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Your expert for polymer optical fibers (POF) and POF – systems
Power over fiber - power transmission via optical polymer fiber (POF)​
Power over fiber means that light can be used via an optical fiber not only for data transmission but also for (minimal) energy transmission.
If laser-powered fiber optic systems are not feasible for safety or service life reasons, the electrical sensor module can be powered without electrical connecting wires using optical power from LEDs, which is transmitted to the sensor module via POF. There, a solar cell converts the optical power into electrical power. The acquired sensor data is then transmitted back via a second POF. Such a “Power over POF” system benefits from the ease of handling of the polymer optical fiber (POF).
Power over POF system by DieMount
To implement the Power over POF application, efficiently coupled LED modules are required to feed high optical power into the POF, as well as equally efficient light-to-power converters. These operate similarly to a solar cell, except that they must convert the optical power generated by the LED into a very small area.
The “Power over POF” system described below represents the current state of the art at DieMount. It is designed to supply power to an energy-efficient microcontroller with a connected MEMS sensor via 10m of POF and transmit the measured data to the feed point.
The images on the left show a 350mA blue LED, whose light is transmitted over a 10m long POF and converted into electricity by a solar cell at the end of the cable. For demonstration purposes, a red LED is connected via a fiber pigtail. The solar cell provides approximately 3 to 4mW of electrical power. This is sufficient to power modern microcontrollers optimized for low power consumption.
As an alternative 650nm LED transmitter should be considered.
Stronger requirements are met by multiple fibers
If longer distances need to be bridged or higher electrical power is required, a cable consisting of multiple POF fibers with an LED module per POF can be used. POF has an optical attenuation of approximately 2 dB/10 m for blue light – larger systems can be designed with this information.