A transit-time measuring device is also provided as part of the measuring device together with the optical fiber. The transit-time measuring device includes a light-pulse repeater forming a closed signal path with the optical fiber. The repeater generates signal pulses circulating in the signal path with the periodicity of the signal circulation time of the signal path. From an electronically measured total travel time through the closed signal path and a total number of which signal pulses the electrical display signal can then be derived to determine the length and change in length of the path being measured.
37 Citations
40 Claims
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1. An apparatus for measuring the influence of physical parameters upon the length of a path, comprising:
- an optical length-measuring device responding to a change in the path length including an elastically stretchable optical fiber mounted in a pretensioned manner at intervals along the path at supporting points which are subjected to a change in position with a change in the length of the path to thereby change the length of the optical fiber in an amount corresponding to the change in path length;
a transit-time measuring device including a lightpulse repeater optically coupled to the optical fiber to form a closed signal path together with the optical fiber, wherein said repeater generates short signal pulses which circulate repeatedly in said path, and means for measuring the total transit time T equal to the transit time topt of the pulse through the optical fiber and the transit time tel of the pulse through the pulse repeater; and means for determining a change in the path length by monitoring changes in transit time of the pulse through the optical fiber caused by changes in the length of the optical fiber brought about by changes in the path length to which the optical fiber is coupled. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28)
- an optical length-measuring device responding to a change in the path length including an elastically stretchable optical fiber mounted in a pretensioned manner at intervals along the path at supporting points which are subjected to a change in position with a change in the length of the path to thereby change the length of the optical fiber in an amount corresponding to the change in path length;
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29. An apparatus for measuring the influence of physical parameters upon the length of a path, comprising:
- an optical length-measuring device responding to a change in the path length including an elastically stretchable optical fiber mounted at intervals along the path at supporting points which are subjected to a change in position with a change in the length of the path; and
a transit-time measuring device including a light-pulse repeater optically coupled to the optical fiber to form a closed signal path together with the optical fiber, wherein said repeater generates short signal pulses which circulate repeatedly in said path, and means for measuring the total transit time T equal to the transit time topt of the pulse through the optical fiber and the transit time tel of the pulse through the pulse repeater, further comprising a reference-signal path, activatable and deactivatable simultaneously with said path to be measured, said reference signal path including an optical fiber having an optical length which corresponds to an average value of the optical lengths of the fiber of the measuring path to be measured.
- an optical length-measuring device responding to a change in the path length including an elastically stretchable optical fiber mounted at intervals along the path at supporting points which are subjected to a change in position with a change in the length of the path; and
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30. An apparatus for measuring a physical parameter by detecting its influence upon the length of a path comprising:
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an optical fiber mounted along said path in a pretensioned state between at least two successive support points, said optical fiber having first and second ends; a light pulse transmitter generating in controlled sequence light pulses which are fed into the fiber at the first end nearest said transmitter, the duration of the pulses being short compared with their transit time topt along the optical fiber; a mirror terminating the optical fiber at the second end remote from the transmitter which reflects the light pulses back to the first end of the fiber; means for coupling out part of the light emerging from the first end of the fiber onto a light pulse receiver generating electrical pulses in response to the received light pulses; a weakly transparent mirror arranged to terminate the optical fiber at its first end, wherein the reflectivity of the weakly transparent mirror will reflect a portion of the light pulses which are travelling toward the first end from the terminating mirror at the second end back into the optical fiber so that a primary light pulse from the light pulse transmitter will produce multiple reflections in the optical fiber; means for evaluating the path length from the time interval between successive light pulses emerging through the weakly transparent mirror as a result of the multiple reflections between the terminating mirror in response to a primary light pulse generated by the light pulse transmitter; and pulse repeater means, including the receiver, the transmitter, and transmitter control means, for repeatedly generating said primary light pulses. - View Dependent Claims (31, 32, 33, 34, 35)
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36. A method for measuring the influence of physical parameters upon the length of a path, comprising:
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mounting an elastically stretchable optical fiber in a pretensioned manner at intervals along the path at supporting points which are subjected to a change in position with a change in the length of the path so that a change in the length of the path will produce a change in the length of the optical fiber; optically coupling a light pulse repeater to the optical fiber to form a closed signal path together with the optical fiber; generating short signal pulses which circulate repeatedly in said path; measuring the total transit time T equal to the transit time topt of a pulse through the optical fiber and the transit time tel of the pulse through the pulse repeater; and determining a change in the path length by monitoring changes in the transit time of the pulse through the optical fiber caused by changes in the length of the optical fiber brought about by changes in the path length to which the optical fiber is coupled. - View Dependent Claims (37, 38, 39, 40)
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Specification