title: A fiber Bragg grating--bimetal temperature sensor for solar panel inverters.
abstract: This paper reports the design, characterization and implementation of a fiber Bragg grating (FBG)-based temperature sensor for an insulted-gate Bipolar transistor (IGBT) in a solar panel inverter. The FBG is bonded to the higher coefficient of thermal expansion (CTE) side of a bimetallic strip to increase its sensitivity. Characterization results show a linear relationship between increasing temperature and the wavelength shift. It is found that the sensitivity of the sensor can be categorized into three characterization temperature regions between 26 °C and 90 °C. The region from 41 °C to 90 °C shows the highest sensitivity, with a value of 14 pm/°C. A new empirical model that considers both temperature and strain effects has been developed for the sensor. Finally, the FBG-bimetal temperature sensor is placed in a solar panel inverter and results confirm that it can be used for real-time monitoring of the IGBT temperature.
authors.affiliation: Department of Electrical Engineering, Faculty of Engineering, University of Malaya, 50603 Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. afiq.ismail@siswa.um.edu.my
authors.forename: Mohd Afiq
authors.initials: MA
authors.lastname: Ismail
authors.forename: Nizam
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Tamchek
authors.forename: Muhammad Rosdi Abu
authors.initials: MR
authors.lastname: Hassan
authors.forename: Katrina D
authors.initials: KD
authors.lastname: Dambul
authors.forename: Jeyrai
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Selvaraj
authors.forename: Nasrudin Abd
authors.initials: NA
authors.lastname: Rahim
authors.forename: Reza
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Sandoghchi
authors.forename: Faisal Rafiq Mahamd
authors.initials: FR
authors.lastname: Adikan
mesh_terms: D012993:Solar Energy; D013696:Temperature