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Handheld Laser-Based Sensor for Remote Detection of Gas Leaks
EPA Contract Number: 68D99063Title: Handheld Laser-Based Sensor for Remote Detection of Gas Leaks
Investigators: Frish, Michael B.
Small Business: Physical Sciences Inc.
EPA Contact: Manager, SBIR Program
Phase: I
Project Period: September 1, 1999 through March 1, 2000
Project Amount: $69,997
RFA: Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) - Phase I (1998)
Research Category: SBIR - Monitoring and Analysis , Ecological Indicators/Assessment/Restoration
Description:
This Phase I project proposes development of a new optical tool that will help petrochemical refinery and chemical processing plant personnel to locate the source of a toxic or hazardous gas leak while remaining outside the perimeter of the processing area. The proposed tool is based on Tunable Diode Laser Absorption Spectroscopy (TDLAS). TDLAS currently is being used in these industrial environments as permanently installed open-path devices that sense releases of selected gases as they exit the processing area. The proposed device is a lightweight, portable version of the open-path optical transceiver and, potentially, the entire instrument. By standing in a safe area and "shining" the laser beam emanating from this device onto suspected leak sources, operators rapidly isolate the source while minimizing their potential exposure to the hazard. Thus, the risk to plant personnel is reduced. In Phase I, Physical Sciences expects to demonstrate that this device is capable of locating, from a distance of 20 m, leaks resulting in path-integrated concentrations of, for example, 200 ppm-m of hydrogen fluoride, 20 ppm-m of hydrogen sulfide, or 1 ppm-m of methane.Currently, no industrial technology permits a plant operator to stand outside of a potentially hazardous area and, from that remote location, probe into the area to pinpoint hazardous gas leaks. The proposed device is intended to fill that void. Its underlying technology, TDLAS, is now commercially available and is rapidly becoming an accepted gas measurement and analysis technique in the traditionally conservative chemical, petrochemical, power generation, and other industries. If Phases I and II are successful, the proposed device would be quickly accepted by industrial users with chemical and petrochemical processes as its anticipated initial markets. In these industries, the device would be used to rapidly locate leaks that have been detected by other sensors, thereby reducing the risk of an incipient failure becoming a catastrophic failure. It is likely that the tool, when configured as a methane sensor, also will find use in municipal and emergency response situations.
Supplemental Keywords:small business, SBIR, monitoring, engineering, EPA. , Ecosystem Protection/Environmental Exposure & Risk, Toxics, Air, Sustainable Industry/Business, Scientific Discipline, Technology for Sustainable Environment, Engineering, Chemistry, & Physics, air toxics, Chemistry, New/Innovative technologies, Monitoring/Modeling, power generation , remote sensing, HAPS, hazardous air pollutants, hazardous air pollutants (HAPs), industrial air pollution, power plants, optical detectors, gas detector, hazardous emissions, monitoring, spectroscopic, air pollutants, industrial boilers, laser absorption sensors, gas leak, air pollution, measure, portable device, sensor technology, laser based optical sensor, power generation, Tunable Diode Laser Absorption Spectroscopy (TDLAS), optical sensor, laser based emissions monitoring, detect, sensors
Progress and Final Reports:
Final Report
Handheld Laser-Based Sensor for Remote Detection of Gas Leaks