Measurement and Testing Technology; Sensors

    
Monitoring of the rotor blades of wind turbines by fibre Bragg grating sensors; Partial image on the right: sensor signals after 10⁷  load cycles (enlarged picture)

Non-destructive testing with optical methods, interdisciplinary scientific and technological tasks in the fields of measurement and sensor technology for testing as well as reliability assessment, validation, testing, calibration of sensors and measurement and testing systems are the main competences. Our results aim at users in testing laboratories, at producers and industrial users of instruments and testing equipment, at national and international bodies setting standards, technical rules, and guidelines for the assessment of testing laboratories. Research and development activities in seven main subjets are organized in projects which are sponsored by public organizations or private industry. In addition, expert information and information systems for measurement and testing are made available. Many private customers and public authorities make use of our expert and consulting services.

Key activities

• Non-destructive testing, deformation analysis and characterization of materials by optical radiation physics and optical measurement and testing methods
• Materials- and components-integrated fibre-optical and electrical sensor technology
• Structural health monitoring and experimental stress analysis by fibre-optical, optical and electrical sensor technologies
• Certification of optical reference materials by means of reference measuring devices
• Reliability assessment, validation, testing and calibration of sensors, measurement and testing systems, expecially of ultra high force testing machines and force measuring systems until 36 MN as an accreditated testing laboratory

Testing devices

• Optical measuring systems  -  for deformation measurements at large components and structures (e.g. short-distance photogrammetry) as well as at microstructured components (e.g. digital speckle interferometry, shearography, moiré-methods, stereo image correlation, white-light interferometry)  -  for investigation of opto-physical properties of materials and surfaces  -  for determination of the total spectral radiance factor of fluorescent reflective materials (reference methode)
• Electrical and fibre-optical multi-channel measuring systems with time synchronized video recording or experimental stress analysis, health monitoring and long time monitoring of safety purpose components and structures
• Fibre-optical sensors for physical and selected chemical quantities
• Force reference standard for compression and tension forces up to 5 MN (uncertainty ± 5 ·10^-4); for compression forces up to 36 MN
• Hopkinson bar for characterization of dynamical behaviour of sensors and materials

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