NON-INTRUSIVE DIAGNOSTICS TO STUDY SOOT FORMATION

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 HENCE THEFLAME TEMPERATURE. THE EFFECTIVENESS OF SOOT DESTRUCTION CONTROLS THE COMBUSTION EFFICIENCY AND THE ENVIRONMENTAL ACCEPTABILITY OF THE COMBUSTION DEVICE. TO PROVIDE AN INSTRUMENT FOR SOOT RESEARCH, DEVELOPMENT, AND EVENTUALLY FOR PROCESS MONITORING, THIS PROPOSED PROJECT WOULD DEVELOP A LOW COST (UNDER $50,000), PORTABLE, VERSATILE, NON-INTRUSIVE FLAME DIAGNOSTIC INSTRUMENT HAVING THE FOLLOWING CAPABILITIES: 1) MEASUREMENT OF SPATIALLY RESOLVED MEAN VALUE OF BOTH CONCENTRATION AND TEMPERATURE FOR GAS SPECIES AND SOOT BY TOMOGRAPHIC RECONSTRUCTION OF LINE-OF-SIGHT FOURIER TRANSFORM INFRARED (FT-IR) EMISSION AND TRANSMISSION (E/T) SPECTROGRAPHIC DATA. 2) MEASUREMENTSOF SPATIALLY RESOLVED DATA ON THE TIME VARIATIONS OF SPECIESCONCENTRATION AND TEMPERATURE. THE OBJECTIVE OF PHASE I IS TO DEVELOP AND VALIDATE THE METHOD OF FT-IR E/T TOMOGRAPHY FOR FLAMES BEING STUDIED AT THE NATIONAL INSTITUTE OF SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY (NIST) AND GENERAL MOTORS FOR WHICH DATA FROM OTHER TECHNIQUES ARE AVAILABLE. THESE DATA WOULD BE USED TO HELP DETERMINE THE MECHANISM FOR THE FORMATION AND DESTRUCTION OF SOOT. IN PHASE II, FIBER OPTICS AND MULTI-PLEXING WOULD BE DEVELOPED FOR OBTAINING MULTIPLE LINES-OF-SIGHT SIMULTANEOUSLY AND THE FT-IR TURBULENCE MEASUREMENTS WOULD BE DEVELOPED TO ALLOW SPATIALLY RESOLVED DATA TO BE OBTAINED. SOFTWARE AND HARDWARE WOULD BE DEVELOPED FOR ON-LINE, INSITU DIAGNOSTIC INSTRUMENTATION.