In news
Researchers at IIT Madras have demonstrated that by using Raman thermometry on fibre optic cables, they can achieve monitoring of power transmission cables
Finding
- They achieve this by using the optical fibres that are already embedded in the power cables for establishing optical communication.
- This could cost up to 80% of the total expense in setting up the communication system.
- Optical fibre-embedded power cables are already available across the country, but none of them are presently used for power monitoring.
- Researchers are presently working with a leading Indian power transmission and distribution company for implementing this technology.
- The team is exploring machine learning techniques to identify hotspots along the length of the cable with high accuracy.
Raman Effect
- India’s first and so far only Nobel laureate in physics, C.V. Raman, won the prize for his discovery of Raman effect.
- This consisted of experimental observations on scattering of light.
- In the Raman effect, when light is scattered off an object, say a molecule, two bands are observed, with higher and lower frequency than the original light, called the Stokes and anti-Stokes bands, respectively.
- By studying the relative intensity of the two bands, it is possible to estimate the temperature of the object that scattered the light.
- The anti-Stokes component of Raman scattering is strongly dependent on the temperature that the material is subjected to.
- Thus, by measuring the intensity of the anti-Stokes scattered light we can estimate the temperature. This is Raman thermometry
Source: The Hindu
