Optical fiber, a step forward towards safety

To start with, it’s a simple casing, called DTS. But linked to kilometres of Optical Fiber, it allows faultless monitoring of industrial sites, tunnels, cable channels, car parks, pipelines etc. The principle? Optical fibre detects the slightest temperature rise (+ or – 0.1°) to the nearest metre. “When the temperature drops, there is a leak hazard. When it rises, there’s the fear of fire. Before, we used gas or temperature detectors to monitor sites but it was impossible to install them everywhere. Reliability was not 100% contrary to the DTS system.” Distributed mainly in France and in Africa, this procedure has already experienced two practical applications at AUTOCHIM: the monitoring of cable channels and the detection of ammonia leaks for a French food-processing manufacturer. “It is also used for floating roof oil tanks that are very sensitive to fire hazards.”