Design of Fiber Bragg Grating load sensor used in ice monitoring on overhead transmission lines

Icing of high voltage transmission lines poses a great threat to the safety of the power grid. A Fiber Bragg Grating (FBG) load sensor is developed to monitor the load of the conductor. The major factor affecting the accuracy of the sensor is the structure of elastic element, and a novel closed-loop U structure is proposed to improve the accuracy. Finite Element Method (FEM) is introduced to investigate the strain distribution on the traditional structure and novel structure under axial load and eccentric load. The results of load experiment carried out in our laboratory indicate the sensor sensitivity is 0.0407pm/N and the sensor resolution is 24.57N.