Design and development of optical sensor for measurement of purity of ethanol

Title : Design and development of optical sensor for measurement of purity of ethanol

Abstract:

Pure alcohol (ethanol) has number of applications in automobile, chemical and pharmaceutical industries. Fiber optic sensor has widespread use due to its non contact type measurement in retro reflective configuration. This paper proposes non contact type refractometric fiber optic sensor for measurement of purity of alcohol manufactured in distilleries. This refractometric based sensor shows variation in the received light intensity with variation in water content of ethanol i.e. purity of alcohol. The sensor is studied and analyzed by performing simulation based on mathematical model developed using ray tracing technique. The sensor is fabricated and tested by preparing samples in the laboratory. The refractive indices are later measured using Abbe’s refractometer having the resolution of 0.001 in white light. Field tests are also carried out at the local distilleries. Experimental results show good agreement with the simulated results as well as with the conventional methods used in industry for measurement of the purity of alcohol. The sensor shows linear variation in the output voltage with the variation in alcohol purity of alcohol from 90% to 99%. The repeatability of the sensor is checked by repeating the experiment 60 times for each value of purity.

Biography:

Prof. Dr. Supriya Santosh Patil, M.Sc., Ph.D. (Electronic Science), M.A. (Sanskrit), is serving as Professor and Head of the Department of Electronic Science at MES Abasaheb Garware College, Karve Road, Pune 411004. She has been working in this position since 18th August 2003, making it a tenure of 23 years. She has taught at the undergraduate level for 20 years and at the postgraduate level for 13 years in the PG Department of Electronic Science. She completed her Ph.D. in Electronic Science in 2014 from the Department of Electronic Science, Savitribai Phule Pune University, Pune, with a research focus on the design and development of fiber optic sensors for industrial applications. Her research interests include optoelectronics, sensor development, mathematical modeling, and the Internet of Things. She has published more than 40 papers in international journals and conferences and holds one Indian patent and one U.S. copyright. Currently, she is supervising four Ph.D. students, and one student has already been awarded a Ph.D. She has also completed various research projects. Her work has been recognized with multiple awards, including five Best Oral Presentation Awards, two Best Industry-Oriented Project Awards, the Outstanding Educator Award, the Best College Project Teacher Award, and the prestigious Best Teacher Award by Savitribai Phule Pune University, Pune.