Spectroscopic method and apparatus for optically measuring temperature

Claim 1

An apparatus for measuring temperature, comprising: a radiant energy source with a broad wavelength spectrum; semiconductor temperature sensors for receiving radiant energy from said source including means for transmitting or reflecting radiant energy; means for determining wavelength spectrum characteristics of the radiant energy transmitted or reflected from said sensors; waveguide means for receiving radiant energy from said source and optically coupled to said sensors and said wavelength spectrum determining means for transmitting radiant energy from said source to said sensors and for transmitting said energy transmitted or reflected from said sensors to said determining means; electronic digital signal processing means for deriving the value of the temperature of said sensors from said determined wavelength spectrum characteristics; and radiant energy multiplexer means optically coupled between said source and said said sensors, for sequentially transmitting radiant energy from said source to said sensors.

Claim 2

An apparatus for measuring temperature, comprising: a radiant energy source with a broad wavelength spectrum; semiconductor temperature sensors for receiving radiant energy from said source including means for transmitting or reflecting radiant energy; means for determining wavelength spectrum characteristics of the radiant energy transmitted or reflected from said sensors; waveguide means for receiving radiant energy from said source and optically coupled to said sensors and said wavelength spectrum determining means for transmitting radiant energy from said source to said sensors and for transmitting said energy transmitted or reflected from said sensors to said determining means; electronic digital signal processing means for deriving the value of the temperature of said sensors from said determined wavelength spectrum characteristics; and radiant energy multiplexer means optically coupled between said source and said said sensors, for sequentially transmitting radiant energy from said source to said sensors.

Claim 3

An apparatus for measuring temperature, comprising: a radiant energy source with a broad wavelength spectrum; semiconductor temperature sensors for receiving radiant energy from said source and including means for transmitting or reflecting radiant energy; means for determining wavelength spectrum characteristics of the radiant energy transmitted or reflected from said sensors; waveguide means for receiving radiant energy from said source and optically coupled to said sensors and said wavelength spectrum determining means for transmitting radiant energy from said source to said sensor and for transmitting said energy transmitted or reflected from said sensor to said determining means; electronic digital signal processing means for deriving the value of the temperature of said sensor from said determined wavelength spectrum characteristics. radiant energy multiplexer means including an array of lenses disposed around said source, and a rotating shutter disposed between said source and said array of lenses, said shutter having an aperture which allows radiant energy from said source to reach only one lens of said array at a time, said radiant energy reaching each lens of said array sequentially as said shutter rotates around said source; and p1 said waveguide means including a waveguide located at the focal point of each lens to receive and transmit said radiant energy.

Claim 4

An apparatus for measuring temperature, comprising: a radiant energy source with a broad wavelength spectrum; semiconductor temperature sensors for receiving radiant energy from said source and including means for transmitting or reflecting radiant energy; means for determining wavelength spectrum characteristics of the radiant energy transmitted or reflected from said sensors; waveguide means for receiving radiant energy from said source and optically coupled to said sensors and said wavelength spectrum determining means for transmitting radiant energy from said source to said sensor and for transmitting said energy transmitted or reflected from said sensor to said determining means; electronic digital signal processing means for deriving the value of the temperature of said sensor from said determined wavelength spectrum characteristics. radiant energy multiplexer means including an array of lenses disposed around said source, and a rotating shutter disposed between said source and said array of lenses, said shutter having an aperture which allows radiant energy from said source to reach only one lens of said array at a time, said radiant energy reaching each lens of said array sequentially as said shutter rotates around said source; and p1 said waveguide means including a waveguide located at the focal point of each lens to receive and transmit said radiant energy.

Claim 5

An apparatus for measuring temperature, comprising: a radiant energy source with a broad wavelength spectrum; semiconductor temperature sensors for receiving radiant energy from said source and including means for transmitting or reflecting radiant energy; means for determining wavelength spectrum characteristics of the radiant energy transmitted or reflected from said sensors; waveguide means for receiving radiant energy from said source and optically coupled to said sensors and said wavelength spectrum determining means for transmitting radiant energy from said source to said sensor and for transmitting said energy transmitted or received from said sensor to said determining means; electronic digital signal processing means for deriving the value of the temperature of said sensor from said determined wavelength spectrum characteristics; and radiant energy multiplexer means including: a movable mirror, a lens disposed between said source and said mirror to focus said radiant energy onto said, and means to move said mirror to direct said focused radiant energy sequentially to each of said sensors through said waveguide means.

Claim 6

An apparatus for measuring temperature, comprising: a radiant energy source with a broad wavelength spectrum; semiconductor temperature sensors for receiving radiant energy from said source and including means for transmitting or reflecting radiant energy; means for determining wavelength spectrum characteristics of the radiant energy transmitted or reflected from said sensors; waveguide means for receiving radiant energy from said source and optically coupled to said sensors and said wavelength spectrum determining means for transmitting radiant energy from said source to said sensor and for transmitting said energy transmitted or received from said sensor to said determining means; electronic digital signal processing means for deriving the value of the temperature of said sensor from said determined wavelength spectrum characteristics; and radiant energy multiplexer means including: a movable mirror, a lens disposed between said source and said mirror to focus said radiant energy onto said, and means to move said mirror to direct said focused radiant energy sequentially to each of said sensors through said waveguide means.

Claim 7

An apparatus for optically measuring temperature, comprising: an optical light source with a broad wavelength spectrum; a plurality of semiconductor sensors remote from said light source, each of said sensors having a light absorption edge wavelength which is characteristic of said semiconductor sensor and variable as a function of temperature; a light detecting means comprising a diffraction grating and a photodetector array for detecting wavelength spectrum changes in the light absorption edge of said sensors; an optical multiplexer for receiving light from said light source for time-sharing said light source among said sensors; optical fiber lightguide means coupled to said multiplexer, said sensors, and said detecting means for transmitting light from said multiplexer to said sensors and for transmitting light from said sensors to said detecting means; electronic digital signal processing means optically coupled by said lightguide means to said detecting means for deriving the value of the temperature of each of said sensors responsive to changes in said wavelength spectrum characteristics of said semiconductor sensors; and means for displaying said derived temperatures, whereby temperature is measured optically by an apparatus that is insensitive to drifts and variations in the source of radiant energy.

Claim 8

An apparatus for optically measuring temperature, comprising: an optical light source with a broad wavelength spectrum; a plurality of semiconductor sensors remote from said light source, each of said sensors having a light absorption edge wavelength which is characteristic of said semiconductor sensor and variable as a function of temperature; a light detecting means comprising a diffraction grating and a photodetector array for detecting wavelength spectrum changes in the light absorption edge of said sensors; an optical multiplexer for receiving light from said light source for time-sharing said light source among said sensors; optical fiber lightguide means coupled to said multiplexer, said sensors, and said detecting means for transmitting light from said multiplexer to said sensors and for transmitting light from said sensors to said detecting means; electronic digital signal processing means optically coupled by said lightguide means to said detecting means for deriving the value of the temperature of each of said sensors responsive to changes in said wavelength spectrum characteristics of said semiconductor sensors; and means for displaying said derived temperatures, whereby temperature is measured optically by an apparatus that is insensitive to drifts and variations in the source of radiant energy.

Claim 9

The method of measuring temperature, comprising the steps of: providing radiant energy from a radiant energy source with a broad wavelength spectrum; guiding said radiant energy through a fiber lightguide means to a remote semicondcutor sensor directly attached to said lightguide means, said sensor having a radiant energy absorption edge; optically collecting the radiant energy emitted from said sensor by said fiber lightguide means; determining the wavelength spectrum characteristics of the emitted radiant energy due to the absorption edge of said semiconductor sensor in analog form; digitizing said analog determination of the wavelength spectrum characteristics, and processing said digitized wavelength spectrum characteristics collected from said sensor in an electronic digital signal processor to derive the value of the temperature of said sensor.

Claim 10

The method of measuring temperature, comprising the steps of: providing radiant energy from a radiant energy source with a broad wavelength spectrum; guiding said radiant energy through a fiber lightguide means to a remote semicondcutor sensor directly attached to said lightguide means, said sensor having a radiant energy absorption edge; optically collecting the radiant energy emitted from said sensor by said fiber lightguide means; determining the wavelength spectrum characteristics of the emitted radiant energy due to the absorption edge of said semiconductor sensor in analog form; digitizing said analog determination of the wavelength spectrum characteristics, and processing said digitized wavelength spectrum characteristics collected from said sensor in an electronic digital signal processor to derive the value of the temperature of said sensor.