PLC AND fiber optic Recommendation.....

[escoplcguy]

here is a really crude sketch of what im thinking....if you can think of something better your ideas are wlecomed

 

[Dravik]

That blank spot on the north side looks suspiciously like a Velociraptor entry point.

 

[leitmotif]

So what are you trying to detect - building wall failure or what?

Dan Bentler

 

[escoplcguy]

im trying to detect an accident.

 

[leitmotif]

If it is govmt work and classified or it is an industrial secret just say so.

Otherwise if you are unwilling to give enough info to help then we are unable to do so without crystal ball.

Dan Bentler

 

[shawn_75]

You could probably special order the fiber without the outer jackets. This would be very small in diameter but also very delicate. Would you hang this around the perimeter or cut a groove into the blocks? Do your blocks expand and contract much with temperature change / moisture absorption?

The way I see it, you certainly do not need to be concerned with dB loss in this application. You're not transmitting and receiving data and based on the videos of your product, a breakage of the fiber will be a catastrophic breakage with a large chunk of it removed. I'll still stick with my LED transmitter / receiver setup recommendation.

Just curious, based upon your questions, are your customers not letting you know when the overruns need repaired. I can't imagine why you need a system to monitor this.

Shawn

 

[rpoet]

leitmotif,
Based on his drawing, it looks like they are manufacturing cellular concrete overrun pads for runways. The concrete is walkable and drivable with small vehicles (pickup trucks) but crushes if a large plane lands on it. The pads are placed at the ends of runways to prevent planes from running off the ends. It messes up the landing gear, but less so than running into a ravine.

I'm with shawn_75 - I can't imagine clients not telling him the concrete needs repair after an accident. Those type of things usually make CNN anyway; hard to keep them a secret. Cool application though. I like the idea of using fiber as a break detector.

-rpoet

 

[leitmotif]

Ahhh now I understand what it is all about. Same concept as deep gravel for runaway truck on mountain passes. Probably just as damaging to either truck or airplane but better than going over a cliff or,,,,

Thank you

A lot of work has gone into carbon fiber in concrete and using carbon fiber resistance measurements to detect strain or break. Wonder if thin ie 2 to 4 inch of concrete w fiber would work in this application? Thick enough for smaller truck but breaks up with airplane.


Dan Bentler

 

[escoplcguy]

@shawn - in the last few cases of an over-run people were notified right away yes, but it wasnt the right people. we have contractors that we send out to install our beds, so in the last few cases these contractors were the ones notified who than notified us. they asked me if it was possible to send e-mails and text messages out to people like the CEO, the head of R&D, this guy that guy, so that INSTANTLY they are aware and can get the proper people out there to help with clean up take samples and such. the FAA doesnt allow the flow of electricity thats why i was thinking about using the fiber, and a 12v PLC...the PLC i have found and ordered.....it can do the GSM i need for sending of text and email, i still am looking for a trip wire, i looking into alot of LED transmitters, but i am not getting far as i have spoken to KEYENCE and OMRON on some of their products but they just dont understand what i am trying to do. their first responce was "you wanna break the fiber optic wire?!?!?" than they tell me that their distance is only good up to 130cm when i tell them i need about 4,000 feel as i would like to set up a loopback on the end of the wire they tell me that type of technology hasnt beem deveoped yet...i was looking at multimode transmitters, and spoke to a fiber optic guy who works with verizon (we have FiOS) and they said that multimode is really thick, so we need something small. now, all that being said, i was looking at this (ill leave a link) Photomicrosensor with Built-in amplifier...its by omron, the sales rep told me no way no how, but wont the light travel through the fiber come back and when "LIGHT OFF" happens set the trigger?? or do i need a much more powerful light source for my distance...also, i dont know much except for my research the last week, can i get multimode wire in a small diamiter and what do i need for building my own light source? cause the transmitters i have seen are expencive only for the fact that their not just sending light but data or audio or video as well, all i need is the light source and a "light on/ light off" type sensor..

thank you!

http://www.omron247.com/doc/pdfcatal.nsf/0E498CAF951A969C86256C59004655F0/$FILE/D21EESPZ3010902.pdf

 

[Brownhat]

Banner makes a line of "fiber optic" photoeyes. Not sure if you could retrofit one of those to shine down and back a fiber optic cable.

 

[shawn_75]

I routinely use a cheap little keychain LED light to help locate the fiber I want to use in the patch panel. Yes, some of our fibers are poorly labeled. I recently got one of these http://www.inovalight.com/microlight/ It has a strobe function that is awesome for this. An open end of a fiber will catch sunlight so with the strobe there is no mistake.

I'm no electronics guy so I can't really help you with building a transmitter / receiver but I can tell you that your receiver will need to be sensitive. You can put a 1000 watt bulb on one end but will only get a very small amount of light out the other.

Perhaps Brownhat posted your solution.

Shawn