Spatially-resolved measurement of arc flash event based on transmission loss of plastic optical fiber

A novel scheme of plastic optical fiber (POF) based arc flash sensor capable of tracing arc event locations is presented. Incident position of flash light can simply be known by measuring the ratio of intensities at both fiber-ends, since the intensity of the flash light assisted by side-coupling of the fiber is generally attenuated a the fiber length. The arc flash sensor which can cover a wide range up to +/- 10 m with a high spatial resolution of 10 cm is experimentally demonstrated using the POF. Arc flash intensity can also be known by analyzing the coupled light intensity level at both fiber ends.