New technological innovations.
Posted: Fri Dec 14, 2007 7:17 pmLaser sensors clean up combustion chambers
New laser sensors can find the origin of a problem in a combustion chamber, which will then reduce pollutants.
“It’s fairly obvious when a combustor is not running well and producing a lot of soot and other pollutants,” said Terry Meyer, an assistant professor of mechanical engineering at Iowa State University. “But then how do you solve that problem? To do that, we can open up the black box and look inside the combustion chamber itself.”
The tools Meyer is developing are highly sophisticated laser-based sensors that can capture images at thousands and even millions of frames per second. Those images record all kinds of data about what is happening in the flaming mix of fuel and air.
New laser sensors can find the origin of a problem in a combustion chamber, which will then reduce pollutants.
“It’s fairly obvious when a combustor is not running well and producing a lot of soot and other pollutants,” said Terry Meyer, an assistant professor of mechanical engineering at Iowa State University. “But then how do you solve that problem? To do that, we can open up the black box and look inside the combustion chamber itself.”
The tools Meyer is developing are highly sophisticated laser-based sensors that can capture images at thousands and even millions of frames per second. Those images record all kinds of data about what is happening in the flaming mix of fuel and air.