Industrial Applications Of Tunable Diode Laser Absorption Spectroscopy PDF Download

Tunable diode laser spectroscopy is a widely used technique for recovering quantitative gas information in a range of industrial applications. Established methods often use readily available, robust and low cost optoelectronic hardware in the near-infrared, with output wavelengths that coincide with the absorption spectra of several important gas species of interest, providing a versatile platform for gas analysis instrumentation. In this work the challenges associated with the recovery of gas information from harsh detection environments, particularly for aero engine diagnostics, are considered. For stand-alone instrumentation, calibration-free direct absorption measurements are highly advantageous yet calibrated techniques employing wavelength modulation spectroscopy are often favoured due to their significantly higher sensitivities. Recent developments have enabled calibration-free line shape recovery using lock-in amplifier detection of the residual amplitude modulation in wavelength modulated signals. These techniques have significant potential in harsh environments, but the overall sensitivity is limited by distortions to the recovered line shapes at high modulation amplitudes and by large background signals that saturate the detection electronics. In this thesis, solutions to these two problems are proposed, investigated and validated. A correction function is derived that is able to account for line shape distortions at arbitrarily high modulation indices. Application of the function depends upon knowledge of the experimental modulation index and two methods for extracting this information directly from the experimental signals are described. The full correction procedure has been experimentally validated. An investigation was made into the use of autobalanced photoreceivers, typically used for common mode noise cancellation, for direct absorption measurements and in a different configuration for nulling of the residual amplitude modulation (RAM) in wavelength modulation spectroscopy. Initial measurements suggest that removal of the background RAM can increase the lock-in detection sensitivity by over an order of magnitude. In addition an external amplitude modulator has been iv shown to be an effective method for producing sensitive absorption signals that are free of distortions, recoverable at frequencies that are outside the bandwidth of most environmental noise sources. A temperature sensor based on ratio thermometry of ambient water vapour absorption was designed and evaluated. The sensor is intended to provide accurate intake gas temperature information during aero engine ground testing when misting conditions prevent standard thermocouples from providing reliable data. Direct detection and second harmonic wavelength modulation spectroscopy experiments were undertaken in an environmental chamber, over the range 273-313K, to test the potential accuracy of the proposed system. Using a second harmonic peak height method, temperature information based on a calibration was able to recover temperature measurements with precision of ±0.4K however the overall accuracy suffered from a problematic calibration drift. Three engine test campaigns are described in which a range of recovery methods and potential optical system layouts are evaluated for the purposes of intake and exhaust mounted test bed sensor systems. The effects of extreme noise conditions were observed on a variety of measurements and favourable detection and modulation options were identified for the purpose of planning proposed future engine tests. Exhaust plume measurements of high temperature water vapour on the Rolls-Royce Environmentally Friendly Engine demonstrator established the viability of temperature and concentration measurements up to 850K.