NSF Award
9204322
*** Serio 9204322 This Small Business Innovation Research Phase II will combine tomography, Hadamard signal encodement, and a patented Fourier Transform Infrared (FT-IR) emission/transmission (E/T) technique to perform spatially and temporally resolved soot and gas species measurements during combustion. One of the most important processes in combustion is the formation and destruction of soot. The concentration of soot controls the energy radiated by the flame and the effectiveness of soot destruction controls the combustion efficiency and the environmental acceptability of the combustion device. FT-IR E/T spectroscopy is currently the only means of simultaneous measurement of gas species compositions and temperatures and soot particle size, number density and temperature in a combustion flow. The effort to develop and validate the method of FT-IR E/T tomographic spectroscopy for sooting flames was accomplished during Phase I. The major advance achieved during Phase I was the inclusion and demonstration of Hadamard data processing as applied to FT-IR tomography. The primary objective of the Hadamard technique is to increase signal throughput, increase S/N and increase the speed of measurement. This was demonstrated for FT-IR tomography, but the Hadamard technique also adds a significant simplification in the tomography apparatus. Experiments on a co-annular diffusion flame clearly showed that the technique can identify hidden three-dimensional structure. The Phase II program will greatly improve time resolution and develop techniques for practically probing combustors that have limited optical access. The FT-IR E/T instrument can detect species which are important precursors to soot and is expected to lead to advances in understanding the chemistry and physics of soot formation. The Phase II program will lead to the development of a low-cost (under $50,000), portable, versatile, in-situ combustion diagnostic instrument which can be applied to combustion process control, pollution monito ring, or research and development. Applications include measurements in industrial gas turbines, industrial and residential furnaces, utility boilers, process heaters, jet engines, and diesel engines. *** p:\sbir\yhashimi\9204322b.doc
