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Developments in Emission Measurements Using Lightweight Sensors and Samplers
Citation:
Aurell, J., A. Holder, Bill Mitchell, B. Seay, V. Chirayath, AND B. Gullett. Developments in Emission Measurements Using Lightweight Sensors and Samplers. Emissions Inventory Conference, Baltimore, MD, August 14 - 18, 2017.
Impact/Purpose:
This abstract for a poster presentation will display current capabilities and field testing of the Kolibri instrument system.
Description:
Lightweight emission measurement systems making use of miniaturized sensors and samplers have been developed for portable and aerial sampling for an array of pollutants. Shoebox-sized systems called “Kolibri”, weighing 3-5 kg, have been deployed on NASA-flown unmanned aerial systems (UASs, or “drones”) to characterize plume emissions from open combustion sources. A larger instrument system (20+ kg) called the “Flyer” is lofted into pollutant streams using a tethered, helium-filled aerostat or balloon. The Kolibri and Flyer use sensors to measure CO and CO2 and miniature samplers for PM2.5/10, PAHs, VOCs, SVOCs, carbonyls, black/elemental/organic carbon (BC/EC/OC), inorganic halogens, and real time BC. New capabilities are being added including NOx sensors and a real time sampler for particle size distributions. Both the Kolibri and Flyer use telemetry to send data to the ground crew to enable flight and sample monitoring. The Flyer has been used to determine emission factors from a variety of open burning sources including oil burns, waste pile burns, agricultural field burning, prescribed wildland fires, and open burning/open detonation of military ordnance. The Kolibri has been successfully and safely deployed in four efforts to determine emission factors from open burning and detonation processes.