Plastic optical fiber sensing of alcohol concentration in liquors

A simple optical fiber sensing system of alcohol concentration in liquors has been studied. in this sensor head,a mixture polymer of novolac resin and polyvinylidenefluoride (pvdf) with a ratio of 9:1 was coated as a sensitive cladding layer on the plastic fiber core made of polystyrene-(ps-)coated polycarbonate (pc). using this sensor head and a green led light source,it was confirmed that alcohol concentration in several kinds of liquors from beer to whisky can easily be measured with a fast response time less than 1 minute. © 2012 masayuki morisawa and shinzo muto.